Day: Saturday, September 28

Linda Morra is an award-winning author and podcaster. Using her expertise as a seasoned literature professor, she develops provocative, timely insights for her podcast, Getting Lit With Linda, about books from Canada and elsewhere to show why stories are relevant for all of us. Getting Lit With Linda won the 2022 Outstanding Education Series Award by the Canadian Podcast Awards and was a Finalist for the 2023 People’s Choice Podcasting Awards. Her podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, and other high-quality platforms.

M G Vassanji is the author of ten novels, three collections of short stories, a travel memoir about India, a memoir of East Africa, and a biography of Mordecai Richler. He is twice winner of the Giller Prize (1994, 2003); the Governor General’s Prize (2009) for nonfiction; the Harbourfront Festival Prize; the Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa, 1990); and the Molson Prize. “Nostalgia”, his dystopian novel, was a finalist for CBC’s Canada Reads. M G Vassanji was born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised in Tanzania. He lives in Toronto, and visits East Africa and India often.

Kenneth Oppel is the bestselling author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and was adapted into an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children’s Novel of the Year by the Times (UK). Kenneth Oppel is also the author of Half Brother, This Dark Endeavor, The Boundless, The Nest, Every Hidden Thing, Inkling and the Bloom trilogy. His latest novel is Ghostlight. Ken Oppel lives with his family in Toronto.

M.T. Khan is a speculative fiction author with a penchant for all things myth, science, and philosophy. She focuses on stories that combine all three, dreaming of evocative worlds and dark possibilities. ​When she’s not writing, M.T. Khan can be found travelling the world or cracking physics equations as she graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, she currently resides in Toronto, Canada, with a hyperactive cat and an ever-increasing selection of tea.

Matteo L. Cerilli (he/him) is a transmasc author and activist specializing in speculative fiction for all ages. His work features the YA horror novel LOCKJAW (Tundra, 2024), a featured short story in BURY YOUR GAYS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF TRAGIC QUEER HORROR (Ghoulish Books, 2024), and poetry in Augur magazine. His activism has included setting up gender care for trans students at York University, helping to found the Students for Queer Liberation—Tkaronto, and organizing with the No Pride in Policing Coalition. 

Mikaela Lucido is a Filipina-Canadian storyteller, fangirl, and amateur birdwatcher. She was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in Mississauga, on the Treaty and Traditional Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and The Huron-Wendat and Wyandot Nations. She studied Creative Writing & Publishing at Sheridan College and was the 2021 recipient of the Ampersand Award. Her words have been featured in Ricepaper Magazine, Cambio & Co., Living Hyphen, and Augur Magazine. She writes for the awkward and anxious. 

Andrea Curtis is an award-winning Toronto writer whose books have been published around the world. Her latest nonfiction for young readers includes the just-published Loop de Loop (Groundwood), illustrated by Netherlands-based Roozeboos, and the ThinkCities series City of Neighbors, City Streets are for People, City of Water and A Forest in the City (Groundwood). Andrea lives with her family in the west end where she loves to hike, bike, doodle and dig in her veggie patch.

Cassidy McFadzean is the author of three books of poetry: Crying Dress (House of Anansi, 2024), Drolleries (McClelland & Stewart 2019), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award, and Hacker Packer (M&S 2015), which won two Saskatchewan Book Awards and was a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Joyland, The Walrus, Hazlitt, and in Dead Writers, a collaborative anthology out this fall with Invisible Publishing. Cassidy was born in Regina and currently lives in Toronto, where she is the 2024-2025 Writer-in-Residence at Sheridan College. 

Irene Marques is a bilingual writer (English and Portuguese) and Lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University in the department of English. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, Masters in French Literature and Comparative Literature (University of Toronto) and a Bachelor of Social Work (Ryerson University, now TMU). Her published creative works include, among others, three collections of poetry and the novels Daria (Inanna Publications, 2021) and Uma Casa no Mundo (Imprensa Nacional/Portugal, 2021), which won Prémio Imprensa Nacional/Ferreira de Castro. Her fourth collection of poetry, The Bare Bones of Our Alphabet will be out in September, 2024 (Mawenzi House). Irene Marques was born and raised in Portugal and moved to Canada at the age of 20.

Margaret Nowaczyk is a pediatrician and a clinical geneticist. Her writing has appeared in Prairie Fire, Geist, Examined Life Journal, Intima, Broken Pencil, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, Grain, Litro US, The Dalhousie Review, and others. Her non-fiction won thte 2020 CNFC/Humber Literary Review contest and was a finalist for the 2022 National Magazine Awards. Her memoir “Chasing Zebras” won the Sarton Women’s Book Award for Memoir. “Marrow Memory”, a collection of essays, was published by Wolsak&Wynn in June 2024. She lives in Hamilton, ON with her husband, two sons, two cats, and a rescue greyhound.

Stuart Ross has published over 20 books of fiction, poetry, and personal essays, most recently the memoir The Book of Grief and Hamburgers, winner of the 2023 Trillium Book Award, the poetry collection The Sky Is a Sky in the Sky, and the short story collection I Am Claude François and You Are a Bathtub. His poetry has been translated into Nynorsk, French, Spanish, Russian, Slovene, and Estonian. Active in the Canadian micropress world since the mid-1970s, Stuart lives in Cobourg, Ontario, and blogs infrequently at bloggamooga.blogspot.ca.

Caroline Fernandez loves to write children’s books for curious kids. She’s won awards for her fantastic stories, like the exciting chapter book series “Asha and Baz” which highlights real-life historical women in STEM. She has written numerous picture books including; “Hide And Seek: Wild Animal Groups in North America” and “The Adventures of Grandamasaurus” (series) and “Stop Reading This Book“. For those looking for a big adventure, watch for her upcoming middle-grade historical novel “Plague Thieves.” Caroline writes, drinks tea, and bakes in Toronto, ON.  Twitter and Instagram: @ParentClub

AGA Wilmot (BFA, MPub) is a writer and editor based out of Toronto, Ontario. They have won awards for fiction, short fiction, and screenwriting, including the Friends of Merril Short Story Contest and ECW Press’s Best New Speculative Novel Contest. For seven years they served as co-publisher and co-EIC of the Ignyte- and British Fantasy Award-nominated Anathema: Spec from the Margins. Books of AGA’s include The Death Scene Artist (Buckrider Books, 2018) and Withered (ECW Press, 2024). They are represented by Kelvin Kong of K2 Literary (k2literary.com). Find them online at agawilmot.ca.

Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez was born in Manila, where she grew up with her family’s stranger-than-fiction stories. She developed a love for philosophy and classics in university. She then worked as a copywriter in advertising and later became associate creative director. She spent her twenties trekking around the Philippines, sampling regional food, and experiencing the hospitality of her fellow Filipinos.She moved to Canada in the mid-nineties, worked as a designer, then studied creative writing at the University of Toronto. She now works in communications. She lives in Toronto, with her spouse and daughter.

Madeline Ashby is a consulting futurist and novelist based in Toronto. She is the author of the Machine Dynasty series, Company Town, and contributor to How to Future: Leading and Sense-making in an Age of Hyperchange. She has developed science fiction prototypes for Changeist, the Institute for the Future, the Smithsonian Institution, SciFutures, Nesta, The World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Atlantic Council, and others. She is a member of the AI Policy Futures Group at the ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, and the XPRIZE Sci-Fi Advisory Council. Her work has appeared in BoingBoing, Slate, MIT Technology Review, WIRED, The Atlantic, and elsewhere.

Nick Cutter is the author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller The Troop (which is currently being developed for film with producer James Wan), The Deep, Little Heaven, and The Handyman Method, cowritten with Andrew F. Sullivan. Nick Cutter is the pseudonym for Craig Davidson, whose much-lauded literary fiction includes Rust and Bone, The Saturday Night Ghost Club, and, most recently, the short story collection Cascade. His story “Medium Tough” was selected by author Jennifer Egan for The Best American Short Stories 2014. He lives in Toronto, Canada. He returns with THE QUEEN (October 2024), a heart-pounding novel of terror about a young woman searching for her missing friend and uncovering a shocking truth.

Sahar Golshan is the author of So Loud! a picture book published in 2024 with Annick Press. So Loud! is illustrated by Shiva Delsooz. Sahar is a writer, a language learner, and the director of the short documentary KAR (2019). She is a winner of the Marina Nemat Award for Creative Writing in Non-Fiction and the Air Canada Short Film Award. Her writing has appeared in Room, Taclanese, Shameless, The Ex-Puritan, and Tongues: On Longing and Belonging through Language. She enjoys teaching and facilitating workshops in academic and community spaces.

Shiva Delsooz is an Iranian-Canadian illustrator born and raised in Ontario, Canada.
She graduated from College with a diploma in animation and has always had a passion for drawing, as her mother can confirm by all the little doodles underneath her dining room table.

Catherine Hernandez is a proud queer woman of colour and an award-winning author. She is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian heritage and is married into the Navajo Nation. Her debut novel, Scarborough, which was adapted into an award-winning motion picture, won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award as an unpublished manuscript. It was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award, the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award, the Edmund White Award, the Trillium Book Award and Canada Reads. Her second novel, Crosshairs, made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction list and was named one of NOW magazine’s 10 Best Books, one of NBC’s 20 Best LGBTQ Books and an Audible Best Audiobook. Her third novel, The Story of Us, was shortlisted for the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award and longlisted for a Toronto Book Award. Catherine Hernandez is also the author of the children’s books M Is for Mustache A Pride ABC Book, I Promise and Where Do Your Feelings Live? Her most recent novel, Behind You, was published this year. Before it hit the shelves, it was optioned by Conquering Lion Pictures to become a feature film, with Catherine writing the screenplay. Catherine Hernandez lives outside Toronto.

Linda Morra is an award-winning author and podcaster. Using her expertise as a seasoned literature professor, she develops provocative, timely insights for her podcast, Getting Lit With Linda, about books from Canada and elsewhere to show why stories are relevant for all of us. Getting Lit With Linda won the 2022 Outstanding Education Series Award by the Canadian Podcast Awards and was a Finalist for the 2023 People’s Choice Podcasting Awards. Her podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, and other high-quality platforms.

Michelle Wang lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and their four children. She is an elementary school teacher, but as her youngest daughter always says, when asked: “My mom’s an author and an aloe farmer.” When not playing random songs every time she walks by a piano, Michelle can be found reading a book to avoid cleaning her very messy house.

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.

Sarah Raughley grew up writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to sci-fi fantasy TV and other geeky things, all of which have inspired her writing. Sarah has been nominated for the Aurora Award for Best YA Novel and works in the community doing writing workshops for youths and adults. She has a PhD in English, which makes her a doctor, so it turns out she didn’t have to go to medical school after all. She continues to use her voice for good.

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio is a Filipina-Canadian author, speaker and school board consultant who builds bridges between educators and Filipino families through her initiative, Filipino Talks. After completing her master’s degree in Immigration and Settlement Studies, she graduated from the Humber School for Writers and completed a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She was a finalist for the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award and has been published in various anthologies. She lives in Toronto, ON, where she is writing her second novel.

Kristen den Hartog is a decorated novelist and non-fiction writer. Her books have won an Alberta Book Publishing Award and been nominated for both a Trillium Award and the City of Toronto Book Award.

M. John Kennedy is Head of the Acting Program at the Randolph College for the Performing Arts in Toronto. In the past year M. John has been fortunate to have worked on a number plays including Tunnel at the End of the Light (Soldiers in the Arts), The Tilco Strike (4th Line Theatre), Give ‘Em Hell (Prairie Fire, Please / Theatre Direct) and It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play & Yellow Face (New Stages) all while touring his one-person Robert Munsch show(s) Fireside Munsch*.  (*Eight Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations).

Addison Fox is a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happy-ever-afters. She loves writing about romance as much as reading it. Addison lives in New York with an apartment full of books, a laptop that’s rarely out of sight and a wily beagle who keeps her running. You can find her at www.addisonfox.com, facebook.com/addisonfoxauthor or on Twitter (@addisonfox).

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, B.J. Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and two springer spaniels. When not writing, she quilts, boats and always has a book or two to read. Contact her at www.bjdaniels.com, on Facebook at B.J. Daniels or through her reader group the B.J. Daniels’ Big Sky Darlings, and on twitter at bjdanielsauthor.

Brenda Jackson is a New York Times bestselling author of more than one hundred romance titles. Brenda lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and divides her time between family, writing and traveling. Email Brenda at authorbrendajackson@gmail.com or visit her on her website at brendajackson.net.

USA Today bestselling, RITA-nominated, and critically-acclaimed author Caitlin Crews has written more than 130 books and counting. She has a Masters and Ph.D. in English Literature, thinks everyone should read more category romance, and is always available to discuss her beloved alpha heroes. Just ask. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her comic book artist husband, is always planning her next trip, and will never, ever, read all the books in her to-be-read pile. Thank goodness.

Catherine Tinley is a multi award-winning writer of witty, heartwarming Regency Romance. Her first novel, Waltzing with the Earl, won the Rita(R) Award for Best Historical Romance 2018, and she has since won the 2021 RoNA award, the 2021 HOLT medallion, and the 2022 RoNA award for Best Historical Romance. She lives in Ireland with her family and can be reached at www.CatherineTinley.com and on social media at https://linktr.ee/CTinley 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels. She’s a winner of the RWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. For more information, check out her websites: TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com, eHeatherGraham.com, and HeatherGraham.tv. You can also find Heather on Facebook.

Best-selling author Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, two sassy pups and countless cattle. She’s passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, you’ll likely find her in the kitchen, spending time with her grandchildren or roaming the ranch in search of inspiration. She’d love to connect with you via her website, mindyobenhaus.com, or on Facebook.

Nina Crespo lives in Florida where she indulges in her favorite passions — the beach, a good glass of wine, date night with her own real-life hero and dancing. Her lifelong addiction to romance began in her teens while on a “borrowing spree” in her older sister’s bedroom where she discovered her first romance novel. Let Nina’s sensual, award-winning stories satisfy your craving for love, romance, and happily ever after.

New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including six RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and Career Achievement and Romance Pioneer awards from RT Book Reviews. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website.

Award-winning author Renee Daniel Flagler has written novels and poetry, and she has taught creative writing throughout the New York City Department of Education and served as a Writer in Residence at the Langston Hughes Library. Renee received an MFA in Creative Writing from The College of New Rochelle, where she obtained the graduate program’s inaugural Creative Writing Division Award for Excellence in Writing and Commitment to the Profession. Renee also created a scholarship for students pursuing studies in writing disciplines in higher education. Renee hails from the suburbs of New York City, where she lives with her husband and children. Connect with her at ReneeDanielFlagler.com.

Paul McLaughlin is a highly experienced and award-winning freelance writer, broadcaster and teacher. The author of 2022’s Asking the Best Questions, he has written numerous books, articles and playscripts. He lives in Toronto, where he teaches professional writing at York University.

Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) is a multiple National Magazine and GLAAD award-winning author, film programmer, pop culture critic, and PhD living in Toronto. He is the writer of Dayspring, the international bestselling story of the beloved disciple of Christ. His work is in a myriad of genres, often incorporating queer themes, and spans comics, prose, journalism, and academic research.

Jerrod Edson is the author of six books. His most recent novel, The Boulevard —hailed by author Ian Colford as an “irreverent triumph”— features Ernest Hemingway, Vincent van Gogh, and Satan on a train ride through Hell. Edson was the recipient of the 2013 David Adams Richards Prize for his novella, The Moon is Real, while his novel, The Goon, was shortlisted for the 2011 Relit Award. He lives in Mississauga, ON, with his wife Leigh and daughters Hadley and Harper.

Sonia Urlando (she/her) is an editor, writer, and podcaster based in Toronto. She has a love of incisive questions, an affection for trickster figures, and a wealth of facts about greyhounds. You can find her at Augur Magazine, where she serves as a Senior Editor (Copy & Proofs) and hosts the newly-launched podcast Murmustations all about worldbuilding through speculative genres. 

Melanie has been writing full-time since 2010 and has written a bunch of books, but she’s probably best known for her picture books, Missing Nimama and Stolen Words, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the 2018 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award respectively.

In her spare time, Melanie plays guitar, reads manga, collects vinyl, listens to really loud rock music and slightly quieter K-pop, gets tattoos and drinks too much coffee. She lives in Toronto with her family.

Connie Gault has written for stage and radio and film. Her first novel, Euphoria, won a Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction and was short-listed for the High Plains Fiction Award and the Commonwealth Prize for Best Novel of Canada and the Caribbean. A Beauty won the 2016 Saskatchewan Book of the Year as well as the award for fiction, and was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. A former prose editor of Grain magazine, Connie has also edited books of fiction and has taught many creative writing classes and mentored emerging writers. After spending most of her life in Saskatchewan, she now lives in London, Ontario.

Maurice Vellekoop was born in 1964 in a suburb of Toronto. A prolific artist and illustrator, he has worked non-stop for the last three decades. In addition to publications, his corporate clients include Swissair, Abercrombie & Fitch, Air Canada, Smart Car, and LVMH. He lives on Toronto Island with his partner Gordon Bowness.

Amanda Peters is a writer of Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry. Her debut novel, The Berry Pickers, was a critically acclaimed bestseller in Canada. Her work has appeared in the Antigonish Review, Grain, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Dalhousie Review and Filling Station. She is the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for unpublished prose and a participant in the 2021 Writers’ Trust Rising Stars Program. Peters has a certificate in creative writing from the University of Toronto, and she is a graduate of the master of fine arts program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Amanda Peters lives and writes in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, with her fur babies, Holly and Pook.

Linda Morra is an award-winning author and podcaster. Using her expertise as a seasoned literature professor, she develops provocative, timely insights for her podcast, Getting Lit With Linda, about books from Canada and elsewhere to show why stories are relevant for all of us. Getting Lit With Linda won the 2022 Outstanding Education Series Award by the Canadian Podcast Awards and was a Finalist for the 2023 People’s Choice Podcasting Awards. Her podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, and other high-quality platforms.

Basil Sylvester is a writer and bookseller. Their first book, The Fabulous Zed Watson!, co-written with Kevin Sylvester, was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award, the 2021 Lambda Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Night of the Living Zed is their second novel. They live in Toronto, Canada.

Kevin Sylvester has written and illustrated more than thirty books for kids.His latest novel is Night of the Living Zed, written with his kid, Basil. It’s the sequel to The Fabulous Zed Watson! which was a finalist for numerous awards, including the TD and the Governor General’s. Kevin’s also the author and illustrator of Apartment 713. It was the 2024 winner of the Silver Birch, Red Cedar and SunDogs awards… all voted on by kids!He has a new graphic novel, Puffin and Penguin, with his pal Helaine Becker.His series, The Hockey Super-Six is highly illustrated and goofy fun.His other novels range from science fiction (The MINRs trilogy) to mystery novels (The Neil Flambé Capers), and other super-heroes (Mucus Mayhem).His picture books include Gargantua (Jr.): Defender of Earth, Super-Duper Monster, GREAT and Splinters.He also writes and illustrates non-fiction books. There are sports books (Gold Medal for Weird, Basketballogy, Baseballogy) and books on financial literacy (Follow Your Stuff and Follow Your Money.)

Amanda Leduc is the author of the novel THE CENTAUR’S WIFE and the non-fiction book DISFIGURED: ON FAIRY TALES, DISABILITY, AND MAKING SPACE, which was shortlisted for the 2020 Governor General’s Award in Nonfiction. She is also the author of an earlier novel, THE MIRACLES OF ORDINARY MEN. Her new novel, WILD LIFE, is forthcoming in spring 2025. She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

K.J. Aiello is a mentally ill, award-winning writer based in Toronto, ON. Their work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, The Walrus, and This Magazine. They are still waiting for their very own dragon. Sadly, this has not happened, so their cats will have to suffice.

Peter Counter writes about television, video games, film, music, mental illness, horror, technology, and the occult. He is the author of two essay collections that blend criticism and memoir: How to Restore a Timeline: On Violence and Memory (2023, House of Anansi) and Be Scared of Everything: Horror Essays (2020, Invisible Publishing). His nonfiction has also appeared in The Walrus, All Lit Up, Motherboard, Art of the Title, Electric Literature, Open Book, and the anthology Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church (2019, Epiphany Publishing). He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with his spouse and two cats.