Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong

A moving story told in visual art and fiction about gentrification, aging in place, grief, and vulnerable Chinese Canadian elders.

Bringing together ink artwork and fiction,Denison Avenueby Daniel Innes (illustrations) and Christina Wong (text) follows the elderly Wong Cho Sum, who, living in Toronto's gentrifying ChinatownKensington 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 neighborhood that is being destroyed and rebuilt, leaving elders like her behind.

A poignant meditation on loss, aging, gentrification, and the barriers that Chinese Canadian seniors experience in big cities,Denison Avenuebeautifully combines visual art, fiction, and the endangered Toisan dialect to create a book that is truly unforgettable. (From ECW Press)

Denison Avenuewaschampioned by Naheed Nenshi on Canada Reads 2024.

• Meet theCanada Reads2024 contenders

The debates will air from march 4-7onCBC Radio One,CBC TV,CBC Gem,CBC Listenand onCBC Books.This year, the great Canadian book debate is looking for one book to carry us forward.

• The top 20 Canadian books of 2024, so far
• 8 Canadian books to read if you loved Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes
• How important are happy endings? Canada Reads contenders weigh in
• How Denison Avenue brought an author and a former mayor together for noodles and Canada Reads
• Denison Avenue explores aging and gentrification in Toronto's Chinatown read an excerpt now
• Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi championsDenison Avenueby Christina Wong & Daniel Innes
• 20 Canadian comics to check out in the first half of 2023
• The best Canadian fiction of 2023

Born and raised in Toronto, Daniel Innes is a multidisciplinary artist.

Christina Wong is a Toronto writer, playwright and multidisciplinary artist who also works in sound installation, audio documentaries and photography.

Christina Wong on her connection to Chinatown

"[Chinatown/Kensington Market is] a neighborhood that I've pretty much grown up with," said Wong in an interview that will soon air on The Next Chapter. "My parents and my grandparents, our family, we would just go there on Sundays and go for dim sum and go grocery shopping. So it's a place that's like home for me.

It's a place that's like home for me.- Christina Wong

"It's also where my family association is, the Wong Association, and it's also considered like another home where I would go and talk to the elders and learn things. So I felt like myself, in a sense, like I could learn more about my culture."

Interviews with Christina Wong

The Next Chapter20:07Canada Reads Panellist Naheed Nenshi and Denison Avenue author Christina Wong meet for the first time

Former three-term mayor of Calgary and community builder Naheed Nenshi explains why he chose to champion Christina Wong and Daniel Inness Denison Avenue. Wong talks about her deep personal connection to the Kensington Market area of Toronto, and why it was the perfect setting for her novel.

Airplay7:45Canada Reads spotlight shines on Denison Avenue

Christina Wong's first book Denison Avenue is one of the finalists for Canada Reads 2023.