Gold Winner 2022 IPPY Award
Silver Winner 2021 Foreward Indies
Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist
“Astonishingly consistent in calibre… one of the finest anthologies published in recent years and should be required reading on syllabuses across the country.”
—Starred Review, Quill & Quire
“…an extraordinary achievement, one that succeeds in creating a colourful tapestry out of the hundreds if not thousands of languages that live within the soul of the inhabitants of this land we call Canada.”
—New Canadian Media
About the Book
- Read the introduction
- Preview Now – Look Inside!
- An Excerpt from Karen McBride’s essay —New Canadian Media
- An Excerpt from Amanda Leduc’s essay – Toronto Star
In this collection of deeply personal essays, twenty-six writers explore their connection with language, accents, and vocabularies, and contend with the ways these can be used as both bridge and weapon. Some explore the way power and privilege affect language learning, especially the shame and exclusion often felt by non-native English speakers in a white, settler, colonial nation. Some confront the pain of losing a mother tongue or an ancestral language along with the loss of community and highlight the empowerment that comes with reclamation. Others celebrate the joys of learning a new language and the power of connection. All underscore how language can offer both transformation and collective healing.
Tongues: On Longing and Belonging through Language is a vital anthology that opens a compelling dialogue about language diversity and probes the importance of language in our identity and the ways in which it shapes us.
With contributions by: Kamal Al-Solaylee, Jenny Heijun Wills, Karen McBride, Melissa Bull, Leonarda Carranza, Adam Pottle, Kai Cheng Thom, Sigal Samuel, Rebecca Fisseha, Hege Anita Jakobsen Lepri, Logan Broeckaert, Taslim Jaffer, Ashley Hynd, Jagtar Kaur Atwal, Téa Mutonji, Rowan McCandless, Sahar Golshan, Camila Justino, Amanda Leduc, Ayelet Tsabari, Carrianne Leung, Janet Hong, Danny Ramadan, Sadiqa de Meijer, Jónína Kirton, and Eufemia Fantetti.
Press Coverage
Listen to Antanas Sileika review of Tongues on CBC Radio‘s The Next Chapter
Listen to editors Eufemia Fantetti and Ayelet Tsabari speak about Tongues at The Vocal Fries Podcast
Watch a recording of the launch with reading by authors and an interview with the editors here
Read reflections from the contributors of Tongues, All Lit Up
Read “Watch Our Tongues: The Glories of Language Diversity,” an essay by editor Eufemia Fantetti
Praise
“Astonishingly consistent in calibre, Tongues: On Longing and Belonging through Language is one of the finest anthologies published in recent years and should be required reading on syllabuses across the country.” —Sheniz Janmohamed, starred review, Quill & Quire
“The collection is an extraordinary achievement, one that succeeds in creating a colourful tapestry out of the hundreds if not thousands of languages that live within the soul of the inhabitants of this land we call Canada.”
2021 Best of Fall guide: Nonfiction —Quill and Quire
35 books you need to know about in fall 2021 —Toronto Star
Reading List: Fall brings hearty, heady books for longer days —Stir Magazine
Shrapnel’s Fall Favourites of 2021