Tasnim Nathoo

Birds as metaphors and feminine voices

Natalie Lang reviewed Radiant Voices: 21 Feminist Essays for Rising Up Inspired by EMMA Talks (curated by carla bergman, TouchWood Editions, 2019) for The Ormsby Review.

The review provides some background on the conception and development of the book as well as provides a nice overview of the essays.

The anthology showcases a diversity of writers, thinkers, activists, scholars, artists, and community builders. Contributors, including Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Kinnie Starr, Silvia Federici, Vivek Shraya, Chief Janice George, and Astra Taylor, explore themes of connection, rediscovery, creating, social justice, celebration, and matriarchy.

You can also read more about the book in an earlier interview with carla bergman over on All Lit Up (October 2019).

Swords and Daggers

Sometimes, when the most dangerous things in our lives are invisible, intangible, or require a non-violent solution, we need more than swords and daggers to protect ourselves. What does modern armour look like?

My latest little book, Swords and Daggers, is a story about the proprietor of a small store called Modern Armour which stocks everything you need to protect yourself from physical and intangible harms and maladies.

How do we protect ourselves from the things we cannot see?

I explore some of the ways we protect ourselves – everything from garlic soup for colds and vampires to walls around our hearts to climate change policy to protect our planet. The book also includes a recipe for garlic ginger chicken soup – inspired by the spices of the African island of Zanzibar, it’s perfect for preventing and healing colds.

Radiant Voices

Check out the cover for Radiant Voices which features art by Cree-Métis author and illustrator, Julie Flett. (You can also see some of her recent art in the sorta-fairy tale The Girl and the Wolf which came out this spring, and in Birdsong, a gorgeous story of friendship and art-making, which comes out this fall.)

Radiant Voices is edited by carla bergman, a Vancouver-based film maker, producer, and writer as well as the co-director of EMMA Talks, a mini-art-festival and speaker’s series by women. The collection includes essays by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Kinnie Starr, Vivek Shraya, and Astra Taylor.

My essay is called “Everything Inside of Us.”

Radiant Voices will be out in October 2019.

Vancouver Indie Authors Collection

If you’re looking for some summer reading, you might consider checking out the Vancouver Indie Authors Collection at Vancouver Public Library.

Launched in 2017, the collections aims to showcase the city’s self-publishing scene. You can check out a copy of Love into Water, my collection of stories for kids and adults of all ages.