V6A: Writing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

by John Mikhail Asfour (Editor), Elee Kraljii Gardiner (Editor)

V6A is the postal prefix for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest neighborhood and a prime example of the ramifications of urban blight in North America; it is also the epicenter of a notorious missing women's case in which many sex workers and others were murdered, and home to a controversial safe-injection site for drug users.

This anthology refracts the experience of those who live and work in the Downtown Eastside, reappropriating the coding of the area and recasting the neighborhood as a site of creative energy, community spirit, and human dignity.
Cathleen With ( Having Faith in the Polar Girls’ Prison ) writes about the area’s street kids. Michael Turner ( Hard Core Logo ) recalls years living in an apartment on Powell Street. Madeleine Thien ( Certainty ) examines the effect of the neighbourhood on her family's dynamic and its role in her development as a writer. Wayde Compton ( After Canaan ) writes about Hogan's Alley and the history of Vancouver's black community. Other pieces explore the sex trade and the Missing Women of the DTES, the culture of Chinatown and other ethnic communities, and the simple, human truths around poverty, kinship, forgiveness, and faith, and remind us that expression flourishes regardless of barriers.

Includes a preface by writer Gary Geddes. Partial proceeds from the sale of this book will fund Thursdays Writing Collective, a program for DTES writers directed by co-editor Elee Kraljii Gardiner.

Genres: Nonfiction, Canadian Literature, Canada

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2012

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so, so lovely. It gives such a powerful voice to the DTES and is such a great art piece.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1972, Canada Post assigned the postal code to an area of Vancouver commonly referred to as the Downtown Eastside (DTES). Known for its high unemployment, addiction, crime, violence, and sex trade issues, this area also became known as Canada’s poorest postal code. Although the label might not be accurate, it has stuck. But one of the good things happening to DTES residents is the Thursday Writing Collective, a program offering free, drop-in creative writing classes.

From that vibrant group, a collection of poems, stories, and essays has recently been published. As editors Elee Kraljii Gardiner and John Mikhail Asfour note, the pieces were chosen for their humanity and craft, rather than community involvement or credentials. The common thread is the effect the DTES has had in shaping the writer as an artist. Contributors were encouraged to write about what matters to them, and they certainly did.

Much has been written about the DTES (often judgmental) from people who don’t live there, so it was refreshing to read the work of residents. While some contributors are more skilled than others, there was a candidness, sincerity, and authenticity about every piece. I urge you to read the insightful introduction which helps put the contributions in context. This collection is a poignant read providing insights to the lives of people too often marginalized, ignored, and ridiculed.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays, stories, poems written by people with connections to Vancouver's blighted downtown neighbourhood, which bears the V6A postal code prefix. It is the product of a weekly writing workshop. Some of the authors, such as Madeleine Thien (an acclaimed award-winning author) are former residents of the area; others are current residents, sometimes of no fixed address but well acquainted with the places in the parks to hide in to get a night's sleep. Drug addiction, homelessness, prostitution, loneliness, abuse are frequent subjects. Despair arises from being unseen, unrecognised, ignored. The writing is powerful, sometimes raging, sometimes funny, and sometimes just puzzled. Why? is the question.
And we are left wondering that too: why?
Recommended.

[Steve Goodyear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great anthology with a range or perspectives and emotion. I love how it blends professional writers with aspiring writers as it leaves me reflecting on my own perceptions and connections to the neighbourhood.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book with fascinating stories.