Are the personal and the political ever truly separate? How can literature affect change in the world? Nelson Agustín and Daniel Gawthrop wrestle with these questions as they read from and discuss their provocative new works.
Hybrid events are held in person, you will also be able to watch it live streamed from our Youtube channel.
Location: Room C460, UBC Robson Square
Presented by: Word Vancouver
Type: 2SLGBTQIA+ Programming
Moderator: C.E. Gatchalian
Readers: Nelson Agustín, The Door Knockers and Other Stories | Daniel Gawthrop, Double Karma (Cormorant Books)
About The Moderator
Born and raised on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh peoples (“Vancouver”), currently dividing his time between “Vancouver” and Tkaronto (“Toronto”), C.E. Gatchalian is a Filipinx queer neurodivergent author, editor and playwright. The author of six books and co-editor of two anthologies, he was the 2013 recipient of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize and a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist. His memoir, Double Melancholy: Art, Beauty and the Making of a Brown Queer Man, was published in 2019 by Arsenal Pulp Press. He is a recipient of the one-time only British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Arts & Music Awards for his contributions to the arts in BC.
About The Readers
Daniel Gawthrop’s first first novel, Double Karma, was published by Cormorant Books this spring. Described by Literary Review of Canada as “a fast-paced, compelling narrative” and by British Columbia Review as “remarkable…a novel that matters,” it explores themes of identity, love, and loss within the historical and political context of a country, Burma/Myanmar, perpetually in crisis. Gawthrop is also the author of five non-fiction titles, including The Rice Queen Diaries, The Trial of Pope Benedict, (both by Arsenal Pulp Press) and Affirmation: The AIDS Odyssey of Dr. Peter (New Star). He lives in New Westminster, traditional Coast Salish territory of the Qayqayt First Nation.
Nelson Agustín is a non-binary writer, graphic designer, and fine art photographer. An honours graduate from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, they have worked in the fields of advertising, publishing, and marketing for more than twenty years. Nelson has independently created, wrote, designed, and published their photography books, novels, and poetry. Their alphabet book of Filipino food, "A for Adobo," was published by Tahanan Books in 2010. On Amazon, they published their collection of flash fiction "The Door Knockers and Other Stories" (2022). Nelson resides and works on unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples whose historic relationships with the land continue to this day.
