Centre for International Governance Innovation (
CIGI)
67 Erb St. W.\, Waterloo \; N2L 6C2
Centre for Internationa
l Governance Innovation (CIGI)
67 Erb St. W.\, Waterloo \; N2L 6C
2
In 2024\, Textil e launched Black Talk\, a literary event bringing celebrated and award-win ning Black authors to Waterloo Region for conversation and community engag ement. Black Talk 2026 features decorated Black Canadian speculative autho r Nalo Hopkinson in conversation with literary and cultural critic Donna B ailey Nurse. The evening is being moderated by Carol Duncan.
\nThis year&rsquo\;s event leans into the power of story to create and anchor Bla ck identity. Stories have always been important to Black people across the African Diaspora. Storytelling created a space for Black people to docume nt their stories. Through folktales\, songs\, proverbs\, metaphors\, and s o much more\, Black people preserved their identities and memories for fut ure generations to engage with. Fiction created a space for us to create o urselves. \;
\nNalo Hopkinson will be available for book signing after the conversation (approximately 8:30pm). Books will be available fo r purchase courtesy of Words Worth Books.
\nPresented in partnership with Texti le\, with support from:
\nNalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born Canadia n speculative writer and editor. Nalo is the recipient of numerous awards\ , including the California State University Eagle-Con 2018 Octavia Butler Memorial Award\, which celebrates an author whose writing exemplifies the spirit of Butler's work\, and in 2021\, she was named the Damon Knight Mem orial Grand Master\, a lifetime honour from Science Fiction Writers of Ame rica. Hopkinson is the Youngest Grand Master and the first woman of Africa n descent to receive this honour. \; Her novels &ndash\; Brown Gir l in the Ring (1998)\, Midnight Robber (2000)\, The Salt Roads (2003)\, Blackheart Man (2024) &ndash\; and short sto ries such as those in her collection Skin Folk (2001) often draw on Caribbean history and language\, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.
\nDonna Bailey Nurse is a Canadian l
iterary critic. She is the author of two volumes of collected writing\,
Car ol B. Duncan is a chronicler of human stories of migration\, comm unity\, and identity. Her publications include scholarly books and article s\, creative non-fiction\, and short stories. She is a tenured full profes sor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier Universit y. Her research focuses on Caribbean migration\, gender\, religion\, and p opular culture\, as well as on Caribbean religions in diasporic and transn ational contexts. She won the Region of Waterloo&rsquo\;s Literary Award i n 2002. Carol&rsquo\;s short stories have been published in Augur Magazine \, Tales and Feathers\, FIYAH Magazine\, PREE Magazine of Caribbean Writin g\, and Apparition Magazine. Her next short story will appear in an upcomi ng issue of the Caribbean Review of Gender Studies.
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