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(L to R): A lica Hall, Mayor Tory,  Nation Cheong, MPP Andrew and MP Vaughan in front of the Nia Centre For The Arts A Little Jamaica Project With a  Purpose By Stephen Weir  As autumn days go last Friday’s press conference for the  NIA Centre for the Arts  was perfect.  Warm temperatures, no wind and sunshine beamed down on a Little Jamaica building that is about to make Black history in Canada. The afternoon media event had speakers and representation from the province, the city and arts group both in person and online.  Prime Minister  Justin Trudeau  helped kick off the half hour event with an online speech in both French and English (I attended virtually as well).     The   PM spoke from Ottawa Speaking from Ottawa the PM said “This new space will continue to bring people together and allow everyone to experience the art that is rooted in Black Canadian traditions, and that is incredibly important because we all need to co...

Stories from Little Jamaica earn Toronto writer a place  on Kobo’s Emerging Writer Prize Short List Another week, another Caribbean Canadian author has been nominated for a top national literary prize. Zalika Reid-Benta,  a Toronto-based Jamaican Canadian novelist has made the longlist for the Sixth Annual Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. She is in the running for the $10,000 prize for literary fiction for her book  Frying Plantain  was published last year and nominated for the 2019 Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious award.    Since then it has won the 2019 Byblacks People’s Choice Awards for Best Author and has been nominated for the Ontario Library Association’s 2020 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award and The Canadian Writers’ Union Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Rakuten Kobo, the Toronto based global eBook and audiobook online seller will be announcing the winners of the Emerging Writer Prize in June. It recognizes exceptional...