Yearly Archives: 2019

The Cinematheque
1131 Howe St. Vancouver.
Doors open at 5:30pm. Presentation by Lindsay Wong starts at 5:45pm, followed by an audience Q&A.

The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and my Crazy Chinese Family
Written by Lindsay Wong

In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family who blame their woes on ghosts and demons when they should really be on anti-psychotic meds.

Lindsay Wong grew up with a grandmother who has paranoid schizophrenia and a mother who was deeply afraid of the “woo-woo” — Chinese ghosts who come to visit in times of personal turmoil. From a young age, she witnessed the woo-woo’s sinister effects; when she was six, Lindsay and her mother avoided the dead people haunting their house by hiding out in a mall food court, and on a camping trip, in an effort to rid her daughter of demons, her mother tried to light Lindsay’s foot on fire.

The eccentricities take a dark turn, however, and when Lindsay starts to experience symptoms of the woo-woo herself, she wonders whether she will suffer the same fate as her family.

At once a witty and touching memoir about the Asian immigrant experience and a harrowing and honest depiction of the vagaries of mental illness, The Woo-Woo is a gut-wrenching and beguiling manual for surviving family, and oneself.

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About the author:

Lindsay Wong holds a BFA in Creative Writing from The University of British Columbia and a MFA in Literary Nonfiction from Columbia University in New York City.

Her debut memoir, The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug-Raids, Demons, And My Crazy Chinese Family won the Hubert-Evans Nonfiction Prize in 2019. It was also shortlisted for the 2018 Hilary Weston Prize, 2019 Canada Reads, and long-listed for the 2019 Stephen Leacock Medal in Humour.

Her YA novel, The Summer I Learned Chinese is forthcoming from Simon Pulse in 2020.

Wong resides in East Vancouver.

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Additional details about tonight’s event:

A reminder: Attendance is free but please RSVP below by September 16, 2019.

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Interested attendees of Lucid can purchase tickets to attend the Frames Of Mind screening that immediately follows the Lucid event. See http://www.framesofmind.ca to keep up to date with monthly film screenings.

Feel free to email us with any questions or comments at info@nulllucidbookclub.com, and be sure to check out our blog: www.lucidbookclub.com for updates!

Thank you for supporting Lucid!

Wednesday, March 20, 2019
5:30-7:00 pm
Cineworks
1131 Howe St. Vancouver.
(Access is by way of the lane between Howe Street and Hornby Street. Knock on the door that says Cineworks.)

Hidden Lives: true stories from people who live with mental illness
(Touchwood, 2017)
Edited by Lenore Rowntree and Andrew Boden

In this ground-breaking collection, well-known and cutting-edge authors bring to light life with mental illness. These evocative essays, by writers who either suffer from or have close family members diagnosed with mental illness or a developmental disorder, aim to break down the stigma that surrounds one of the most devastating of human tribulations. The writers recount their experiences with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, clinical depression, anorexia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Hidden Lives gives readers a place to turn and communicates not despair but courage.

“A privileged if uncomfortably close look at one of the most devastating a human tribulations. For all the raw honestly of its revelations, Hidden Lives communicates not despair but courage.” —Gabor Maté, MD

Readings and discussion by co-editors Lenore Rowntree and Andrew Boden

Additional discussion by invited guest Sandra Luckow

The following two (downloadable) short stories will the initial focus of our discussion. Reading ahead of time is not necessary but encouraged. Copies of Hidden Lives will be available for sale at the event.

Attendance is free but please RSVP to https://goo.gl/forms/jyLip8P6AsgsKWiU2 by March 17, 2019.  An optional light meal (sandwiches with vegetarian options, chips, and juice) is available at $10.00 per person payable by cash at the event. Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate specific dietary requests at this time.

More about Hidden Lives:
https://www.touchwoodeditions.com/book/hidden-lives/

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About the facilitators:

Lenore Rowntree is a Canadian author and playwright. She is a co-editor and contributor to the collection of life stories Hidden Lives: true stories from people who live with mental illness (Touchwood Editions/Brindle & Glass, 2nd ed. 2017). Her novel Cluck is the darkly comic story of Henry whose mother lives with bipolar disorder and was a finalist for the Great BC Novel contest (Thistledown Press, 2016).
http://lenorerowntree.com

Andrew Boden‘s articles on mental illness have appeared in Open Minds Quarterly and Other Voices. His stories and essays have appeared in The Journey Prize Stories: 22, Prairie Fire, Descant, Vancouver Review, and the anthology Nobody’s Father: Life Without Kids. Andrew is vice-president and director of the Institute for Cross-Cultural Exchange, a Canadian children’s literacy charity.
http://www.andrewboden.ca/

Sandra Luckow teaches documentary and narrative film production at Columbia University, Barnard College and Yale School of Art. Her film THAT WAY MADNESS LIES will be screened at the Cinematheque on March 20^th at 7:30 PM as part of the Frames of Mind Mental Health film series.

Note: Sandra’s comments this evening will be informed by a book she highly recommends: I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help! How To Help Someone With Mental Illness Accept Treatment by Dr. Xavier Amador
http://www.vidapress.com/i-am-not-sick-i-dont-need-help

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Additional details about tonight’s event:

A reminder: Attendance is free but please RSVP by March 17, 2019. (An optional light meal is available at $10.00 per person payable by cash at the event.)

Interested attendees of Lucid can purchase tickets to attend the Frames Of Mind screening that immediately follows the Lucid event. See http://www.thecinematheque.ca/nightly/2019/3/20

Feel free to email us with any questions or comments at info@nulllucidbookclub.comm, and be sure to check out our blog: www.lucidbookclub.com for updates!

Thank you for supporting Lucid!