---Robin Coste Lewis @ Portland Arts & Lectures, on 4.20.16
We are beginning to gather books for the popup library installation project. The first two books in the De-Canon collection are courtesy of Stephanie Adams-Santos: her most recent poetry collection Swarm Queen's Crown, and one earlier collection, Total Memory. Thank you, Steph, for these gifts to the library!
Our "popup library" will debut in August 2017 at UNA Gallery. A preview event and reading will take place, also at UNA, on June 1st.
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On March 11, we held our very first Living Canon Talk at the High and Low Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Panelists were poets Samiya Bashir and Neil Aitken. Our moderator was Zahir Janmohamed (host of Racist Sandwich podcast). With these "living canon" talks, De-Canon seeks to challenge the notion of literary canons as fixed or established, instead presenting conversations that are dynamic, ever-evolving, and of the moment.
The etymology of the word “canon” goes back to Latin and Greek phrases for: “church law” and "measuring line" and "any straight rod or bar; rule; standard of excellence”; possibly derived from kanna, which was the Greek word for “reed” or “cane”.
Read MoreBack in February, Kjerstin Johnson of The Portland Mercury interviewed Dao Strom to learn more about the De-Canon project.
“It’s definitely a time in this country when it’s important to give visibility to marginalized voices. And then for us, as artists of color, to come together and form a community,” says Portland writer Dao Strom.
De-Canon, a visibility project, aims to do just that—build community online and off—while showcasing literary work by writers of color that, according to the project’s website, is “inclusive, diverse, and multi-storied in their approach to representation.”
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