Book

Junie : a novel / Chelene Knight.

Knight, Chelene, 1981- (author.).

Summary:

"A riveting exploration of the complexity within mother-daughter relationships and the dynamic vitality of Vancouver's former Hogan's Alley neighbourhood. 1930s, Hogan's Alley--a thriving Black and immigrant community located in Vancouver's East End. Junie is a creative, observant child who moves to the alley with her mother, Maddie: a jazz singer with a growing alcohol dependency. Junie quickly makes meaningful relationships with two mentors and a girl her own age, Estelle, whose resilient and entrepreneurial mother is grappling with white scrutiny and the fact that she never really wanted a child. As Junie finds adulthood, exploring her artistic talents and burgeoning sexuality, her mother sinks further into the bottle while the thriving neighbourhood--once gushing with potential--begins to change. As her world opens, Junie intuits the opposite for the community she loves. Told through the fascinating lens of a bright woman in an oft-disquieting world, this book is intimate and urgent--not just an unflinching look at the destruction of a vibrant community, but a celebration of the Black lives within."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781771667685
ISBN: 1771667680
Physical Description: 331 pages ; 21 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Toronto : Book*hug Press, 2022.
Copyright: ©2022

Content descriptions

Biographical or Historical Data:

Chelene Knight is the author of Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. Her essays have appeared in multiple Canadian and American literary journals and newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and The Walrus and her work has been widely anthologized. Her poem ‘Welwitschia’ won the 2020 Contemporary Verse 2‘s Editor’s Choice award. She was shortlisted for PRISM‘s 2021 Short Forms contest. Chelene is the founder of her own literary studio, Breathing Space Creative, through which she has launched The Forever Writers Club, whose members are writers focused on creative sustainability. Chelene works as a literary agent with the Transatlantic Agency. She was born in Vancouver and lives in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia.

Awards Note:

Winner of the 2023 City of Vancouver Book Award

Longlisted for CBC Canada Reads 2024

Longlisted for the 2023 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

Finalist for the 2023 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction

Finalist for the 2023 ReLit Award for Fiction