Tongues On Longing and Belonging Through Language

by Tsabari, Ayelet; Fantetti, Eufemia; Carranza , Leonarda

• ISBN13: 9781771667142
• ISBN10: 1771667141
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-10-26
• Publisher: Book*hug Press

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Ayelet Tsabari was born in Israel to a large family of Yemeni descent. She wrote her first story in English in 2007. She is the author of The Art of Leaving, finalist for the Writer's Trust Hilary Weston Prize, winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for memoir, and an Apple Books and Kirkus Review Best Book of 2019. Her first book, The Best Place on Earth, won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and has been published internationally. Her translations appeared in the New Quarterly, Berlin Quarterly, Paper Brigade, and Mantis. She teaches creative writing at The University of King's College MFA, the University of Guelph Writing MFA, and at Tel Aviv University. She lives in Toronto.

Eufemia Fantetti is a graduate of The Writer's Studio and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Her short fiction collection, A Recipe for Disaster and Other Unlikely Tales of Love, was runner up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and winner of the Bressani Prize. Her writing has been nominated for the Creative Nonfiction Collective Readers' Choice Award and was listed as a notable essay in the Best American Essay Series. My Father, Fortune-tellers and Me: A Memoir was released in 2019. She teaches at Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber and co-edits The Humber Literary Review. She lives in Toronto.

Leonarda Carranza was born in El Salvador to a family of Indigenous and African ancestry. She holds a PhD in Social Justice Education from the University of Toronto. Her children's book, Abuelita and Me, will be published by Annick Press in winter 2022. Her essays have been published in Room, The New Quarterly, Briarpatch, Humber Literary Review, and Best Canadian Essays. She is the winner of Briarpatch Magazine's seventh annual Writing in the Margins contest, was shortlisted for PRISM International's short forms contest, and was the winner of Room's 2018 short forms contest for her piece, "White Spaces Brown Bodies." She lives in Brampton.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Introduction/Forward. 3 Tongue-tied by Kamal Al-Solaylee. 4 A Bird in My Hands by Jenny Heijun Wills. 16 Pimashkogosi: Catching Language by Karen McBride. 27 English Baby by Melissa Bull34 Mother Tongue by Leonarda Carranza. 47 Newborn by Adam Pottle. 48 Language is the Fluid of Our Collective Bodies by Kai Cheng Thom.. 57 Love and Other Irregular Verbs by Sigal Samuel70 Say Something in Your Language by Rebecca Fisseha. 80 Gender Fluent by Logan Broeckaert88 How to say Banana in Kiswahili By Taslim Jaffer. 95 The Seven Grandfathers and Translations by Ashley Hynd. 102 Finding My Voice by Jagtar Kaur Atwal109 Comfort Language by Téa Mutonji117 What Are You? A Field Study by Rowan McCandless. 126 Ye Kamby Sahar Golshan. 136 Dear English Language by Camila Justino. 145 It’s Just a Figure of Speech by Amanda Leduc. 150 Disappearance/Muteness by Ayelet Tsabari162 The Reach by Carrianne Leung. 163 Release My Tongue by Janet Hong. 168 Speak My Tongue by Danny Ramadan. 179 Moedertaal by Sadiqa de Meijer. 184 Standing in the Doorway by Jónína Kirton. 192 Five Stages of Language Loss by Eufemia Fantetti202 Holding My Tongue by Hege Anita Jakobsen Lepri203 Acknowledgments. 214 Biographies. 215