Join author Amy Fung and University of Alberta writer in residence Janet Rogers for an evening of readings and conversation from their latest works.
Following the tangents of a foreign-born perspective and the complexities and complicities in participating in ongoing acts of colonial violence, Fung’s Before I was a Critic I was a Human Being takes the form of a very long land acknowledgement. Taken individually, each piece roots itself in the learning and unlearning process of a first generation settler immigrant as she unfurls each region’s sense of place and identity.
Glass Bookshop will be on-site with copies of Amy Fung and Janet Rogers’ books for purchase.
Before I Was a Critic I Was a Human Being by Amy Fung
In that moment, I felt closer to whiteness than not. I was completely complicit and didn’t think twice about entering a space that could cover their walls with images of contemporary Indigenous perspectives, but exclude their physical bodies from entering and experiencing. In that moment, I felt like a real Canadian.
Before I Was a Critic I Was a Human Being is the debut collection of creative nonfiction essays by Amy Fung. In it, Fung takes a closer examination at Canada’s mythologies of multiculturalism, settler colonialism, and identity through the lens of a national art critic.
Following the tangents of a foreign-born perspective and the complexities and complicities in participating in ongoing acts of colonial violence, the book as a whole takes the form of a very long land acknowledgement. Taken individually, each piece roots itself in the learning and unlearning process of a first generation settler immigrant as she unfurls each region’s sense of place and identity.
Janet Marie Rogers, University of Alberta Writer in Residence September 2018-May 2019, is a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer from Six Nations. She was born in Vancouver British Columbia, lived in Stoney Creek, Hamilton, Toronto Ontario and is currently of no fixed address as she is awarded residency after residency throughout 2018-2019. Janet works in the genres of poetry, spoken word performance poetry, video poetry and recorded poetry with music. Janet is also a radio broadcaster, documentary producer, media and sound artist.
Her literary titles include; Splitting the Heart, Ekstasis Editions 2007, Red Erotic, Ojistah Publishing 2010, Unearthed, Leaf Press 2011 “Peace in Duress” Talonbooks 2014 and Totem Poles and Railroads ARP Books 2016 and her sixth book titled As Long As the Sun Shines, Bookland Press 2018. She produced and hosted Native Waves Radio on CFUVfm from 2007–2017. Her music column Tribal Clefs was part of CBC Victoria’s programming from 2008-2016. Her radio documentaries “Bring Your Drum: 50 years of Indigenous Protest Music” and “Resonating Reconciliation” won Best Radio at the imagaineNATIVE Film and Media festival 2011 and 2013 and her 6-part radio doc series NDNs on the Airwaves won two awards at the T.O. Webfest in 2018.
Janet Rogers and Ahkwesase Mohawk poet Alex Jacobs make up the poetry collective Ikkwenyes, which produced the poetry CD Got Your Back and won the Loft Literary Fellowship prize 2014. The 2Ro Media Collective is a production collective she and Mohawk media artist Jackson Twobears operate which produced the short experimental documentary NDNs on the Airwaves about CKRZfm Six Nations radio. 2Ro Media also developed the multiple media project titled For This Land presented as multi-channel media installations in several galleries and public venues.
Amy Fung is a writer, researcher and curator born in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and spent her formative years in and around Edmonton on Treaty 6 Territory. Her writing has been published and commissioned by national and international publications, galleries, museums, festivals, and journals since 2007. Her multifarious curatorial projects have spanned exhibitions, cinematic and live presentations, as well as discursive events across Canada and abroad. Before I Was a Critic I Was a Human Being is her first book.