Vancouver writer Chelene Knight's novel Junie to be adapted into TV series

Vancouver authorChelene Knight's debut novel Junie will be developed into a 10-episode television series.

Knight, who will be a consulting producer on the series said in a press release, "It is my hope that this series showcases the complexity of home, belonging, and being Black in Vancouver."

The storyis about a young girl named Juniewho lives in 1930s Hogan's Alley, a Black immigrant community located in East Vancouver. She is a creative, observant child who moves to the alley with her mother, Maddie: a jazz singer with a growing alcohol dependency.

As Juniereaches adulthood, exploring her artistic talents and burgeoning sexuality, her mother sinks further into the bottle while the thriving neighbourhoodbegins to change. The story explores the complexity of mother-daughter relationships and the vitality of Hogan's Alley.

Juniewas longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and a finalist for the 2023 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction.

LISTEN | Chelene Knight discusses her novel Junie:

The Next Chapter3:33Chelene Knight on Junie

Chelene Knight on the inspiration behind her novel, Junie.

"When we do the research, we always see the same things popping up: that the neighbourhooditself was in squalor, that it was a community riddled with crime, that there were all these terrible things happening. But we weren't really looking at the community;we weren't really looking at people,"Knight said in an interview with CBC Books.

"We weren't looking at the conversations and the everyday living. So that's what I wanted to highlight. This conversation around Black voice becomes really important,because we're often centring stories around pain, heartache and trauma. Iwanted to showcase that joy can live inside even the most tumultuous times."

• Chelene Knight reimagines Vancouver's historic Black neighbourhood Hogan's Alley in debut novel

Knight is also theauthor of Braided SkinandDear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award.Her essays have appeared in publications such asThe Globe and Mail, The Toronto Starand The Walrus. She is thefounder ofBreathing Space Creative literary studio.

The series will be adapted by screenwriter Priscilla White who's worked on CBC'sTV shows The Porter and Diggstown.

Two producers from local production companies will develop the series: Praneet Akilla of Vancouver-based Akilla Express and Teresa M. Ho of Ontario-based 100 Dragons Media.

"I was excited to share the stories about Black joy, love and friendship in a series format [and] showcase the pulsing day-to-day life of a once thriving Vancouver neighbourhood crucial to Black-Canadian history," Akilla said in a press release announcing the project.

• Chelene Knight wrote letters to the current occupants of the houses she lived in growing up

Ho is also interested in telling stories that have been overlooked in Canadian history.

"Through the adaptation of this book, we celebrate the stories of women who have been forgotten in historical fiction."

The series iscurrently at thepre-development stage and is supportedby the IP BC Pilot Program (a partnership between Creative BC and the Canadian Media Producers Association, BC Producers Branch).