Souvankham Thammavongsa will not pity her characters. The award winning Canadian writer, whose works initially made their way into the hands of readers as self-printed copies sold from her knapsack as an undergraduate student, did not travel the traditional path to a book deal.
Born in Nong Khai, Thailand in a Lao refugee camp, Thammavongsa was raised in Toronto’s Keele and Eglinton West neighbourhood watching Hockey Night in Canada and listening to Randy Travis. Randy Travis is the name of the short story that Thammavongsa shared during her virtual session as part of York’s Canadian Writers in Person lecture series on the evening of September 22.
Canadian Writers in Person is a course that has been running at York since 1999. Each year, the series features a line up of renowned Canadian writers and provides the opportunity to interact with contemporary work in a personal environment.
Professor Gail Vanstone, coordinator of the culture and expression program within the department of humanities at York, directs the course with Professor Leslie Sanders, also of the department of humanities.
Students get to meet 11 authors during the year and have an opportunity to read their work, ask them questions, and discuss ideas from the literature.
“Canadian Writers in Person was the brainchild of Atkinson professor John Unrau in the School of Arts and Letters, now disbanded,” Vanstone explains. “Unrau, also a poet, wanted to create a course where students could actually encounter Canadian authors in class and have an opportunity to read their works and discuss these works with the authors.”
For students, the series presents a unique opportunity. “Students get to meet 11 authors during a year and have an opportunity to read their work, ask them questions, and discuss ideas from the literature. Our focus as professors is to give our students the opportunity to practice their skills of reasoning and interpretation, to evaluate ideas thoughtfully, and articulate substantiated critical views with clarity.”
The series isn’t only available to York students — members of the public are welcome to participate free of charge. “What has changed this year is that we are online for the entire year,” notes Vanstone. “To publicize the series, Professor Dana Patrascu-Kingsley, our teaching assistant, created a Facebook and Instagram presence for us, and we’re hoping that the Toronto Public Library system will circulate an electronic copy of our poster.”
The 2020 series commenced featuring Thammavongsa. The story she shared, Randy Travis, is part of her book How to Pronounce Knife, a collection of short stories published in 2020.
The series will continue each Tuesday with a different Canadian writer. Each session is live via Zoom at 7 p.m. The final session of the series will occur on March 23, 2021 and will feature Cecily Nicholson and her book Wayside Sang.
