In The Last Exiles, Ann Shin tells an exhilarating and heart wrenching story inspired by true events. Suja is a young student from a prominent family; Jin is from a poor rural family. They meet and fall in love while studying at university in Pyongyang. When Jin returns home to find his family starving he makes a life altering decision that sends these ill-fated lovers into the dark criminal underbelly along the border between North Korea and China.

In her haunting and evocative debut novel Daughters of Smoke and Fire, Ava Homa portrays the life of stateless Kurds living under repressive rule in Iran. Fearless and headstrong, Leila dreams of telling the stories of her people through film. When her beloved brother’s political activism starts taking riskier forms, he disappears in Tehran, launching Leila into the struggle of her life.

Charmaine Craig based Miss Burma on her own mother and grandparents. The story is told through the eyes of Benny, a young man recently settled in Rangoon and Khin, the woman he falls in love with who is a member of the long-persecuted ethnic minority group, the Karen. As the nation struggles to grasp independence, eventually collapsing into one of the longest-running civil wars in recorded history, Benny and Khin’s daughter Louisa reaches prominence as Burma’s first beauty queen. Soon the country will fall to dictatorship, forcing Louisa to reckon with her own connection to the Karen people. 

In this special panel conversation, Ann Shin, Ava Homa and Charmaine Craig join host Fathima Cader, to discuss their respective literary works that, in their own way, look at themes related to human migration, political repression and exile.

About this event's guests:

Ann Shin
Ava Homa
Charmaine Craig
Fathima Cader

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

Shin, Homa & Craig: Exiled Off the Page