Enrichment opportunity: join The Toronto One Book program (2011-02-18)

Enjoy reading? See Mr. Go for a bonus opportunity to read Midnight at the Dragon Café, this year's selection for the Toronto One Book program.

Announcing the 2011 One Book: Midnight at the Dragon Café by Judy Fong Bates

Toronto Public Library is pleased to announce our selection for the 2011 Keep Toronto Reading One Book program: Midnight at the Dragon Café by Judy Fong Bates.

Set in a small Ontario town in the 1960s, Fong Bates’ debut novel tells the story of a young Chinese girl and her family – the owners of the only Chinese restaurant in town. Written in spare, intimate prose, Midnight at the Dragon Café is a vivid portrait of a childhood divided by two cultures and touched by unfulfilled longings and unspoken secrets.

We encourage everyone to read this book. Then please join us during our Keep Toronto Reading Festival this April for readings, discussion and other events that bring this book’s themes to life.

Fong Bates: "I have always felt that were I not an immigrant, I would probably not write."

Judy Fong Bates came to Canada from China as a young child and grew up in several small Ontario towns.

She is a writer, storyteller and teacher, whose stories have been broadcast on CBC radio and published in literary journals and anthologies. In addition to Midnight at the Dragon Café, she is the author of the critically acclaimed short-story collection,China Dog and Other Tales from A Chinese Laundry, and a family memoir, The Year of Finding Memory.

Judy has two adult daughters and two grandchildren. She lives with her husband on a farm outside of Toronto. They are both devoted gardeners and hikers.