Justin to perform at third anniversary of Free Speech.
Pakistani-born Shaista Justin arrived in Canada at the age of six and grew up in Parkdale, where she systematically read through stacks of books at the Parkdale library. Her book, 'Winter, the Unwelcome Visitor', has gained some wide acclaim and endorsements.
Photo/COURTESY
"I actually hate talking about growing up in Parkdale because it was such a distressing environment," said Shaista Justin. "There was this overall sense that the neighbourhood was depressing. If I was going to personify it, I would say it was this hopeless character."
Justin, a poet, playwright, and screenwriter, came to Canada from Pakistan in the 80s at the age of six. She moved to Parkdale when she was eight and lived there until she was 17.
"I grew up on Lansdowne Avenue," said the High Park resident. "At a time when it got so bad that the city had to come and shut those towers down."
The elevators didn't work and the hallways were dark - she describes it as the perfect setting for a horror movie.
She said there was always a sense you had to be careful.
"There was a lot of violence, but in the way we find Toronto violent," she explained. "Not the same violence that we find in the developing world. In South Africa violence takes on a whole new meaning."
Justin lived in South Africa after attending McMaster University and Queen's University. When she came back to Canada with her husband about five years ago, they moved to Parkdale for a few years before moving to Bloor West Village.
Parkdale now has an aura of "cool" because of all the artists who have moved in, she said, and people are taking advantage of the immigrant culture around.
"Parkdale is a very different place, it still has those edges where you see the odd prostitute," she said. "The change is drastic."
She said she is thrilled to discover artists, writers and academics living in her once "hopeless" neighbourhood.
Where many artists living in the neighbourhood today site it as a source of inspiration, Justin said her youth in Parkdale isn't something she draws on for her writing.
"I felt like it was more something I tolerated until I could leave it," she said. "I feel that anything I have achieved is in spite of growing up in Parkdale. That was actually a barrier to hold me back and not something that inspires you to move forward."
She wrote her first poem at the age of 11 and decided then and there that she was going to grow up to be a writer.
And she did. Justin released her first book of poetry, Winter, the Unwelcome Visitor, in Spring 2009.
Justin also wrote and produced Love and Human Extinction for the 2009 Toronto Fringe Festival and wrote and is producing her first short film, Swan Asleep and is now working on her novel, The Journal of Yaren Bahareen.
Justin will be reading at Free Speech, the west end literary salon's third anniversary on Jan. 26.
Since January 2007, this west-end reading series and cabaret has been showcasing the prose, poetry, spoken word, comedy, storytelling and songwriting of Parkdale-High Park based writers and performers.
Hosted by Johan Hultqvist of Mr. Something Something, guests for the evening also include novelist Emily Schultz, comedian Rachelle Elie and songwriter Bob Wiseman.
A pay-what-you-can event, Free Speech takes place at Tinto Coffee House, 89 Roncesvalles Ave. Doors are at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. sharp.