Amanda Sung book launch "Neither Here Nor There"

Join two writers, one novelist and one poet, for a night of storytelling on belonging, identity and the life between two worlds.
About this Event

Toronto debut of award-winning author Amanda Sung and her novel HOW TO BREAK

A GIRL, with poet Neil Aitken

Neither Here Nor There: A Night of Fiction and Poetry on Belonging

Join us at Another Story Bookshop on September 10th for an evening that goes beyond the traditional book launch.

Fresh off an award win, novelist and filmmaker Amanda Sung makes her Toronto debut—a homecoming of sorts, as a formerly Toronto-based, now Vancouver-based writer whose novel name-checks the CN Tower, Trinity Bellwoods, and Dragon City Mall. She’ll be in conversation with award-winning poet Neil Aitken on belonging, identity, and life lived between worlds.

And it won't stop at the page. Sung has adapted her award-winning novel into a series of short films, with a second adaptation shot just this summer. Expect the conversation to spill across forms, from prose to screen.

How to Break a Girl follows three Asian Canadian immigrants—Elizabeth, Aurora, and Lily, born in Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan—whose lives embody the multicultural fabric of Vancouver. Think *Sex and the City*, if Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha were Asian Canadian immigrants navigating love, career, intergenerational baggage, and cultural curveballs. Not a sob story—sisterhood and sass, with a sharper edge and a deeper heart.

Expect readings from both authors, a candid conversation across mediums, audience Q&A, and a book signing to close the night.

Amanda Sung is a Taiwanese-Canadian writer who crafts her stories from the inside out—How to Break a Girl, drawn from the scars and triumphs of her own journey as a satellite child growing up in Canada without parents. The debut is named the only self- published finalist in this year’s San Francisco Book Festival's General Fiction category. Her work isn't just imagined—it's lived, with each character carrying a piece of her, infused with the hard-won wisdom of a childhood spent navigating displacement and an adulthood forged by survival. Amanda holds a Bachelor's in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a Master of Journalism from the University of British Columbia.

How to Break a Girl evolved from her graduate thesis—originally conceived as a memoir, now reimagined as fiction. As a therapist-in-training passionate about social change, Amanda advocates for authentic, expanded representation of Asian diaspora women in media—her North Star, whether on the page or on screen. Her debut short film premiered this year, and she is currently raising funds for adaptations in the works. When she isn't writing or filming, she can be seen at the gym or cocktail bars. She has also hosted segments for Novus TV and modelled for the Regent Hotel. Be sure to follow her journey—piano covers included—on Instagram @amandasung!

Neil Aitken is an award-winning poet and the author of The Lost Country of Sight, Babbage’s Dream, and LEVIAH.