Celebrate the stories that connect us at Toronto’s friendly, neighbourhood book festival! Join us May 27-28 at Queen’s Park Crescent East.
may, 2023
Event Location
Virtual Events
A. Light Zachary is the author of More Sure, a book of poems and interruptions which is now available from Arsenal Pulp Press. Light is a Lambda Literary Fellow and an editor of The Ex-Puritan. Also an autistic and queer human being, they live between Toronto and New Brunswick.
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A.G. Pasquella’s most recent book ‘Welcome To The Weird America’ has been compared to a ‘lit stick of dynamite.’ He is also the author of the Jack Palace crime novels. A.G. was born in Dallas, Texas and now lives in Toronto, Ontario.
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Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer and a Nebula and Locus Award finalist. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, Uncanny, The Puritan, Prairie Fire, The Masters Review. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop’s 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of Linghun and I AM AI.
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Alessandra Naccarato is the author of Imminent Domains: Reckoning with the Anthropocene (Essays) and Re-Origin of Species (Poems). Born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), she is the recipient of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award and the CBC Poetry Prize, and her poetry and essays have appeared widely in publications such as The New Quarterly, Room Magazine, and Event. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and a graduate degree in Community Economic Development from Concordia University, supporting two decades of work and research in grassroots social change, community arts, and the prevention of gender-based violence. Her debut poetry collection, Re-Origin of Species, was awarded the AICW Bressani Literary Prize for Poetry, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, longlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and named a Best Book of 2019 by CBC Books.
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Alessandra Requena is a Toronto teacher, writer, and content creator. You can find her on your favourite social-media platform talking about books @readwithriver or cooking up a storm with her grandmother @nonna.elda.cooks.
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Amanda Peters is a woman of Mi’kmaq and European ancestry, from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. She won a 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for her short story Waiting for the Long Night Moon. Her work has been published in The Antigonish Review, Grain Magazine, The Alaska Quarterly Review, The Dalhousie Review and fillingstation magazine. Her debut novel, The Berry Pickers, was released in April 2023.
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Amy Jones is the author of the novels We’re All in This Together and Every Little Piece of Me, and the short fiction collection What Boys Like. Her third novel, Pebble and Dove, will be published on May 30, 2023. Originally from Halifax, she currently lives in Hamilton.
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Amy Rosen is an award-winning journalist and author of seven cookbooks, including “Canada’s Best New Cookbook” (IndigoPress, 2022). As a tv presenter, Amy demonstrates recipes on Cityline and offers friendly critiques as a Food Network judge. She is also the CEO of Rosen’s Cinnamon Buns, now available across Canada.
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Amy Stuart’s fourth novel, A Death at the Party is a #1 national bestseller. In 2012, Amy completed her MFA in Creative Writing through the University of British Columbia. She worked for many years as a high school educator. Amy lives in Toronto with her husband and their three sons.
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Andrew F. Sullivan is the author of novels The Marigold; The Handyman Method (co-written with Nick Cutter); Waste, a Globe and Mail Best Book; and the story collection All We Want Is Everything, a Globe and Mail Best Book and finalist for the Relit Award. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
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Anime is a smart-wit packed host with a dynamic and welcoming demeanor. From her humble beginnings to becoming a Chartered Accountant Canada CPA, Anime’s wealth of knowledge and understanding spans into many different facets of life. Anime has moderated countless panel discussions and has hosted premier festivals, conventions and galas across North America. If you happen to have attended alongside the other 1.6M jet setters in Toronto, then you would have definitely watched Anime command some of Canada’s biggest festivals where she is the official Host of Taste of the Danforth on the celebrity main stage. She is an incredible act and a genuinely beautiful person.
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Ann Lambert is the author of the critically acclaimed Russell and Leduc Mystery Series, The Birds That Stay, The Dogs of Winter and Whale Fall. She has been writing, directing and producing for the theatre for 40 years, most recently with her Montreal-based company, Theatre Ouest End.
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Annahid is CEO of Anima Leadership, an award-winning equity and inclusion company. Bones of Belonging is a collection of sharp, funny and poignant stories of what it’s like to be a Brown woman working for change in a white world, building on her best-selling memoir, Breaking the Ocean.
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Antanas Sileika’s most recent novel, Some Unfinished Business, is set the former Soviet Lithuania. He is the author of six works of fiction and a memoir. An adaptation of his previous novel, Provisionally Yours, is being released in November of 2023 as a feature film in Lithuania. A separate TV serial will be released there in 2024. He has been short-listed for the Toronto Book Award and the Leacock Medal for humour.
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ANUJA VARGHESE is a Pushcart-nominated writer based in Hamilton, Ontario. Her work appears in several literary magazines and anthologies including Queer Little Nightmares (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022). Her debut short story collection, titled Chrysalis (House of Anansi Press, 2023), explores South Asian diaspora experience through a feminist, speculative lens.
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Aparita Bhandari is an arts and life reporter in Toronto. Her areas of interest and expertise lie in the intersections of gender, culture, and ethnicity. Her work has appeared in a range of Canadian and international media including the CBC, The Globe and Mail, Hazlitt magazine, and Roads & Kingdoms. She’s gone hyperlocal when she covered the many communities that make up the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. She’s also the producer of Hindi language podcasts KhabardaarPodcast.com and Darmiyaan.com
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Ariel Bissett is a Canadian writer and filmmaker. She is the co-host of Books Unbound Podcast with over 10k weekly listeners and her YouTube channel has 310k subscribers. She has a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Ottawa and lives in Nova Scotia.
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Arpita is an educator and writer living in Toronto. She teaches at the TDSB, where in 16 years, she has served in various roles. In addition, she has taught post-secondary credit courses in English lit, ESL, and children’s literature. Arpita is also an arts journalist who has worked in radio, TV and print media. In 2012, she founded SesayArts Magazine (SesayArts.com), where she profiles diverse authors and artists, and reviews theatre, dance, film and literature. She is an avid reader and advocate for Indigenous and Canadian Lit.
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Child psychologist Barbara Fradkin is fascinated by why we turn bad. In addition to numerous short stories, she has published twenty novels in both her long-running Inspector Green series, and her Amanda Doucette series. Many of her works have been shortlisted or won Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence.
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Beth Kaplan, a former actress, taught memoir and personal essay writing at Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University) from 1994 to 2020, and has taught for fifteen years also at the University of Toronto, where she was given the Excellence in Teaching Award. She’s the author of two memoirs, a biography, and a textbook guide to creative writing. Loose Woman: my odyssey from lost to found, about the dramatic year her life changed completely, came out in 2020 and was a finalist for the Whistler Independent Book Award.
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BH Panhuyzen has previously published a collection of short stories and two novels, along with stories in literary and speculative fiction magazines. He wrote for the Just for Laughs Festival, and has penned and performed stand-up comedy. A passionate, amateur musician (piano/ guitar/drums/uke), he lives in Toronto. He writes in the morning and dedicates afternoons to his company Neutrino Data Systems, where he is senior FileMaker Pro developer. He has taken the Giving What We Can Pledge, and donates 10% of all pre-tax income to effective altruism charities.
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Bilal hosts The Bilal Vakani Hour which airs on SiriusXM’s Canada Talks multiple times weekly. He has interviewed everyone from Neil DeGrasse Tyson to Dr. Phil. He is SiriusXM Canada’s first Senior Producer, Talent & Industry Relations. In this role he coordinates bringing the biggest name guests onto the network.
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A fresh face in comedy, Brandon has been named a JFL Montreal New Face; and was the winner of a Canadian Screen Award for his work as Head Writer on Canada’s Drag Race. In 2018, he created The Ethnic Rainbow (Canada’s first & only comedy show for LGBT comedians of colour). Brandon’s album, Capricornication, which debuted at #1 on the iTunes Canada Comedy charts made him the first Gay, Black Canadian to release a comedy album. NPR’s Bullseye named it “one of the best comedy albums of 2020.” Brandon was one of the stars of Amazon original series Last One Laughing: Canada. He most recently served as the Toronto correspondent on the longest-running comedy show in Canadian history, This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
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Brendan is currently a Senior Content Manager at Wattpad, helping a team of talented editors and data specialists to discover, develop, and deliver new webnovels to readers across the globe. Prior to that, Brendan worked in digital marketing, managing data-driven campaigns for multinational clients. He also spent 8 years at Simon & Schuster Canada, where, as a Senior Editor, he helped to grow the company’s Canadian publishing program by crafting bestselling books from influential authors, including former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Beverley McLachlin, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, and NHL legends Tie Domi and Wendel Clark.
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Brian McLachlan is the cartoonist of Draw out The Story: 10 Secrets to Creating Your Own Comics and Complete the Quest: The Poisonous Library. He writes Owl Magazine’s Spruce Street Squad comic. Brian’s cartoons have appeared in the New Yorker, the Nib and Nickelodeon Magazine.
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Brooke Lockyer holds an MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. Her work has been published in Toronto Life, carte blanche, the Hart House Review, White Wall Review and Geist. Born in Southwestern Ontario, Lockyer currently resides with her family in Toronto.
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Bryn Turnbull is an internationally bestselling author of historical fiction. Her debut novel, The Woman Before Wallis, was named one of the top ten bestselling works of Canadian fiction for 2020. Her second, The Last Grand Duchess, came out in 2022 and spent eight weeks on Canadian bestseller lists. Her third novel, The Paris Deception, comes out on May 30th.
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Camille Hernández-Ramdwar is a multiracial, transnational author, scholar, and independent consultant. Her debut collection of short stories Suite as Sugar was published by Rare Machines/Dundurn Press in April 2023. She is currently working on a book about the failures of anti-racism initiatives in Canadian universities, as well as a novel of historical fiction spanning multiple continents and eras.
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Carey Sookocheff is a picture book illustrator and author with over a dozenbooks to her credit, including The Remembering Stone (GroundwoodBooks) and Lost Things (Kids Can Press). Carey also teaches in the Bachelorof Illustration program at Sheridan College. Although she grew up on theCanadian prairies, she now lives in Toronto with her family and theirexuberant dog Rosie.
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Carol Dunsmore (she/her)Manager, Author Communications & EventsCarol Dunsmore works in Harlequin’s Toronto office, supporting editorial teams in Toronto, New York and London to find new voices in romantic fiction. Previously, she worked in the pensions and investment industry. She lives in Toronto with her family and enjoys spending time outdoors in winter and summer.
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Cary Fagan is the author of nine novels and five books of short stories. He has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Writers’ Trust Fiction Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and has won the Toronto Book Award and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award.
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Catch Me in the Kitchen Audio Adventures is a collection of reimagined classic tales for children ages 4-10. Over their long careers, Canadian storytellers Ginette Mohr and Stephen LaFrenie have delighted young audiences across Canada and around the world. For info on their stories and performances, visit catchmeinthekitchen.com
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Catherine Graham is the author of The Most Cunning Heart and the award-winning novel Quarry. Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards and The Celery Forest was named a CBC Best Book of the Year. She leads the TIFA Book Club and co-hosts The Hummingbird Podcast. www.catherinegraham.com @catgrahampoet
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CATHERINE HERNANDEZ (she/her) is a queer woman of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent who married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, was a finalist for Canada Reads 2022, and the film adaptation, for which she wrote the screenplay, won eight Canadian Screen Awards. Her second novel, Crosshairs, was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award, and her latest novel, The Story of Us, was published in February, 2023.
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Chantal Braganza is a Toronto-based writer and deputy editor of food at Chatelaine magazine. She has written for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Hazlitt, and The New York Times Magazine, and has been nominated for multiple National Magazine Awards. Her first book is forthcoming from Strange Light Press.
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Chantel Guertin is the bestselling author of eight novels, including the instant Globe and Mail bestseller, TWO FOR THE ROAD (aka GIGI, LISTENING in the USA). Her previous novel, INSTAMOM, was a PopSugar Best Beach Read of 2021. She has worked as a beauty expert on Canada’s number one daytime talk show The Marilyn Denis Show, and as an editor of various fashion and beauty magazines. She lives in Toronto with her family. Find her on IG and TikTok at @chantelguertin.
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Charlene Chua (she/they) is the illustrator of multiple picture books, including Stonewall award winner Love, Violet, Blue Spruce nominee Going Up! and the Amy Wu book series. She is also the author-illustrator of Hug?When they are not making art, they enjoy cooking, reading, and playing with their cats. Charlene lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
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Cherie Dimaline is an author from the Georgian Bay Métis Community. Her book The Marrow Thieves won the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature, the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature, and the Governor General’s Literary Award, among others. Its sequel, Hunting by Stars, was published in 2021 to great acclaim, and has been selected as Book of the Year from NPR, Indigo, and Kobo, and is a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, as well as a Cityline Book Club Pick for December 2021.
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Chinelo Onwualu is a Nigerian writer, editor and recovering journalist. She is former co-editor of Anathema magazine, the co-founder of Omenana, a magazine of African Speculative Fiction, and former chief spokesperson for the African Speculative Fiction Society. She’s a 2014 graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, which she attended as the recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Scholarship. Her short stories have been featured in several magazines and anthologies, including the award-winning Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020, and 2021’s Best of World SF Vol.1. She’s been nominated for the Nommo Award for African Speculative Fiction. Ex Marginalia, her debut anthology of essays by speculative fiction writers of colour, is available now through Hydra House Books.
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Christina Gonzales is an award-winning writer based in Toronto. She was previously the opinions editor at Maclean’s magazine. She is working on her first fiction novel.
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Corinna Chong’s first novel, Belinda’s Rings, was published by NeWest Press in 2013, and her short fiction has appeared in magazines across Canada. Her debut collection of short stories, The Whole Animal, was published this spring by Arsenal Pulp Press. She lives in Kelowna, BC and teaches at Okanagan College.
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Corinne Promislow is a principal in the Toronto District School Board with over 28 years of teaching and administrative experience. Corinne is dedicated to creating a positive culture and challenging all forms of hate and inequity in her work with students and educators. She has developed resources, provided professional development, and chaired committees to foster inclusion and anti-discrimination. Corinne lives and works in Toronto and enjoys spending time with her little dog Bean.
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David Demchuk has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Aurora Award, and has won the Sunburst Award. His most recent book, RED X, was published in 2021 by Strange Light. After many years in Toronto, he and his husband now live by the sea in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
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Dianah Smith writes to grieve/retrieve the past, make sense of the present, and leave a legacy for the future. She has been published by the University of Alberta Press, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Best of rabble.ca, and Shameless Magazine.
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Dominik Parisien is a disabled, bisexual French Canadian and the author of the poetry collection Side Effects May Include Strangers, and the forthcoming memoir On a Scale of 1 to 500 Miles: A Memoir of Chronic Pain. He also co-edited several award-winning anthologies, including The Mythic Dream and The Starlit Wood.
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DR. DAVE WILLIAMS is a renowned and highly respected space expert and speaker in Canada, a former astronaut who completed two space walks during two trips to space. He has published four books with Annick Press. He lives in Oakville, Ontario.
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Elyse Friedman is a critically acclaimed author of six books. Her work has been short-listed for the Trillium Book Award, The Toronto Book Award, the Relit Award and the Tom Hendry Award. Her short story The Soother, won the gold National Magazine Award for fiction, and she has twice won the TIFF-CBC Films Screenwriter Award. Her most recent novel, The Opportunist, is her first thriller. Elyse lives in Toronto.
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Emily Saso’s new novel, Nine Dash Line, is a thriller set in the South China Sea. Her darkly funny debut, The Weather Inside, is about a former Jehovah’s Witness in Toronto. She holds her master’s degree in political science with a specialization in international relations and security studies.
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Emily Urquhart is the author of three books of nonfiction. The most recent, Ordinary Wonder Tales, is a collection of essays. She teaches creative writing, works as a nonfiction editor for The New Quarterly, and is a five-time National Magazine Award nominee for her freelance journalism.
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Emma Healey is the author, most recently, of Best Young Woman Job Book: A Memoir, published by Random House Canada in 2022. She is also the author of two books of poetry, Begin with the End in Mind and Stereoblind. Her writing has been published in places like n+1, Vulture, The LA Review of Books, the Globe and Mail, Canadian Art and many, many more.
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Farah is a critically acclaimed writer of romantic comedies for adults and teenagers. Her books have been praised in Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and the Globe and Mail, and have been named as best books of the year by CBC books and NPR. She lives in Toronto with her family.
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Geoffrey D. Morrison’s debut novel, Falling Hour, was published in February 2023 with Coach House Books. He is also author of the poetry chapbook Blood-Brain Barrier and coauthor of the experimental short fiction collection Archaic Torso of Gumby. He lives on the unceded Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh territory.
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The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke’s recognitions include the Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry, a Bellagio Center (Italy) Fellowship (US), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the Premiul Poesis (Romania), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award.
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Gillian Rodgerson is a freelance editor, specialising in fiction by emerging writers. Formerly the Managing Editor of Second Story Press and Senior Editor at Insomniac Press, Gillian now teaches editing trade fiction in the Publishing Certificate Program at the Chang School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland and moved to Canada in 2010. After a successful career in recruitment, she quit the corporate world in favor of writing. She now lives in Oakville, Ontario, with her husband and three sons, and is delighted by her twenty-second commute. Connect with her on Facebook, on Twitter @HannahMMcKinnon, and on Instagram @HannahMaryMcKinnon.
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Harriet Alida Lye is the author of three books for grown-ups but this is her first for kids, and she’s excited to be able to read her work to her children. Her favourite food is apples–she has only eaten a snail one time, and never, ever a slug. She lives in Toronto.
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Egyptian-born and Canadian raised, Heba Helmy holds an MA in English Literature and a Ph.D. in Education (both from the University of Toronto). A former high school teacher and current part-time professor, her academic practice focuses on culturally sustaining narratives –and her creative one is all about storytelling that centres love!
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NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting, lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her amazing husband and daughter and their emotional, chatty cat. She writes contemporary romance and romantic comedies full of heat and heart. When she wants to dive into her angsty side, she writes new adult romance under H. Hunting.
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Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living in rural Ontario on Anishinaabe land. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental illness, was published by Guernica Editions’ MiroLand imprint in 2021. Her debut collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, is out with Radiant Press in April 2023.
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Hudson Lin grew up straddling two cultures with often times conflicting perspectives on life. Instead of conforming to either, she has sought to find a third way that brings together the positive elements of both. Lin writes diverse romances featuring queer and disabled people of color.
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Itah Sadu is an award-winning storyteller and children’s author. She is the co-owner of the iconic Toronto bookstore A Different Booklist, specializing in African and Caribbean Canadian literature. Itah is the Managing Director of the Blackhurst Cultural Centre – The People’s Residence. She is a founding member of the annual Toronto Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride. Itah lives with her family in Toronto.
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JANIKA OZA is the author of the novel A History of Burning, out in May 2023 from McClelland & Stewart. She is the winner of a 2022 O. Henry Award and the 2020 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Award. She lives in Toronto.
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Jennifer Hillier is the USA Today, Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail bestselling author of Things We Do in the Dark, described as “an intoxicating thrill ride” by the New York Times and “propulsive and chilling” by People magazine. She currently lives in Oakville, Ontario with her family.
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Jennifer Mook-Sang has written award nominated books Speechless and Captain Monty Takes the Plunge. Her latest picture book The Care and Keeping of Grandmas has won praise from Kirkus Reviews: “Warmth and love shine through this tale of intergenerational bonding.” Jennifer lives and writes in Burlington, Ontario.
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John Brady McDonald is a Nêhiyawak-Métis writer, artist, historian, musician, playwright, actor and activist born and raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak. He is the author of several books, his latest is Carrying It Forward: Essays from Kistahpinânihk. John lives in Northern Saskatchewan.
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Joni has 6 years experience in digital indie publishing and is Wattpad’s Creator Community Manager, focusing on writer education. She has a background in teaching and editing, and works primarily with the writers in Wattpad’s Creator Program to help them succeed on the platform.
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Judy Eaton is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford Campus where she researches the causes, consequences and resolution of interpersonal conflict. Using a social cognitive framework, her research has examined the role of apology and other gestures of remorse in facilitating forgiveness
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Judy I. Lin is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Book of Tea duology. She writes stories inspired by the legends and myths she grew up with in Taiwan and currently lives on the Canadian prairies.
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Daphne du Maurier Award finalist, K.D. Richards writes pulse pounding romantic suspense and thrillers. K.D. was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs just outside of Washington, D.C. A writer since a young age, after college she earned a law degree and worked as an attorney and legal instructor for fifteen years but never stopped writing fiction. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband and two sons.
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Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performance artist, and community healer in Toronto. She is the author of the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir (Metonymy Press), the essay collection I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes at the End of the World (an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book), the poetry collection a place called No Homeland (an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book in 2018), and the children’s picture books From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, illustrated by Kai Yun Ching and Wai-Yant Li, and For Laika, the Dog Who Learned the Names of the Stars, illustrated by Kai Yun Ching. Kai Cheng won the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers in 2017.
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Dr. Kari-Lynn Winters is an award-winning Canadian children’s author, playwright, performer, and academic scholar. Since 2007, she has authored over 30 books. Kari-Lynn holds a Full Professor position in Brock University ‘s Faculty of Education, where she teaches literacy and the arts to teacher candidates. Her research interests include equitable arts education, literacy, authorship, children’s literature, and embodied literacies. See her website: www.kariwinters.com.
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Karon Liu is a staff food reporter for the Toronto Star. He recently helped launch a new food section focusing on the hidden gems and culinary vastness of the Greater Toronto Area. His writing can be found every Thursday in the paper.
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Kate Cayley has published two short story collections and three collections of poetry, and her plays have been performed in Canada, the US and the UK. She has won the Trillium Book Award, an O. Henry Prize, and the Mitchell Prize for Poetry.
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Kate Story is a genderqueer writer and performer who works across genres: literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, YA, and devised performance. She was awarded the K.M. Hunter Award for theatre, and her latest novel Urchin was a Governor General’s Literary Award finalist and NL Reads finalist. Ferry Back the Gifts is Kate’s debut short fiction collection.
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Kathleen McDonnell is the author of nine books of non-fiction and fiction, and has written more than a dozen plays, many of which have had award-winning productions in Canada and the United States. She lives on Toronto Island; a vibrant, mostly car-free community a ten-minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Kathleen is also a musician, deeply involved in the traditional music of her ancestral homeland, Ireland.
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KATHY FRIEDMAN is the author of the short story collection All the Shining People (House of Anansi, 2022), a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. She teaches in Humber College’s Bachelor of Creative and Professional Writing program and is the co-founder and artistic director of InkWell Workshops. Originally from Durban, South Africa, she now lives in Tkaronto
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Katie Wicks was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, where she now lives and writes full time. An amateur guitar and tennis player, Katie has been obsessed with reality TV singing competitions since American Idol debuted twenty-years ago, but has never worked up the courage to audition herself. Hazel Fine Sings Along is Katie’s debut novel.
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Kenneth Oppel is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Airborn, which won the Governor General’s Award for children’s literature and a Michael L Printz Honor Award, and the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. The Nest and Half Brother both won the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children Award. Some of his other books include The Boundless, Every Hidden Thing, and Inkling.. His latest novels are the Bloom trilogy, and Ghostlight. Visit him online at www.kennethoppel.ca or twitter @kennethoppel
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Laura Calder is the author of Kitchen Bliss: Musings on Food and Happiness with Recipes. She also wrote The Inviting Life: hosting, homemaking, and opening the door to happiness, along with four cookbooks. She also hosted the James Beard Award-winning series, French Food at Home on Food Network.
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Laura Calder is the author of Kitchen Bliss: Musings on Food and Happiness with Recipes. She also wrote The Inviting Life: hosting, homemaking, and opening the door to happiness, along with four cookbooks. She also hosted the James Beard Award-winning series, French Food at Home on Food Network.
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Laurie D. Graham grew up in Treaty 6 territory, and she currently lives in Nogojiwanong, in the treaty and traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabeg, where she is a writer, an editor, and the publisher of Brick magazine. Her previous books are Rove and Settler Education.
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Lily Chu loves ordering the second-cheapest wine, wearing perfume all the time, and staying up far too late with a good book. She writes romantic comedies set in Toronto with strong Asian characters. Her books, The Stand-In and The Comeback, have been named Best of 2021 and 2022 by Audible.
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Linda Besner is a journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Globe & Mail, The Walrus, Hazlitt, enRoute, and Real Life among other publications. She has won two Silver National Magazine Awards and currently lives in Toronto.
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Linda Morra is Professor of Canadian and Indigenous Literatures at Bishop’s University and the host, writer, and co-producer of the award-winning podcast, Getting Lit With Linda (in the category “Outstanding Education Series” for the Canadian Podcast Awards last year). Her volume, Moving Archives, won the Gabrielle Roy Award in 2020.
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Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a Toronto-based author, grant writer, educator and the founder of the internationally-acclaimed Love Lettering Project. She is the author of the acclaimed debut novel, Letters to Amelia and her work has been published widely in Canada and the UK. Dear Street is Lindsay’s first picture book.
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Lisa de Nikolits has been hailed as “the Queen of Canadian speculative fiction” (All Lit Up) and is the international award-winning author of eleven novels. Lisa has appeared on recommended reading lists including Open Book Toronto, the 49th Shelf, Chatelaine, Canadian Living, the Quill & Quire and CBC Books.
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Loridee De Villa is the author of How to Be the Best Third Wheel, her debut novel. When she’s not writing, Loridee spends her days procrastinating on everything possible, while balancing courses at the University of Toronto. Loridee currently resides in Ontario, Canada and is pursuing a career in health sciences.
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Louise Zimanyi, of French-Canadian and Hungarian descent, is a mother, professor, and researcher and lives, works, and plays in Tkaronto, part of Treaty 13. She explores how Earth-centered pedagogy and practice in the early years can plant the seeds of sustainability for current and future generations through respectful relationships and reciprocity.
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Lue Palmer is a writer of prose and poetry on Black relationships to nature, the fantastic in the everyday, and the retelling of history. They have roots in Portland, Jamaica and are currently at work on their first novel, The Hungry River. Lue is beginning a new facet of their career in climate work, writing about environmental racism in New Orleans. They were a recipient of the 2021 Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, an alumni of the Clarion West Program and a recent graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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Lynne Sargent is a writer, aerialist, and holds a Ph.D in Applied Philosophy. Their work has been nominated for Rhysling, Elgin, and Aurora Awards, and has appeared in venues such as Augur Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Daily Science Fiction. They are also the poetry editor at Utopia Science Fiction.
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Madhur Anand is the author of the experimental memoir This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart, and the poetry collections A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes and Parasitic Oscillations. She received the Governor General’s Literary Award in 2021. She is a professor of ecology and sustainability at the University of Guelph.
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Maggie K. Black is a self-defense instructor, award-winning journalist, and best-selling author of over thirty heart-pounding romance novels from Love Inspired Suspense.
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Maika Harper is a mixed Inuk actor, model, author and artist born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavutand now residing in Toronto, Ontario. She’s been in hit shows like Mohawk Girls (2014-2017),Kim’s Convenience (2016), Burden of Truth (2018) with her film debut in Flashback (2020).Along with film and television, her theatrical debut was in the Stratford Festival’s TreasureIsland (2017). Adding to her list of professional accomplishments, she wrote a children’s book,The Walrus and the Caribou (2019), in both Inuktitut and English. She recently took some timeaway from work to focus on her family and advocate for mental health awareness. Returning toher roots she will also be featured in a short film soon to be announced.
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Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and visual artist originally from Pakistan and now settled in Canada. She is the author of MONUMENT (Brick Books 2022), shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and Women Wide Awake (Mawenzi House 2023, co-written with Nimra Bandukwala). In 2023, she was selected as a Writer’s Trust Rising Star by Shani Mootoo.
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Marjorie Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Métis Auntie, filmmaker, art-ivist and educator, a land protector and a water walker. Born in Vassar, Manitoba, to a large Métis family, Marjorie’s life’s work has been about creating social change, possibilities and right relations. She is giving back to future art-ivists as they stand up for themselves and community through creating art, music, writing, ceremony. Her poetic memoir, leave some for the birds was just released in May 2023. Six short harm reduction videos “ Reducing the harms of colonization” have been recently completed to create change and healing for the people with story medicine. SCREENINGS, RESIDENCIES, ARTIST TALKS, AWARDSMy work has been screened in bingo halls and at City Hall, from Northern Labrador to New York. Some videos are passed around the community; some are in public libraries and collections at University Film Schools and Art Departments. They have a life of their own. Some work has been screened on specialty channels—WTN, APTN, Knowledge Network, Pride Vision and Global. It has been programmed in film festivals and gallery shows from Berlin to Edmonton, in a variety of contexts. Viewings on my Vimeo site reached over 2000 hits in 39 countries over the past year.https://vimeo.com/marjoriebeaucage Selected awards, screenings, residencies, and artist talks include:2021 CFMDC Superwomen series2018 Saskatchewan Arts Board Artistic Excellence Award2018 Retrospective of my work at imaginative film festival . Toronto 2018 Uber Gurlz Exhibition and Performance, Regina Public Library. 2018 Listen Witness Transmit Keynote Speaker IMFA Conference Saskatoon.2017- 2018 Carrying It Forward, Dunlop Art Gallery. Rodham Art Gallery,Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (touring exhibition)1995 Re Viewing the Mosaic: Canadian Video Artists speaking through RACE, Mendel Art Gallery 1994 Self-Government Talk About It, Museum of Modern Art, NY
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Marjorie Ingall is former columnist for Tablet magazine and the Forward, she is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and has also written for New York magazine, Town & Country, Ms., Glamour, Self, Elle, and Sassy (yes, that one). She lives in New York City.
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Mexican-Canadian author of the award-winning novella Boca de lobo/ Damiana’s Reprieve (Exile, 2018), and the short-story collections Plaza Requiem: Stories at the Edge of Ordinary Lives (Exile, 2017) and No Stars in the Sky (House of Anansi, 2022). She has been named one of the 10 Most Successful Mexicans in Canada and the Top 10 Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians.
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Maya Ameyaw is a Toronto based community arts writing instructor and a former bookselller. When It All Syncs Up, her contemporary YA debut about mental health and dance, will be published June 6th, with a follow up companion novel, Under All the Lights, coming spring 2024 from Annick Press.
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Melissa Yi loves to do all the things, from emergency medicine to jointly raising two kids and two rescue dogs to writing the Hope Sze thrillers. She recently won the Derringer Award for the best short mystery story in the English language, placed third in the Joy Kogawa Award for Fiction, and won a scholarship from the International Thriller Writers. She is currently a finalist for the Prix Aurora Award for the best speculative poem in Canada, and writes F&SF and memoir under the name Melissa Yuan-Innes. Her secret weapons include a supportive family, saying no, and learning how to sleep. For more tips, find her at www.myi.ninja.
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Called the “Queen of Comedy” by the Toronto Sun, Melodie Campbell has won ten awards for crime fiction, including the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence. Her publications include over 100 comedy credits, 17 novels, and 60 short stories. The Merry Widow Murders has just been released from Cormorant Books.
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Menaka Raman-Wilms is a writer and journalist. She’s the host of The Decibel, the daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Her story “Black Coffee” was shortlisted for the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize, and she’s also a classically trained singer. The Rooftop Garden is her first novel.
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Michael Adams is the president of the Environics group of research and communications consulting companies which he co-founded in 1970. In 2006 he founded the Environics Institute for Survey Research, where he also serves as President. He is the author of six books, including Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values, which won the Donner Prize for best book on Canadian public policy in 2004 and was named by the Literary Review of Canada as one of the 100 most important books ever published in Canada.
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Millie Ho is a writer and artist. Her short stories and poems appear in Lightspeed Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Augur Magazine, and elsewhere. Her work was a finalist for the Ignyte and Rhysling Awards. Her poem “She Who Makes the Rain” is forthcoming in The Book of Witches, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
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Molly Fader is the author of The McAvoy Sister’s Book Of Secrets. As Molly O’Keefe she is the USA Today Bestselling author of over 50 contemporary romances. She lives in Toronto Ontario with her husband, two kids and rescue dog.
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Nadia L. Hohn is an award-winning author of several books for young people including the Malaika series and A Likkle Miss Lou. Her first picture book Malaika’s Costume was the 2021 TD Grade One Book Giveaway. Her picture book Malaika’s Surprise was nominated for a 2022 Blue Spruce- Forest of Reading Award. Nadia is an “artivist” who advocates for diversity in children and young adult literature. Nadia teaches at an elementary school in Toronto as well as writing for children classes at local post-secondary institutions. She is a second year MFA in Creative Writing student at the University of Guelph. She loves to travel, cook and eat vegetarian food, and immerse herself in books, music, and films.
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Natasha Ramoutar is a writer of Indo-Guyanese descent from Scarborough. Her debut poetry collection Bittersweet was published in 2020 by Mawenzi House and she co-edited FEEL WAYS, an anthology of Scarborough writing. Her second poetry collection It Keeps Us Here will be out fall 2024 from Wolsak & Wynn.
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Nathan Caro Fréchette is a disabled, queer, transgender designer, sequential artist, publisher, and author. He has published over a dozen short stories, both graphic and prose, as well as five novels, three graphic novels, one co-authored collection, and two works of nonfiction. He has taught creative writing over a decade, has a degree in Film Studies and another in Sequential Art; he was the founder and director of the French Canadian literary magazine Histoires à Boire Debout, an editor for the French Canadian graphic novel publisher Premières Lignes, and is a co-founder of the Ottawa-based publisher Renaissance. He was finalist for a Prix Aurora Award in 2020 for his design work, was the Publisher Guest of Honour at Can-Con’s 2022 edition, and sits on the LitDistCo board of directors.
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Neil Pasricha thinks, writes, and speaks about intentional living. He is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation, which together have spent over 200 weeks on bestseller lists and have sold over a million copies. He hosts the award-winning podcast 3 Books, where he’s on a fifteen-year quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world by interviewing people such as Malcolm Gladwell, Judy Blume, and the world’s top-ranked Uber driver. He gives more than fifty speeches a year, appearing for audiences at places such as Harvard, SXSW, and Shopify. He has degrees from Queen’s University and Harvard Business School, and lives in Toronto with his family.
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Nekesa (Nuh-kes-ah) Afia (Ah-fee-ah) is a Canadian millennial who is doing her best. She has written three books in the Harlem Renaissance series featuring a tiny, tired lesbian forced into solve crime. When Nekesa isn’t writing, she is sewing, dancing, or actively trying to pet every dog she sees.
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NICOLE MORTILLARO is an author, a science reporter with CBC News, the editor of the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and an amateur astronomer. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.
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Nicole Nwosu is a Nigerian-Canadian young adult author from Toronto, Canada. She has been writing online since she was 14 years old before her first novel, The Bad Boy and the Tomboy, was published when she was 20. Hitting the Crossbar, the sequel is her most recent release.
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Paul Gilligan writes and draws the syndicated comic strip Pooch Café, and the early chapter book series King of the Mole People. His latest work is Pluto Rocket: New in Town, published by Tundra/Penguin Random House, the first in a hilarious series of early-reader graphic novels about a friendly alien and a wise-cracking pigeon.
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Perry King is an author, freelance journalist, and communications strategist currently based in Toronto. With a literary focus on sports, education, history and urbanism, King has bylines with Sportsnet, the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Spacing Magazine, and BBC among other works. His debut book, Rebound: Sports, Community and the Inclusive City, was published in 2021 by Coach House Press.
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Randell Adjei is an entrepreneur, speaker, and spoken word practitioner who uses his gifts to empower the message of alchemy. He was recently appointed Ontario’s first Poet Laureate.Randell is the founder of one of Toronto’s largest youth led initiatives: Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (R.I.S.E Edutainment). In 2018, R.I.S.E received the Toronto Arts Foundation’s, Mayor’s Youth Arts Award.Randell is the author of “I am Not my struggles,” a powerful Anthology released in 2018. Randell was also named CBC’s Metro Morning’s Torontonian of the Year in 2015 and NOW Magazines Local Hero in May 2017. In 2020 Randell opened up for President Barack Obama at the Economic Club of Canada.
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Romi Moondi is a Canadian author of romantic comedies. Her 2022 diverse romantic comedy, 24 Hours in Paris, received a Publishers Weekly starred review and was the Publishers Weekly 2022 #1 Summer Romance Read. 24 Hours in Italy, the follow up to 24 Hours in Paris, will be released on July 18th, 2023.
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Rona Maynard found happiness at 65—a story she tells in Starter Dog: My Path to Joy, Belonging and Loving This World. She capped a previous career in magazines with a decade at the helm of Chatelaine, where she disclosed her history of depression in a landmark editorial.
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With a background in traditional publishing and higher education, Ronan creates a one-of-a-kind educational curriculum to help Wattpad creators hone their writing skills to create the next Wattpad hit.
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Ruby Lang writes warm, witty contemporary romance. As Opal Wei, she is the author of the upcoming screwball rom-com Wild Life. Her non-fiction (written under her real name) has also appeared in The New York Times, The Walrus, and Bitch. She and her family are recent transplants to Toronto.
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Ryan Fitzpatrick is the publisher of the online-based and poetry-focused Model Press. He was on the editorial collective of filling Station magazine and helped found the Flywheel Reading Series. He is the author of four books of poetry, including Sunny Ways (Invisible Publishing) and Coast Mountain Foot (Talonbooks). A former resident of Calgary and Vancouver, ryan now lives in Toronto.
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S. Bear Bergman is a writer, storyteller, activist, and the founder and publisher of the book press Flamingo Rampant, which makes feminist, culturally diverse children’s picture books about LGBT2Q+ kids and families. He writes creative non-fiction for grown-ups, fiction for children, resolutely factual features for various publications, and the advice column “Asking Bear.” His books include The Nearest Exit May Be Behind Us and Blood, Marriage, Wine & Glitter, and he was the co-editor along with Kate Bornstein of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation.
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S. K. Ali is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of several books, including Saints and Misfits and Love from A to Z, both named top ten YA of the year by Entertainment Weekly and Kirkus. Her novel, Misfit in Love, was a People magazine best book of summer 2021. She lives in Toronto with her family.
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Sameea Jimenez is an elementary educator in the Toronto District School Board. Her teaching is rooted in anti-oppression and anti-racism and is committed to challenging social norms and paradigms. Sameea specializes in social justice education and is an advocate for systemic change within educational institutions. She has created and facilitated professional development around anti-racism and anti-discrimination for educators.
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Sanna Wani is the author of My Grief, the Sun (House of Anansi Press, 2022). She is the poetry editor at Fernwood Publishing and a columnist for Herizons Magazine. Her writing has been featured in Brick, Poem-a-day, The Poetry Foundation’s podcast The Slowdown and more. She loves daisies.
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Sarah Raughley is an author, writer, and academic. While currently teaching writing at Lakehead University, she is also a freelance columnist and has written for publications such as The Walrus, Teen Vogue, NBC, CBC, Zora Magazine, and The Washington Post. Her Young Adult fiction is published around the world.
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Shannon Lee Simmons is a certified financial planner, chartered investment manager, certified life coach, speaker, and the founder of the award-winning New School of Finance. She is the bestselling author of Worry-Free Money and Living Debt-Free. Shannon lives in Toronto with her husband and two kiddos.
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Sid is an artist and author from Toronto whose interests include folklore, scary stories, mysterious and unknowable things, and finding good sticks for their stick collection. Sid attended OCAD University, works in a bookstore, and published The Wolf Suit, their first graphic novel for kids, with Annick Press in 2022.
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Sienna Tristen (they/them) is an author, poet, and literary organizer living in Treaty 3 territory who explores queer platonic partnership, the nonhuman world, and mythmaking in their work. The first installment of their award-winning fantasy duology The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming came out from indie arts collective The Shale Project in 2018; the sequel released in October 2022. You can find their poetry in Augur Magazine and Plenitude, and their chapbook hortus animarum: a new herbal for the queer heart is out with Frog Hollow Press.
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Sonia Urlando is a writer and editor living in Toronto, Canada. She works as the Copy Editor for Augur Magazine, a Canadian literary magazine with a focus on speculative poetry and fiction. She’s currently immersed in style guide crafting, and lately loves reading stories about nature, shapeshifters, and queer joy.
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Stacey May Fowles is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and the best-selling author of five books. Her bylines include the Globe and Mail, Reader’s Digest, Toronto Life, The Walrus, and many others.The Invitation is her first book for children.
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Stuart Ross is recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry, among others, and the author of over twenty books of poetry, fiction, and essays. His work has been translated into French, Norwegian, Slovene, Russian, Spanish, and Estonian. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario.
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Susan McCarthy has written for Parade, The Guardian, WIRED, Smithsonian magazine, Outside, and Salon. Her work has been anthologized in The Best American Science Writing and in Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor. She lives in San Francisco.
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Before joining Wattpad in 2021, Suzanne Sutherland spent a decade working as a children’s book editor. In her current role as Content Lead, she oversees the health and strategy of Wattpad’s on-platform publishing program. She is also the author of several books for young readers.
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T. Liem is the author of Slows: Twice (Coach House 2023), and Obits. (Coach House, 2018), which was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, and won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award as well as the A.M. Klein Prize. Their writing has been published in Apogee, Plenitude, The Boston Review, Grain, Maisonneuve, Catapult, The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, and elsewhere. They are from Alberta and live in Montreal, Tio’Tia:ke, unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territories.
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Tanya Turton is a storyteller, educator, and mental health advocate. She fell in love with storytelling when she began to feel displaced in her own world and found creative writing. Jade Is a Twisted Green is her debut novel. Hailing from Jamaica, Tanya was raised and lives in Toronto.
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Taryn Diamond (she/her) is one of Toronto’s most beloved yoga and meditation instructors. She’s known for equipping her students with the ingredients required to thrive in a yoga practice: strength, intelligence and humour. Her class will be accessible to all levels of students (including brand new). You can learn more about Taryn at her website.
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Born in Congo-Kinshasa, Téa Mutonji’s work focuses on friendship, womanhood and sexuality. Her short stories, Property of Neil and The Photographer’s Wife were winners of McClelland & Steward’s Journey Prize’s Black Excellence issue (2023). She holds a degree in Media Studies with minors in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Toronto Scarborough. Her collection of short stories, Shut Up You’re Pretty is the first title from Vivek Shraya’s imprint, VS. Books via Arsenal Pulp Press. It was shortlisted for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (2019) and won the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award (2020) and the Trillium Book Award (2020). Téa is the recipient of the Jill Davis fellowship in Fiction at NYU where she is completing her MFA in fiction.
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Terese Mason Pierre is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Walrus, ROOM, Quill & Quire, and Fantasy Magazine, among others. Her work has been nominated for the Ignyte Award, the Rhysling Award, and Best of the Net. She is the co-Editor-in-Chief of Augur Magazine, and the author of chapbooks, Surface Area (Anstruther Press, 2019) and Manifest (Gap Riot Press, 2020). Terese lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
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Thom Ernst is a Toronto based film critic, writer, and broadcaster. He was a familiar voice to CBC Radio listeners with his lively contributions to CBC Radio Fresh Air, CBC Metro Morning, and CBC Radio Syndication. He was also the on-air reviewer film for CTV New Channel, CBC’s PLAY, TVOs More to Life, Studio 2, and The Agenda with Steve Paikin. His print work has appeared in the Toronto Star, National Post, Playback Magazine, and various other publications. Thom’s first book, The Wild Boy of Waubanik, a memoir, will be released through Dundurn Press, February 2023.Thom is perhaps best remembered as the congenial host, interviewer and producer of televisions’ longest running movie program Saturday Night at the Movies.
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Tonya Liburd has the honour of her work being used in Nisi Shawl’s Writing The Other workshops and in Tananarive Due’s UCLA Horror course (which featured Get Out’s director Jordan Peele as a guest lecturer) as examples of code switching. Her poetry has been nominated for the 2017 & 2018 Rhysling Awards and longlisted in the 2015 Carter V. Cooper (Vanderbilt)/Exile Short Fiction Competition. Her fiction has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly and over at Barnes & Noble’s SFF blog. She is also editor of The Expanse Magazine.
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Tyler Pennock, author of Bones (2020), is a Two-Spirit Queerdo from Faust, Alberta, and is a member of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. They were adopted from a Cree and Métis family, and reunited with them in 2006. Tyler is a graduate of Guelph University’s Creative Writing MFA program (2013), as well as the University of Toronto (2009). They have lived in Toronto for the past 25 years.
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Ursula Pflug is author of the novels Green Music, The Alphabet Stones, Motion Sickness (a flash novel illustrated by SK Dyment); the novellas Mountain and Down From, and the story collections After the Fires, Harvesting the Moon and Seeds and Other Stories. Her books and short fiction have appeared internationally, and she has been a finalist for the Aurora, ReLit, 3 Day Novel and other awards.
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Uzma Jalaluddin is the bestselling author of Ayesha at Last and Hana Khan Carries On, both of which have been optioned for film, the latter by Mindy Kaling. A high school English teacher, Jalaluddin is also a contributor to the Toronto Star and The Atlantic. She lives near Toronto with her family.
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Victoria Mbabazi’s work can be found in several literary magazines. “Chapbook” is available with Anstruther Press and “FLIP” is available with Knife Fork Book. Their full length collection “The Siren In the Twelfth House” is coming out in Fall 2024 with Palimpsest Press. They’re currently Canadian in Brooklyn, New York.
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Wendy Million is a high school teacher whose novels about strong women and troubled men have captivated her readers. She is the author of the contemporary second-chance romances When Stars Fall and Miss Matched. Wendy lives in Ontario with two beautiful daughters, two cute pooches, and one handsome husband.
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Zoe Whittall is a bestselling novelist who has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and Canadian Screen Award winning TV writer. Her fifth novel is The Fake (Harpercollins, 2023). She lives in Picton, Ontario.
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Fourteen-time USA Today bestselling author Zoe York lives in London, Ontario, where she writes steadfast heroes, relatable heroines who could be your best friend, and recognizable Canadian settings as the backdrop for spicy-sweet romance. She also writes as Ainsley Booth (notable titles include Prime Minister and The Playing Game).
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