{"id":5875,"date":"2016-09-19T20:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T20:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewordonthestreet.ca\/toronto\/?p=5875"},"modified":"2016-09-20T13:34:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T13:34:25","slug":"toronto-books-awards-2016-the-ward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewordonthestreet.ca\/toronto\/toronto-books-awards-2016-the-ward\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Books Awards 2016: The Ward"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Word On The Street Toronto will\u00a0be hosting the\u00a0authors and editors of all five finalists for the\u00a02016 Toronto Book Awards\u00a0at this year\u2019s festival on\u00a0Sunday, September 25,<\/strong> at Harbourfront Centre. As a special treat, we\u2019ll be posting reviews of the nominated books in the weeks leading up to the festival\u00a0from a panel of writers, reviewers, and editors working in Toronto today.<\/p>\n

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Our final review\u00a0is of The Ward\u00a0<\/em>by editors\u00a0John Lorinc<\/a>, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg<\/a>, and Tatum Taylor<\/a>,\u00a0reviewed by Ekraz Singh. Ekraz is\u00a0the executive editor and publisher of Sewer Lid<\/a>, an online magazine of urban art and literature.\u00a0<\/span>John Lorinc, Ellen Scheinberg, and Tatum Taylor\u00a0will be reading at The Word On The Street at Harbourfront Centre on September 25, from 2:00pm \u2013 2:30pm at the Toronto Book Awards Tent<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0This year\u2019s Toronto Book Awards will be awarded on October 11, 2016<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Conduct a Google image search for Toronto and you\u2019ll behold pictures of the city\u2019s unmistakable skyline: the CN Tower, Rogers Centre, and many tall buildings synonymous with a dense population, modernity, and anonymity. On the other hand, walk through the streets of Toronto and you\u2019ll encounter: cultural diversity in places such as Little Italy on College, Little India on Gerrard, or Chinatown at Spadina and Dundas; socioeconomic diversity in communities such as The Birdle Path, Forest Hill or Sunnybrook, and Rexdale; and intellectual and artistic diversity in Jane Heights or Lambton, the distillery district, the various buildings that make up U of T\u2019s St. George campus or the cafes and galleries that line Dundas West.<\/p>\n

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What you won\u2019t see, however, is St. John\u2019s Ward: Toronto\u2019s very first immigrant neighbourhood, situated within the borders of Queen, College, Yonge, and University. That\u2019s because The Ward no longer exists. The area, distinct because of the ethnocultural diversity and poverty ever-present therein, was cleared out and razed in the late 1950s in order to make way for Nathan Phillips Square.<\/p>\n

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The story of this community \u2014 its genesis, development, annihilation, and lingering spirit \u2014 is told in The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto\u2019s First Immigrant Neighbourhood<\/em>, edited by John Lorinc, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg, and Tatum Taylor, and published by Coach House Books.<\/p>\n

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While the book could have simply taken the form of a riveting historical narrative, such an approach wouldn\u2019t have adequately reflected the truly diverse nature of The Ward<\/em>. The book, instead, is comprised of over sixty brief contributions by over fifty individuals including authors Karolyn Smardz Frost and Michael Redhill; philosopher Mark Kingwell; journalists Denise Balkissoon, Ranjit Bhaskar, and Michael Posner; professors Ruth A. Frager and John E. Zucchi; and Toronto City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.<\/p>\n

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The reader, as a result, is presented with bits and pieces \u2014 accounts of events that transpired within as well as differing views, laid out in a seemingly random order \u2014 of The Ward that, in a way, serve to counteract the dominant, overarching image of the area that had manifested itself over time, has been presented to the public in newspaper articles, and ultimately led to its destruction.<\/p>\n

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Through the many different voices and perspectives, on topics such as recreation, illness, hygiene, vice, housing, and worship, the reader is presented with slivers of life in, and points of view on, The Ward. Each of these is punctuated by maps, paintings, and photographs\u00a0\u2014\u00a0some from various archives, and others from family albums \u2014 that\u00a0not only complement and illuminate the rich history of The Ward, but often serve to ground the reader in the reality of the information being presented when they might otherwise get lost in the writing.<\/p>\n

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Ultimately, the reader is better able to understand the complexities of the neighbourhood, the lives of those who resided in it, and its lasting significance. They are often inclined to consider issues including immigration, poverty, class, culture, and segregation of all sorts that remain relevant to Toronto and other cities today. In a sense, reading The Ward<\/em> is akin to a meditation on transience.<\/p>\n

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Ekraz Singh is a writer, editor, educator, and master’s student. Her\u00a0poetry, essays, interviews and reviews have appeared in Descant<\/em>, Existere<\/em>, and Untethered<\/em>. She serves as the executive editor and publisher of Sewer Lid<\/em>, an online magazine of urban art and literature. Connect with her on Twitter @EkrazSingh.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\"contest-banner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After over a century of housing many of Toronto’s immigrants, in what decade was ‘The Ward’ bulldozed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out our website for clues<\/a>, and send the answer to\u00a0justin@thewordonthestreet.ca<\/a>\u00a0to be entered in a draw to win a signed copy of\u00a0The Ward\u00a0<\/em>by John Lorinc, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg, and Tatum Taylor!<\/p>\n

Contest Rules<\/strong><\/p>\n