events + workshops

2026

• January 29, 2026 — Trinity Reads Bookfair (Toronto, ON)
• February 7, 2026 — Glad Day Lit Artist Market, Glad Day Bookshop (Toronto, ON)
• March 14-28, 2026 — Youth Photo Book workshop series, The Image Centre at TMU x JAYU (Toronto, ON)
• April 7, 2026 — Installation at Trampoline Hall, The Garrison (Toronto, ON)
• June 6, 2026 — Panel at Word Balloon Academy, Toronto Comic Arts Festival (Toronto, ON)
• June 20, 2026 — Installation at Open Studio, Grange Park (Toronto, ON)
• July 24, 2026 — Reading at Brick Goes to the Theatre at Theatre Centre Cafe (Toronto, ON)
• August 15, 2026 — Reading at the Gladstone Reading Series (Toronto, ON)
• August 27, 2026 — Reading at Toronto launch of 'Be Water' by Grace at Another Story Bookshop (Toronto, ON)

2025

• January 15, 2025 — Reading at Speakeasy Reading series, Glad Day Books (Toronto, ON)
  
• February 8, 2025 — Bookbinding Basics: Notebooks & Journal-making workshop, Vancouver Tool Library, (Vancouver, BC)
  
• February 22, 2025 — Tender Possibilities: a poetry workshop, Rock Paper Scissors Book + Print Fair (Guelph, ON)
  
• March 27, 2025 — When Words Are Not Enough: Graphic Literature & Diasporic Histories panel with Victoria Chang, Tessa Hulls, and Teresa Wong, AWP Conference & Bookfair (Los Angeles, USA)
  
• March 27, 2025 — Poetry at The Gate of Memory, Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, USA)
  
• May 10, 2025 — Reading at Mata Ashita: JC Writing Circle (Virtual)
  
• May 31, 2025 — Reading at Haymarket Poetry Launch: HEAVEN LOOKS LIKE US x THE GATE OF MEMORY (Toronto, ON)
  
• June 14, 2025— Reading at Poetry, Intergenerational Healing & Imagining Nikkei Futures, Haymarket House (Chicago, USA)
  
• July 3, 2025 — FUTURE POEMS workshop, Theatre Replacement (Vancouver, BC) 
  
• August 3, 2025 — Reading at The Gate of Memory at Powell Street Festival, Firehall Arts Theatre (Vancouver, BC)
  
• October 18, 2025— Queer Art & Zine Market at Glad Day Lit (Toronto, ON)
  
• October 20, 2025— Reading at Launch of WORLDLY GIRLS by Tamara Jong at Another Story Bookshop (Toronto, ON)
  
• October 26, 2025— Bookmaking workshop hosted by Emerging Readers Writing Series at Glad Day Bookshop (Toronto, ON)
  
• November 2, 2025 — Tiny Art & Book Sale, Toronto School of Art (Toronto, ON)
  
• November 13, 2025 — Collage & Bookmaking Workshop, Trinity College at University of Toronto (Toronto, ON) 
  
• December 9, 2025 — Reading at Nikkei Uncovered V: A Poetry Reading with Aaron Caycedo-Kimura & Syd Westley, hosted by Discover Nikkei and Japanese American National Museum (virtual event) 
  

2024

August 3, 2024 — Mata Ashita writing workshop, Powell Street Festival (Vancouver, BC) 

August 4, 2024 — Artist talk with Leanne Toshiko Simpson at Powell Street Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
Erica H Isomura and Leanne Toshiko Simpson both integrate Japanese Canadian history and mixed-race yonsei identity into their work. By engaging with complex family histories through unconventional approaches to genre, both authors explore cross-cultural perspectives and overlapping histories in innovative and meaningful ways. Leanne and Erica read from their latest projects and discussed how their understanding of JC histories shape their respective genres. 

August 17, 2024 — Reading at ensoku 2024: Tashme Obon (Sunshine Valley, BC)
ensoku 2024 was an intergenerational gathering in Sunshine Valley, BC. The reading was followed by a talk back and Q&A with Laura Fukumoto, Julie Tamiko Manning, Matt Miwa, Carolyn Nakagawa, and Leanne Toshiko Simpson. This inaugural event facilitated community, culture, and history through obon customs, storytelling, performance, and learning, This was the area’s largest gathering of Japanese Canadians and first obon ceremony since the Second World War.

2023

• May 3, 2023 — Keynote Address, ReVerb: Echo-Locations of Sound with Emily Riddle & Sacha Ouellet, SpokenWeb Symposium 2023 (Edmonton, AB)
  

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During the Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency, Erica offered free public programming, including: 

• July 15, 2023 — Writing Workshop (Richmond, BC)
• July 22, 2023 — Artist Talk: How Erica H Isomura writes into the gaps of family history (Richmond, BC)
  
• July 29, 2023 — Writing Workshop (Richmond, BC 
  

2022

• March 9, 2022 — Reading at One Book One SFU: Hiromi Goto in conversation with Sarah Leavitt (Virtual) 
  

• April 3, 2022 — Reading at Deer Lake Poetry with Brandi Bird, Fern Felce, Natalie Lim, and April dela Noche Milne (Burnaby, BC) 
  
• May 18, 2022 — Reading at Vines Art Festival's Artist Care Fundraiser (Vancouver, BC) 
• May 29, 2022 — Reading at Real Vancouver Writers' Series with Lori Fox, Chelsea Vowel, Dan K. Woo, Katie Welch, and Jen Ferguson (Virtual) 
• June 15, 2022 —  Youth poetry workshop for Vines Art Festival (Virtual) 

2021

• January 14, 2021 — Reading at Human Capital: Digital Publication Launch with Briarpatch, Mackenzie Art Gallery (Virtual)
• February 27, 2021 — Moderator for The Paueru Gai Dialogues: On Food & Culture for Community Building (Virtual) 
  
• May 1, 2021 — Conversation and Reading with Hiromi Goto at Mata Ashita: Japanese Canadian Writing Circle (Virtual) 
• August 11, 2021 — Reading at yonsei writing: soft poems 4 hard times with Laura Fukumoto and Carolyn Nakagawa at Vines Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
  

2020

• May 21, 2020 — Reading from Mary Oliver's New and Collected Poems, Vol 1 for Dead Poets Reading (Virtual) 
  
• July 25, 2020 — A Conversation on Queer Mentorship with Hiromi Goto at Queer Arts Festival (Virtual) 
• September 16, 2020 — Reading at Writers’ Line-age Panel with Hasan Namir, Aren X Tulchinsky, and Betsey Warland at Word Vancouver (Virtual) 

2019

• February 15, 2019 — Reading with Jo Billows, Niigaani Binesi, jaye simpson, and Renee Sarojini Saklikar at Perspectives: Anti-Racism Arts Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
  

• August 3, 2019 — Reading with Laura Fukumoto & Carolyn Nakagawa at Powell Street Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
• September 29, 2019 — Reading with Shashi Bhat, Jane Hamilton Silcott and Joseph Kakwinokanasum at Word Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)  
• November 8, 2019 — Moderator for Lessons from I-Hotel with author Karen Tei Yamashita and members of the Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative & Right to Remain at Heart of the City Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
  

2018

• August 2018 — Panelist for Kids These Days with Kanon Hewitt, Akira Imai, and Emi Sasagawa, Powell Street Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
  
• October 21, 2018 — Reading at emerge 18 anthology launch, Vancouver Writers Festival (Vancouver, BC) 
  
• November 18, 2018 — Reading with Sam Stouten and Steffi Tad-y at ACAM Dialogues: Mental Health in Asian Canadian Communities event (Vancouver, BC)
  

© 2026 Erica H. Isomura