Black Cake, Turtle Soup, and Other Dilemmas
Black Cake, Turtle Soup, and Other Dilemmas traces a diasporic journey through multiple continents from reflections and personal essays.
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Black Cake, Turtle Soup, and Other Dilemmas, Book nominee, 2025 Heritage Toronto Awards, June 4, 2024. Cover design by Laura Boyle. Courtesy of Dundurn Press.
Author: Gloria Blizzard
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Black Cake, Turtle Soup, and Other Dilemmas is a diasporic collection of personal essays that explore themes of music, memory, identity, and motion. Author Gloria Blizzard, a Black Canadian woman of Trinidadian and African descent, navigates her lived experience through food, family, art, and place—tracing a journey that moves from Toronto’s subway lines to Trinidad’s mountainsides, from hospital corridors to Caribbean rhythms.
Blizzard’s work offers a powerful counterpoint to dominant historical narratives. Her essays function as embodied, subjective histories, blending personal reflection with family memory and broader cultural context. She addresses topics such as colonial education, racism, sexism, feminism, and intergenerational trauma—bringing voice to the lived realities of Black Canadian women. These layered narratives help fill critical gaps in Toronto’s collective memory, making the book a valuable resource for those interested in identity, heritage, and urban cultural history.
About the Author:
Gloria Blizzard is an award-winning writer and poet whose work explores the intersections of music, culture, spirit, and identity. She lives in Toronto, and her writing continues to contribute to the city’s rich artistic and cultural landscape.