An Evening with Author Zalika Reid-Benta

An Evening with Author Zalika Reid-Benta

When

27/02/2025    
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

RSVP here.

Thursday, February 27, 2025, 6-8 PM (doors open at 5:30 PM)
William Doo Auditorium, New College
45 Willcocks Street, Toronto

Join author Zalika Reid-Benta, alumna of Victoria College and Caribbean Studies, University of Toronto, for an engaging evening as she discusses her debut novel River Mumma and award-winning story collection Frying Plantain. This will be followed by a moderated conversation with students from the Caribbean Studies program.

About the author: Zalika Reid-Benta

Zalika Reid-Benta is a Canadian author. Her debut novel River Mumma was shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award and was listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 on numerous platforms, including CBC Books, Kobo Books, and The Walrus. River Mumma received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist Magazine and Foreword Reviews. It is an Amazon Books Editors’ Pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and was the October 2023 pick for the CityLine book club. Reid-Benta’s debut story collection, Frying Plantain, won the 2020 Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the 2020 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction. Frying Plantain was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award, the Trillium Book Award, the White Pine Award and the Evergreen Award. Zalika was the 2023 and 2019 winner of the ByBlacks People’s Choice Award for Best Author, and her picture book, The Twelve Days of Jamaican Christmas will be published in 2026.

We would like to thank New College; Victoria College; Centre of Caribbean Studies; Women and Gender Studies Institute and PEN Canada for their collaboration on this event.

About River Mumma

Alicia has been out of grad school for months. She has no career prospects and lives with her mom, who won’t stop texting her macabre news stories and reminders to pick up items from the grocery store. Then, one evening, the Jamaican water deity, River Mumma, appears to Alicia, telling her that she has twenty-four hours to scour the city for her missing comb. Alicia doesn’t understand why River Mumma would choose her. She can’t remember all the legends her relatives told her, unlike her retail co-worker Heaven, who can reel off Jamaican folklore by heart. She doesn’t know if her childhood visions have returned, or why she feels a strange connection to her other co-worker Mars. River Mumma is a powerful portrayal of diasporic identities and a vital examination into ancestral ties. It is a homage to Jamaican storytelling by one of the most invigorating voices in Canadian literature.

“These stories are readable and relatable. They hit the sweet spot between having something to say and still being the kind of read you can immerse yourself in, a rare combination.” —Globe and Mail

“Wholly original, remarkably crafted, and unmatched in voice. I loved this book!” —Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of VenCo and Empire of Wild