JOHNNY DELIVERS by WAYNE NG and THE BEAUTY OF US by FARZANA DOCTOR (

Join social workers Wayne Ng and Farzana Doctor as they reunite after 32 years to chat about writing politicized BIPOC stories and how they both learned to cross genres and write YA fiction.

Catch them at Another Story Bookshop in Toronto on Monday, Dec 9th at 7pm!

Wayne was Farzana's student supervisor back in 1992 in Ottawa. Today, they’re both cranky, racialized writers with new YA books, nostalgically bonding over the '70s and '80s.

Free and open to all—a mask-friendly event.

JOHNNY DELIVERS by WAYNE NG (waynengwrites.com)

Eighteen-year-old Johnny Wong’s dead-end life consists of delivering Chinese food and holding his chaotic family together in Toronto. When his sweet but treacherous Auntie, the mahjong queen, calls in their family debt, he fears the family will lose the Red Pagoda restaurant and break apart.

Invoking the spirit of Bruce Lee and in cahoots with his stoner friend Barry, Johnny tries to save his family by taking up a life of crime, delivering W**d with a side of egg rolls. He chases his first love, but his hands are already full with his emotionally distant mother, his dream-crushing father, and his reckless, sardonic little sister.

As he fights to stay ahead of his Auntie, sordid family secrets unfold. With lives on the line, the only way out is an epic mahjong battle. While Johnny is on a mission to figure out who he is and what he wants, he must learn that help can come from within and that our heroes are closer than we think.

Dripping with 1970s nostalgia, JOHNNY DELIVERS is a gritty and humorous standalone sequel to the much-loved and award-winning LETTERS FROM JOHNNY.

THE BEAUTY OF US by FARZANA DOCTOR (farzanadoctor.com)

September 1984, Thornton College private school. After 15-year-old Zahabiya’s father remarries, she can’t wait to leave home and convinces him to send her away to boarding school. But will she fit in? She joins a clique of smart students but isn’t sure if she measures up or how to read the mixed messages from a guy she’s crushing on.

Seventeen-year-old Leesa has been at Thornton since middle school after her parents’ messy divorce. She’s been climbing the school’s social ladder with equal measures of meanness and manipulation. She’s also guarding a big secret that she has to work overtime to keep from her friends.

Fresh out of university, this is Nahla’s first real teaching job, and she’s drowning. She has her distractions though: the flirty art teacher and a cryptic notebook left behind by her deceased predecessor, Mademoiselle Leblanc.

Zahabiya and her friends — all racialized girls and victims of Leesa’s bullying — uncover Leesa’s secret. But can they help Leesa? Nahla, too, is embroiled in her own mystery, assisted by Mademoiselle Leblanc’s ghost. Each is indelibly changed by what they learn.

Masterfully crafted, THE BEAUTY OF US is a gripping novel about surviving hardship, the power of friendship, and growing up.

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