The Blackhurst Project: Inhabitants of the Deep

The Blackhurst Project, a new monthly literary series from the Blackhurst Cultural Centre, launches on Thursday, October 8, 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 777 to 779 Bathurst St. Admission is free, but registration is required through Eventbrite.

The first evening pairs two scholars of Black literature. Jonathan Howard, assistant professor of English and Black Studies at Yale University, discusses his book Inhabitants of the Deep: The Blueness of Blackness with I. Augustus Durham, assistant professor of English at the University of Toronto and author of Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius.

Howard's book is a Black ecocritical study of "the deep," taking in oceans, rivers, lakes and the very idea of depth, and its place in African American literature and expressive culture. He draws on figures from Olaudah Equiano and Herman Melville to Otis Redding and August Wilson to trace Black relationships to water, ecology and the history of the Middle Passage. His argument is that the deep is not only a site of displacement and exclusion but also of Black ecological life. Expect a conversation that moves easily between literature, music, history and the environment.

The Blackhurst Cultural Centre, formerly A Different Booklist Cultural Centre, has long been a hub for Black and Caribbean literature and community programming at Bathurst and Bloor. A monthly series like this is a welcome addition, and getting in on the first one is a good way to see where it is headed.

Getting there: Bathurst station on Line 2 is a short walk north. Register in advance, since free talks with this calibre of speaker tend to fill up, and give yourself time to browse the centre's bookshelves before things start.