WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
MIXED VOICES RAISED

VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY, CENTRAL BRANCH, ALICE MCKAY ROOM
7PM   FREE EVENT

The opening event of the 5th anniversary of Hapa-palooza Festival brings an electric evening of stories that shape us, curated by award-winning filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns. Seven storytellers including actor Patrick Gallagher (Night at the Museum/Glee), storyteller and playwright Sharon Shorty, comedian Sean Devlin, musician Buckman Coe and authors Brandy Worrall, Anna Ling Kaye and Chelene Knight share true tales of the shaping of their hybrid-identities.  Author, Minelle Mahtani, will be on hand to sign copies of her book, 'Mixed Race Amnesia'.  This event is the launch of Hapa-palooza Festival, the largest arts festival in Canada celebrating mixed heritage.

VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY, CENTRAL BRANCH, ALICE MCKAY ROOM
7PM   FREE EVENT

Mixed Voices Raised Artists:

Patrick Gallagher

Patrick Gallagher was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, and grew up in Chilliwack, BC. He is of Irish and Chinese descent. Gallagher graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1993. He began his career in Toronto working in the theater, in film and on television. In 2003 he gave a strong performance as Awkward Davies in Peter Weir's Oscar-nominated Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). His next role was Det. Joe Finn in the seventh season of the highly acclaimed Canadian television drama Da Vinci's Inquest (1998), carrying that character into the new series Da Vinci's City Hall (2005). He will also be remembered as Gary the Bartender in Alexander Payne's multi-award-winning Sideways (2004).

Sharon Shorty

Sharon Shorty is from the Tlingit, Northern Tutchone and Norwegian People and is from the Raven Clan.  She was raised with the storytelling tradition of her southern Yukon community.  As a result, she lkes nothing more than to share stories in various genres. Her popular character "Grandma Susie" tells the old stories as well as her adventures with Colonel Sanders and trips to New York City.   As a playwright, her stories reflect her people. In Trickster Visits the Old Folks Home, an elder is moved to a nursing home, against her will. She has appeared on APTN, CBC, and CTV. 

In 2012, on Canada Day, Sharon and Duane were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for their significant public service to the Yukon and Canada alike.  Sharon is also an award winning actor (Aurora Award, 1997) and Storyteller (Aurora Award, 1998). She has received the Ross Charles Award (1999), the CTV Fellowship (1999) and The Yukon Filmmaker's Fund Award (1999). And more importantly, Sharon is an award-winning Bannock-Maker! (New Yukon Indian Days, 2003)  She was also recently named "Best Comedian" and "Best way to dress as an Elder", and Gramma Susie's clothing can now be seen at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Chelene Knight

Chelene is currently the new Poetry Coordinator at Room Magazine. Her work is deeply rooted in her experiences of mixed ethnicity. Braided Skin, her first book, has given birth to numerous writing projects, including a work in progress, Dear Current Occupant, a collection of prose poems and letters written in the voice of a young woman speaking to the horrors, sadness and pleasures that took place in the over 20 homes she lived in as a child. Her mother is African American and her father and his family were victims of the Asian expulsion in Uganda that took place in the 70s. Chelene was born in Vancouver and is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at SFU.

Brandy Worrall

Brandy Liên Worrall is author of What Doesn’t Kill Us, a groundbreaking memoir about growing up in the din of her Vietnamese mother and American father’s trauma from the Vietnam War, and how it related to her breast cancer experience as a young adult. She is also the author of eight collections of poetry (the podBrandy series), as well as having served as editor of numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. She is the owner and editor of Rabbit Fool Press, a small family-owned-and-operated publishing company based in Vancouver. Brandy received her MA in Asian American Studies from UCLA in 2002 and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 2012.

Anna Ling Kaye

Anna is editor of Ricepaper magazine and a writer based in Vancouver. Co-founder of Hapa-palooza Festival, Anna also sits on the board of Project Bookmark Canada. Anna is of Taiwanese and Jewish heritage.

Sean Devlin

Sean Devlin is a comedian, filmmaker, activist and Executive Director of SHD. He has been performing stand up comedy since he was a teenager and has been active in the climate justice movement for 4 years. He is a direct action trainer and a thought stylist at the Yes Men's Yes Lab for creative activism. 

Buckman Coe

Bridging the worlds of roots & soul, Buckman Coe and his band craft an uplifting blend of sun-kissed folk; gospel-tinged americana; world-beat melodies, and psychedelic roots rock reggae. with a broad catalogue of work, the band enjoys both getting the dance floor going as well as giving audiences a more folk story-telling and introspective experience depending on the setting and the needs of the moment.