The tragic underbelly of Toronto -- stories of a father's suicide, a gruesome murder, and the trial of a violent transvestite -- are integral to the city's texture, and part of some of the finely crafted works in TOK: Writing the New Toronto, a yearly publication put out by the literary jack-of-all trades organization, Diaspora Dialogues.

The stories, written by established and emerging immigrant talent, are one of many ways that Diaspora Dialogues (DD) contributes to Toronto's burgeoning literary scene. Combining teaching programs, multi-media events and a publishing house, Diaspora Dialogues is committed to bringing diverse and ethnic writers into the mainstream.

"Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world," explains Helen Walsh, DD's executive director.  "We want that to be reflected in the publishing world."

TOK combines work from established writers and up-and-comers who have recently completed DD's mentorship program. Working closely with authors, such as Emma Donoghue, nominee for this year's Governor General and the Man Booker awards, the four-month course gives young writers the chance to carefully hone a piece for TOK's publication. "What's rare about the program is that it offers free mentoring to artists who are just starting out," explains Priscila Uppal, a DD mentor and advisor, and author of the novel To Whom It May Concern. "It's a really rare opportunity. There's really nothing like this in the rest of Canada."  

Launched five years ago by Helen Walsh, who is also the publisher of the Literary Review of Canada, Diaspora Dialogues connects emerging voices to those with established careers, offering young writers the chance to be edited and learn from the country's best.

"The course gave me a lot of confidence because Emma Donoghue is very supportive," explains Leslie Shimotakahara, a recent mentee who used her published TOK work to find an agent for a memoir, The Reading List: Literature, Love, and Back Again, that will published next year. "She encouraged me to just go for it."

As well as mentoring, Diaspora Dialogues aims to grow the Toronto literary scene by offering reading and spoken word events throughout the year. In July, it offered evenings of "Poetry, Prosecco and Pasta." In September, it paired up with the literary festival Word on the Street for a literary scavenger hunt. In October, at Nuit Blanche, it partnered with the Humber School of Creative & Performing Arts and the Gardiner Museum for a performance project involving brief sentences and snippets of poetry on multi-coloured and bespeckled glass. The range of venues and diverse events are no coincidence, explains Sandy Pool, a poet and multi-media artist who took the Diaspora Dialogues mentorship program earlier this year. "Diaspora Dialogues aims to create a dialogue within the Toronto writing community, but also Toronto itself. It introduced literature to places you wouldn't necessarily expect."

Eager to build a diverse writing community from the ground up, Diaspora Dialogues reached out to immigrant kids early in its history: in 2006, it expanded its core programming to offer free writing workshops. In Malvern, the local library and several schools asked kids about their interests, which veered towards graphic novels. Artists and writers came twice weekly to teach the genre. The results reached beyond books: the program started to break down existing cultural barriers and bring shy students out of their shells, explains Leo Wong, a librarian who helped administer the program.

"There are many ethnicities in Malvern," he explains. "South Asian, Tamil, Chinese, Caribbean, Filipino. Kids from different cultures don't really talk to each other. But we saw kids connecting through drawing, and starting new friendships. We started to realize that it was about more than having fun, it was a really rewarding program."

Since then, the program has expanded to schools and libraries throughout the city, including Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Jamestown/North Albion, Danforth Village, Mount Dennis and Lawrence Heights. "Bringing immigrant writers to these communities is important because the kids feel more of a connection to these people," explains Julia Chan, DD's artistic manager. "They feel their voices are valued."

Sometimes empowerment requires shifting perspectives. At a Jamestown school, Uppal was mentoring a group of high school students who were predominantly Middle Eastern and African. Initially believing their stories did not matter, many kids wrote about Aryan kids with blond hair and blue eyes. "They thought they were supposed to write about the people that they see on television," she explains. "I pushed them to write about the things that they had experienced, about the things that they weren't seeing in the media."

As its youth program continues to expand, Diaspora Dialogues has started to reach out to other cities internationally. Currently it is partnering artists and writers in Toronto and London to create Urban Under Ground, a series of projects that explore the interplay between a city's citizens and the physical environment. Collaborations with Edinburgh and Glasgow are also in the works. "Toronto has a rich diversity of writers coming into their own right now," explains Chan. "It's great to be able to give them this international exposure."

Alexandra Shimo is an author and journalist based on the Ossington strip. She has lived in several cities, including London, New York and  Washington D.C. and is now proud to call the T-dot her home.