Marvellous Grounds: Queer of Colour Formations in Toronto

by Jin Haritaworn (Editor), Ghaida Moussa (Editor), Syrus Marcus Ware (Editor)

Toronto has long been a place that people of colour move to in order to join queer of colour communities. Yet the city’s rich history of activism by queer and trans people who are Black, Indigenous, or of colour (QTBIPOC) remains largely unwritten and unarchived. While QTBIPOC have a long and visible presence in the city, they always appear as newcomers in queer urban maps and archives in which white queers appear as the only historical subjects imaginable.

The first collection of its kind to feature the art, activism, and writings of QTBIPOC in Toronto, Marvellous Grounds tells the stories that have shaped Toronto’s landscape but are frequently forgotten or erased. Responding to an unmistakable desire in QTBIPOC communities for history and lineage, this rich volume allows us to imagine new ancestors and new futures.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT, Canada, Queer

272 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2018

Reviews

[Ghaida Moussa]

Just a thank you from one of the co-editors to all the readers for buying, reading, and engaging with the amazing work of the qtbipoc authors featured in this collection!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. The editors take on the white archives and force us to consider how the act of archiving also excludes, and how the queer archive is often made to be excessively white. And male. And cis. And abled.

This collection contains a few of the stories and histories that are often left out of the traditional archives and makes a start at pointing out what we need to focus on, and the questions we need to ask of any archive collection. Many more of these collections are needed, and I can only hope that more of these stories and histories keep being shared.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing omission of writings and interviews by or even about trans women. The best essays discuss politics and community action, histories of sex workers and mourning (the first and last essays particulary stood out to me), the most tedious centred faith, healing, and art.