Library Spotlight: Posts

Asian Heritage Month 2022

In honour of Asian Heritage Month, Humber Libraries recognizes the myriad of sentiments, experiences and contributions peoples of Asian descent have made to Canadian culture and history. This includes culturally rich heritages from East Asia, South Asia, Western, Central and Southeast Asia.  Let's take a moment to explore the incredible diversity of Asian Canadian voices and perspectives. 

Featured new publications: 

• One Game at a Time: My Journey from Small Town Alberta to Hockey's Biggest Stage. Harnarayan Singh writes about his love of hockey, pursuing dreams and defying odds as a Sikh sportscaster for Hockey Night In Canada Punjabi.
• Two Trees Make a Forest: In Search of My Family's Past Among Taiwan's Mountains and Coasts. Jessica J Lee's writes a narrative that is part history, travel, nature, and memoir, as she weaves the memories, language and stories of her past and the landscape of Taiwan (audiobook). 
• China Unbound: A New World Disorder. Toronto Star's Journalist Joanna Chiu chronicles China's moves to become a dominant power in this new book. 
• People Change. In her latest work, Vivek Shraya contemplates change: why we fear it, why we're drawn to it, what motivates us to change, and what traps us.
• Em. Kim Thúy's novel links the destinies of a family of characters, taking inspiration from Operation Babylift, which evacuated thousands of biracial orphans from Saigon in April 1975, and the remarkable growth of the nail salon industry, dominated by Vietnamese expatriates all over the world.
• I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes From the End of the World. In personal essays and prose poems, Kai Cheng Thom explores heartfelt solutions to topics such as violence, complicity, family and forgiveness. 

Featured new films and documentaries: 

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Starring Simu Liu, this Marvel film follows a superhero's transition from childhood to adulthood. 
• Reparations. In this documentary, Black and Asian Americans reflect on the legacy of slavery, the inequities that persist, and the critical role that solidarity between communities has in acknowledging and addressing systemic racism. 
• Minari. A semi-autobiographical take on director Lee Issac Chung's upbringing, the plot follows a family of South Korean immigrants who try to make it in the rural US during the 1980s. 
• Mother Tongues: The Journey of Tam Goosen. Through the lens of her life story, Toronto activist and educator Tam Goosen speaks to the challenges and triumphs of Chinese-Canadian communities. 
• Raya and the Last Dragon. This Disney film depicts a warrior princess who seeks out the fabled last dragon, with the hopes of restoring the dragon gem would bring back her father and banish the evil spirits from the land of Kumandra, a fictional world with Southeast Asian influences.
• Sponsorland tells the story of a Syrian family of 13 and their community of well-intentioned sponsors in Picton, Ontario. 

Finally, in 2018, Wayson Choy donated his private Chinese-Canadian History and Literature collection, which includes not only his own works, but authors and stories that had a profound influence on his own writing. Humber libraries is proud to announce that this extensive collection is available for borrowing and can now be browsed online.

Compiled by Joseph Chan & Aliya Dalfen, Humber Libraries.