Denison Avenue

“Wong and Innes have created something truly special in this multi-faceted book. Innes’ detailed and beautiful hand-drawn illustrations depicting the changes in the community are eye-catching complements to Wong’s writing and can stand on their own.” — Booklist, starred review

“I spent my formative years in Kensington Market. I still go to Chinatown multiple times a week to eat. I love it so much, it’s a place that truly brings me so much joy. Denison Avenue shows us the realness of how the buildings are changing, the restaurants are changing, and the love that has slowly been taken away in the process. A beautiful book that shares stories of love and loss.” — Matty Matheson, celebrity chef

“In Denison Avenue, we watch a recent widow desperately tread water in a city drowning under waves of gentrification. This tender lyrical novel is an anthem of grief, a swan song to cities as we know them and the loved ones we lose along the way.” — Catherine Hernandez, author and screenwriter of Scarborough, the novel and film

“With its intricate line drawings and poignant story, Denison Avenue transports me to a place I’ve never been, but also to a place that feels like home. From canned fried dace and butter cookie tins to the sonorous tones of the Toisanese dialect, this is the world of my ancestors — the lo wah kiu who flourished in Chinatowns all over Canada. And as we walk alongside Wong Cho Sum in her personal journey through grief, we grieve, too, for past generations and the loss of a once-thriving community.” — Teresa Wong, author of Dear Scarlet

“What is a city but its stories? In Denison Avenue, Christina Wong’s elegant prose and poetry are accompanied by beautifully rendered illustrations by Daniel Innes, bringing to life the portrait of a Chinatown that is both disappearing and emerging. Through Mrs. Wong’s eyes, we witness a rapidly changing city. We travel with her through streets with names like Nassau, Cecil, Ulster, pass familiar noodle joints and Chinese bakeries, follow her cart from bin to bin. And yet Mrs. Wong shows us with keen observation the small joy one can have by eating a doong on a park bench or the delight in bumping into an old friend at Honest Ed’s, shopping for deals. I can hear her voice in Toisan, a song of love, kinship, and a collective memory of Chinatown. What is a city but its stories? Denison Avenue is a Toronto story.” — Carrianne Leung, author of That Time I Loved You

“Author Christina Wong's powers of description transport us to specific locations, as do the beautiful illustrations by Daniel Innes that offer a separate but complimentary visual story inside the book. Wong's intimate details make the mundane captivating.” — Spacing Magazine

“Both Innes and Wong show their devotion to this vanishing world in their careful recreating of it in words and images. As Chinatowns all over the country become gentrified and disappear, Denison Avenue provides an important reminder of what is being lost.” — New York Journal of Books

“Taken as a series of picture-postcard moments, it evokes a sense of poignancy and longing that finds voice in Wong’s more explicit description of a city gradually losing its identity...Denison Avenue is a great example of how something that is neither a graphic novel, nor a novella, can exist simply because the intent is all that matters.” — Broken Frontier

“But the true triumph of this production is bringing the Taosan dialect to life. The dialogue is performed first in Taosan and then in English. While most listeners will only understand the English, it is a rare and culturally astute choice that lets listeners experience the languages side by side...this audio will engage listeners craving something new and soothe anyone who knows what it's like to love a city that doesn't always love you back.” — Booklist

“The magnificent Denison Avenue will tell you a story you've never heard before — about people you think you know in your neighbourhood. It will change you. It will change how you look at people on the bus and on the streets. It will change how you live your life.” — Naheed Nenshi, former Mayor of Calgary, for CBC’s Canada Reads

“The book reminds those of us who live in cities across the world that it is important to consider the heritage and legacies of neighborhoods in many cities and the ways that gentrification affects the people who live there.” — Shondaland

“Christina Wong writes from the perspective of an elderly immigrant widow who collects bottles and cans in the streets and alleys of Toronto. It’s a thoughtful account of a difficult journey in a vanishing neighbourhood, complete with time capsule illustrations of Chinatown and Kensington Market by Daniel Innes. Denison Avenue is designed for people like me who fall in between the cracks of culture. I enjoyed reading the phonetic Cantonese and Toisan dialect translations in English that connected me to familiar languages and my neighbourhood.” — Sook-Yin Lee, filmmaker, musician, and broadcaster

“Denison Avenue is a heart-wrenching story about a demographic that is often ignored or not even seen in the first place...The book gives voice to senior citizens and also shows how gentrification destroys mom and pop businesses and communities as a whole.” — Asian Review of Books

“Denison Avenue is a spectacle of images and words like nothing I have encountered...This is a strong work that deserves to be savoured on the many levels for which it was created....It is quite simply an unforgettable work.” — The Miramichi Reader

“A  tremendously moving story of strength and resilience, of love and courage, and friendship and community...The nature of cities, of course, is that cities change, but in Denison Avenue, Wong and Innes manage to capture a unique view of the city as it was for just a moment, all the while making their readers consider what the city might become if we think about what it’s true heart is, which is to say the people who live here.” — Pickle Me This blog