Shortlisted for 2024 Canada Reads Longlisted for the 2024 Carnegie Medals for Excellence through the American Library Association 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 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 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 Avenue beautifully combines visual art, fiction, and the endangered Toisan dialect to create a book that is truly unforgettable. This audiobook edition includes an accompanying PDF of illustrations on supported reading platforms. It also includes behind-the-scenes production notes from the author and the illustrator, detailing their inspirations for the story and their personal connections to the community and urban landscape of Toronto's Chinatown and Kensington Market.
Christina Wong is a multidisciplinary artist who wrote and now narrates this slice-of-life novel. It's about an elderly Chinese Canadian widow who pushes a cart through Toronto's Chinatown, gathering bottles, cans, and reliving memories. David Innes's outstanding pen-and-ink illustrations, available on an accompanying pdf, are described by the narrator as the story proceeds. Wong delivers part of
