Land of the Silver Birch, a Personal Essay by Annahid Dashtgard (10/14/2020) Land of the Silver Birch is a personal essay by Annahid Dashtgard. It is part of Transmission, CBC Books' original writing series reflecting on life during COVID-19. "Ouch!" I rub my head as it hits the car ceiling once again. This bumpy road feels like landscaped uncertainty. The cottage we've rented is somewhere a few miles away, on… [Read More...]
Why write a memoir? (9/12/2019) For most of us, journeying back to wholeness is an arduous process, akin to Sisyphus condemned to endlessly push a boulder uphill. Integrating such experiences, goes beyond the simplistic Hollywood notion of a magical “epiphany.” [Read More...]
The Threads of Generosity (9/8/2019) We all yearn for home, that four-letter word encompassing for each of us what it means to belong — to a place, to a group of people, to an idea. Home is a felt sense. The drop of shoulders when we walk through a door. The odour of love in a crinkled shirt. That moment… [Read More...]
“Are you Excited?”: Getting Ready to Launch (8/5/2019) If you’d asked me a year ago how I felt about my book being published I would have stood still while on the inside feeling like one of those washing machines that spin so wildly they look like they’re about to launch into outer space. Now, if you ask me – the book comes out… [Read More...]
Dear Canada: A Love Letter (7/1/2019) I’ve known you now for close to four decades. You and I first met when I was a scrappy nine year old brown kid who arrived on your soil from England by way of Iran. Your grand open spaces shocked me after the boisterous crowded streets of Tehran, and the more placid yet still crowded… [Read More...]