Catherine Hernandez reflects on how race, class and community inspired her Canada Reads novel Scarborough
Scarborough is being championed by actress and activist Malia Baker on Canada Reads 2022
Catherine Hernandez is a Canadian writer, author and playwright who was named by CBC Books as a writer to watch.
She is the author of several books, including the dystopian novel Crosshairs and children's books I Promise and M is for Mustache. She is also the creator and star of the Audible Original sketch comedy podcast Imminent Disaster.
Her debut novel Scarborough is full of characters who are facing struggle but find support and grace in their community. Scarborough is a love letter to Hernandez's own Ontario community — and readers loved it right back. It was shortlisted for the 2017 Toronto Book Award, the 2018 Trillium Book Award and the 2018 Edmund White Award for debut fiction.
It was also adapted into a feature film that premiered at TIFF in 2021.
Scarborough will be championed by the actor and activist Malia Baker on Canada Reads 2022.
Canada Reads will take place March 28-31. The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem and on CBC Books.
Hernandez spoke with CBC Books about the inspiration for Scarborough, society's attitudes towards communities in poverty and how the book was adapted for film.
What is Scarborough about, if you had to describe it to someone?
The book follows the lives of three children in a low income neighbourhood in Scarborough over the course of a school year as they navigate poverty, homelessness, substance use, mental illness and the education system.
Where did you find the inspiration for Scarborough?
I used to run a home daycare, so, if you can imagine, I wrote this while taking care of up to five children under the age of five. I would write early in the morning before the children would arrive. I wrote when they were napping and then I would write in the evenings. But I'm glad I did it because the feeling of writing under such challenging circumstances definitely gave the novel a particular energy, which is what I was living [through] at that time.
I was living in precarious housing and I was living hand-to-mouth, not knowing what tomorrow was going to bring. I wanted people to understand my reality at that time. And these are the realities of these characters. But why is it like that and why do people need to survive in such horrible circumstances?
I was living in precarious housing and I was living hand-to-mouth, not knowing what tomorrow was going to bring. I wanted people to understand my reality at that time.
When Scarborough was published, there was a feeling of, "This is what stability feels like." I didn't know what stability felt like until that moment. You see that with regards to the characters and their fleeting moments of success. What does success look like for them? The measurements are so different from people of different classes and I really wanted to capture that.
When you were writing this book, were there any challenges that you faced?
Because I came from theatre, I had no idea how to write a book. I wrote it because I wanted to try a new art form, and I knew that this story was speaking to me already. I just didn't know how to commit it to paper.
Having been in theatre for so long, I was quite accustomed to having actors around a table reading my scripts so that I could hear where I was making mistakes. So I figured out a way of reverse engineering it specifically for writing a book, which is to say it out loud and make a note of where I was stumbling on words. Because if I'm stumbling on words, then I could do better.
LISTEN | Catherine Hernandez on Here and Now:
As Scarborough was published a few years ago, in your eyes, how has it impacted Canada in the time since?
I feel like the book has become more relevant, especially because of the pandemic. When I wrote the book, I really wanted to capture the spirit of a community that refused to become undone when the entire system is set up to fail them. But there's something about it now during the pandemic where you're realizing, "Who are the populations who are considered disposable? Who is a priority? Why are they the priority?" Spoiler alert, it's capitalism.
Is it right to see people's value based on how much they can contribute to the economy? Right now I think that's a message to explore. As citizens of the world, we need to ask ourselves, "Who do I feel is important and how can I show those people that I believe their safety is a priority for me?"
Since the publication of Scarborough, do you think the way we treat and engage with those in poverty has changed?
As we are heading into an uncertain future where resources have become few and far between because of bad choices that we've made as humans. I think the ruthless nature of human beings to then decide who are the "haves" and the "have nots" becomes even more apparent.
What's interesting about those ruthless decisions is that the more ruthless people are becoming, the more they're performing charitable acts. You'll see large corporations that are making such grand gestures of charity when in fact, they are the reason why we're in this position in the first place. You have billionaires who could single handedly stop homelessness and poverty, but they decide not to.
I think the challenge of asking people to fully believe that everyone should have an equal right to resources is just too much for the majority of the planet.
Instead, they give a small portion of their enormous profits and then pay for a commercial to show how charitable they are, [which] is totally on brand for the 2020s. So I don't think that [attitudes towards those in poverty] has changed because I think the challenge of asking people to fully believe that everyone should have an equal right to resources is just too much for the majority of the planet.
LISTEN | Catherine Hernandez discusses Canada Reads on Q:
Did you also write this book to help others really see that there are communities in poverty an hour from us?
I think there's an assumption that authors write books for people who are privileged, be it race, ability or class. This book was written specifically for people who are in Scarboroughs all over the world. Scarborough isn't the only area where because of race and class, is not considered a priority. There are different pockets all over the city where you see people like me — the forgotten neighbourhoods.
When I toured the book, I would always ask the question, "What area is the Scarbrough in this city?" People would raise their hands and they would know exactly what part of the city it is. What that tells me is that often, we accept that there are people who are the "have nots." My book was meant for those people who are in those forgotten pockets of the world.
What gives me so much hope is when I do a tour, there's somebody from an area just like Scarborough who feels seen, acknowledged and celebrated, which is so lovely. It was definitely my intention to make sure they understood that they mattered to me.
It was definitely my intention to make sure they understood that they mattered to me.
And when we had the film adaptation at [the Toronto International Film Festival], when we would enter the auditorium and we would greet everybody who was there, I said, "If you're from Scarborough or from another part of the world that is like Scarborough, I want you to know that I see you, I celebrate you and I'm so happy you are alive and that you have survived." And that always really touched people because I don't think they're used to feeling like they mattered. I hope I give them a tiny piece of that joy in that moment.
What was the process for Scarborough getting adapted into a film that premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival?
Just like my entire career, it didn't happen like for everyone else. To have the book optioned was something I put into motion because there were a few filmmakers who had approached me with the possibility to option Scarborough. But when I was viewing their reels, they were very polished, which is not what I wanted. My community is not polished. So I thought, "Well, what would happen if I was to write it myself?"
But when I was viewing their reels, they were very polished, which is not what I wanted. My community is not polished. So I thought, 'Well, what would happen if I was to write it myself?'
I approached two documentary filmmakers, Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson from Compy Films. I said to them, "If I was to write the script, could you shoot it so it looks like a documentary?" They took some time to look over the book and they said, "Yep, we can do it."
Shasha Nakhai being the dynamo that she is, found the funding so quickly and we hit the ground running shooting the film. It was amazing and extremely challenging, especially because of the pandemic and the ridiculous way that funding for film is structured. We were able to make it to the finish line. Now, even when we're faced with the challenges of having a theatrical release in the middle of the pandemic, I know our project is going to be perfectly fine.
Catherine Hernandez's comments have been edited for length and clarity
