Menu
In this collection of deeply personal essays, twenty-six writers explore their connection with language, accents, and vocabularies, and contend with the ways these can be used as both bridge and weapon. Some explore the way power and privilege affect language learning, especially the shame and exclusion often felt by non-native English speakers in a white, settler, colonial nation. Some confront the pain of losing a mother tongue or an ancestral language along with the loss of community and highlight the empowerment that comes with reclamation. Others celebrate the joys of learning a new language and the power of connection. All underscore how language can offer both transformation and collective healing.
Tongues: On Longing and Belonging through Language is a vital anthology that opens a compelling dialogue about language diversity and probes the importance of language in our identity and the ways in which it shapes us.
With contributions by: Kamal Al-Solaylee, Jenny Heijun Wills, Karen McBride, Melissa Bull, Leonarda Carranza, Adam Pottle, Kai Cheng Thom, Sigal Samuel, Rebecca Fisseha, Hege Anita Jakobsen Lepri, Logan Broeckaert, Taslim Jaffer, Ashley Hynd, Jagtar Kaur Atwal, Téa Mutonji, Rowan McCandless, Sahar Golshan, Camila Justino, Amanda Leduc, Ayelet Tsabari, Carrianne Leung, Janet Hong, Danny Ramadan, Sadiqa de Meijer, Jónína Kirton, and Eufemia Fantetti.
More than 200 languages are known to be spoken in Canada; 60 of them are Indigenous. This essay collection examines 27 writers’ intimate relationship with language, how language feeds identity, and the complexity of speaking languages other than English and French in a colonial, settler nation. We’re as excited about the concept as we are about the contributors…
Included in Fall 2021 recommended reading list
“The collection is an extraordinary achievement, one that succeeds in creating a colourful tapestry out of the hundreds if not thousands of languages that live within the soul of the inhabitants of this land we call Canada.”
“Kicking off a crucial dialogue about dialogue itself, Tongues explores “the way power and privilege affect language learning, especially the … exclusion often felt by non-native English speakers in a white, settler, colonial nation.”
Included in Shrapnel Fall Favourites 2021
“Tongues is a vital anthology that opens a compelling dialogue about language diversity and probes the importance of language in our identity and the ways in which it shapes us.”
“In this episode we talk all about different language varieties and writing in English when its not your first language. We love talking to writers, people that are just oozing with talent. Enjoy this episode and definitely read the book.”
“This is the kind of book that I wouldn’t read in one go. The reading experience in this book was a bit like reading poetry because this is a book charged with emotion. So you want to approach that one piece at a time. I found it an extremely rewarding experience to do it this way. Sometimes I come back to this fondly as you would like a piece of poetry because it bears re-reading.”
Drop me a line if you’d like to invite me to your book club or to a school visit, request an interview or invite me for a speaking engagement, a reading, or a writing workshop. You can also contact me if you are interested in mentorship or manuscript consultations.
For marketing, publicity information and for review copies