Why a Booktrail?
2023: The price of progress in cities like Toronto and those it leaves behind.
Denison Avenue
What you need to know before your trail
moving story told in visual art and fiction about gentrification, ageing in place, grief, and vulnerable Chinese Canadian elders. Bringing together ink artwork and fiction, Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes (illustrations) and Christina Wong (text) follows the elderly Wong Cho Sum, who, living in Toronto’s gentrifying Chinatown-Kensington Market, begins to collect bottles and cans after the sudden loss of her husband as a way to fill her days and keep grief and loneliness at bay. In her long walks around the city, Cho Sum meets new friends, confronts classism and racism, and learns how to build a life as a widow in a neighbourhood that is being destroyed and rebuilt, leaving elders like her behind. A poignant meditation on loss, ageing, gentrification, and the barriers that Chinese Canadian seniors experience in big cities, Denison Avenue beautifully combines visual art, fiction, and the endangered Toisan dialect to create a book that is truly unforgettable.
Travel Guide
Toronto Kensington Market/Chinatown neighbourhood
A- Denison Ave (157 Denison Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2N2, Canada) – The street that Wong See Hei (Henry) and Wong Cho Sum live on.
B- MoonBean Coffee (30 St Andrew St, Toronto, ON M5T 1K6, Canada) – A coffee shop mentioned in conversations and a place the characters pass on their walks. The smell of their coffee is one that can be detected blocks away.
C- Spadina Ave and Dundas St W (292 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5T 2E7, Canada) – Where See Hei and Cho Sum frequently went for lunch. Also, just steps away, where Cho Sum goes to sell her vegetables.
D- Dim Sum King Restaurant (421 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5T 2W4, Canada) – Where the Wong Association of Ontario holds their annual banquets and also where Cho Sum asks about a job opening.
E- Alexandra Park (275 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON M5T 2S4, Canada) – Where the informal qi gong exercise class with other seniors are held and where Cho Sum frequently goes to sit.
F- Toronto Western Hospital (399 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada) – Where See Hei is taken after the hit-and-run and where he subsequently dies.G- Beer Store (452 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON M5T 2S9, Canada) – Where Li Seem takes Cho Sum to teach her how to return the bottles and cans they find.
H- Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M6G 1K1, Canada) – Where See Hei and Cho Sum frequently browsed and shopped.
BookTrail Boarding Pass:
Destination: Toronto Author/guide: Daniel Innes and Christina Wong Departure Time: 2023
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