Ainara Alleyne

Ainara Alleyne is a 14-year-old host, co-creator, co-writer, and executive producer on Ainara's Bookshelf.

Ainara's mission is to highlight books for young people whose authors and main characters are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, differently abled, and other underrepresented minorities. Ainara shares reviews, recommendations, and author interviews to bring diverse stories to a broader audience. She believes that by experiencing other cultures and perspectives through books, we can not only acknowledge our differences but be able to understand and embrace them.

Since launching her Instagram feed, Ainara has reviewed books for the New York Times, acted as a reporter for CBC Kids News, is Hamilton Public Library’s First Junior Librarian-in-eResidence, has spoken to schools and at educator symposiums, and is the MS Read-a-Thon Junior Ambassador for 2022 and 2023. She also has several acting credits to her name including Odd Squad Mobile Unit (Netflix), Six Degrees of Santa (Lifetime), Nine Films About Technology (Disney+), and several theater credits.

Vincent Anioke

Vincent Anioke is a Nigerian Canadian software engineer and author. His short stories have appeared in The Ex-Puritan, The Rumpus, The Masters Review, Carve Magazine, and Passages North, among others. He won the 2021 Austin Clarke Fiction Prize and has been shortlisted for multiple contests, including the 2023 RBC Bronwen Wallace Fiction Award and the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. He reads literary submissions for SmokeLong Quarterly and Split Lip Magazine. Perfect Little Angels is his first book. Find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @AniokeVincent.

vincentanioke.com

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio is Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio has worked as a settlement worker, public speaker and researcher, founding Filipino Talks, a program that builds bridges between educators and Filipino families. She has a Masters in Immigration and Settlement Studies and a post-graduate certificate from the Humber School for Writers. Her writing appears in anthologies, Geist, Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing, and the Philippine Reporter. She is a founding member of a collective of Filipino-Canadian writers www.plumawrites.ca. As a community worker, youth mentor, Little Manila tour guide and author she spends time thinking about the Filipino community Reuniting With Strangers (D&M) is her fist novel.

Gary Barwin

Gary Barwin is a writer, composer and multidisciplinary artist and the author of twenty-six books including Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy, which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award. His national bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates won the Leacock Medal for Humour and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and was long-listed for Canada Reads.

Barwin has been writer-in-residence at University of Toronto (Scarborough), Laurier, Western University, McMaster University and the Hamilton Public Library, Hillfield Strathallan College, Sheridan College and Young Voices E-Writer-in-Residence at the Toronto Public Library. He has taught creative writing at a number of colleges and universities, to at-risk youth in Hamilton through the ArtForms program and currently mentors through the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive. His writing has been published in hundreds of magazines and journals internationally and his writing, music, media works and visuals have been presented and broadcast internationally. Though born in Northern Ireland to South African parents of Ashkenazi descent, Barwin lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and at garybarwin.com.

Ayomide Bayowa

Ayomide Bayowa is an award-winning Nigerian Canadian poet, actor, and filmmaker. He holds a BA in Theatre and Creative Writing from the University of Toronto and is the (2021–24) poet laureate of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He is a top-ten gold entrant of the 9th Open Eurasian Literary Festival and Book Forum, UK, and was longlisted for both the UnSerious Collective Fellowship and 2021 Adroit Journal Poetry Prize. He won first place in the 2020 July Open Drawer Poetry Contest, the June/July 2021 edition of the bimonthly Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest and second place in the 2021 K. Valerie Connor Poetry Contest’s Student Category. He has appeared in a long list of literary magazines, including Windsor Review, Agbowó, Ampersand Review, and more. He is the editor-in-chief of Echelon Poetry and currently reads poetry for Adroit Journal.

Adriana Chartrand

Adriana Chartrand is a mixed-race Native woman, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her father is Red River Métis (Michif), born and raised in the Métis community of St. Laurent, and her mother is a white settler from Manitoba. Adriana has two degrees in film studies and has previously worked in the social work field. She lives in Toronto and works in the film industry.

Conyer Clayton

Conyer Clayton is an award-winning writer and editor from Kentucky now living in Ottawa, whose multi-genre work often explores grief, disability, addiction, and gender-based violence through a surrealist lens. Their latest book is But the sun, and the ships, and the fish, and the waves. (Winner of the Archibald Lampman Award, Anvil Press, 2022). They are a Senior Editor at Augur and Nonfiction Editor for untethered magazine. You can find their nonfiction and poetry in Best Canadian Poetry 2023, This Magazine, Room Magazine, filling station, Canthius, Arc Poetry Magazine, CV2, The Capilano Review, and others.

Alicia Elliott

Alicia Elliott is is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. She has written for the Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt, and many others. She’s had numerous essays nominated for National Magazine Awards, winning gold in 2017 and an honorable mention in 2020. Her short fiction was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2018, Best Canadian Stories 2018, and The Journey Prize Stories 30. Alicia was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, was a national bestseller. It was also nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award. Her debut novel, And Then She Fell, was a national bestseller, a Globe and Mail and CBC Best Book of the Year. It was a Most Anticipated Book Pick by Toronto Star, CBC, the Walrus, Good Morning America, Bustle, CrimeReads, Electric Literature, Debutiful, Ms. Magazine, The Nerd Daily, and Paste.

Madison Farkas

Madison Farkas is an author, media critic and editor who has written for CBC Books, Global News, Avenue Magazine and the Calgary Journal, among others. Her background is in magazine publishing and local investigative journalism and she is a yoga lover, amateur chef and sometimes painter. She lives with her partner and many houseplants in Peterborough, Ontario. www.madisonfarkas.com

Amy Jones

Amy Jones is the author of the novels We're All in This Together, a national bestseller, winner of the Northern Lit Award, a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and named a Best Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire, and Every Little Piece of Me, named a Best Book of Summer by the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and NOW Magazine. Her debut collection of stories, What Boys Like, won the Metcalf-Rooke Award and was a finalist for the ReLit Award. Her fiction has won the CBC Literary Prize for Short Fiction, appeared in Best Canadian Stories and The Journey Prize Stories, and been selected as Longform's Pick of the Week. Originally from Halifax, she now lives in Hamilton.

Shelly Kawaja

Shelly Kawaja is the author of The Raw Light of Morning, which won the 2022 BMO Winterset Prize. Her work has appeared in several magazines such as Horseshoe Literary Magazine, the Humber Literary Review, the Dalhousie Review, and PACE. She was long listed for the Bridge Prize, the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Fresh Fish Award, and won the gritLIT short fiction contest. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s optional residency MFA program, as well as The Humber School for Writers, and Memorial University of Newfoundland. She lives in Corner Brook with her family.

Dannabang Kuwabong

Dannabang Kuwabong is a Ghanaian Canadian born in Nanville in the Upper West Region of Ghana. He was educated in Ghana, Scotland, and Canada, and teaches Caribbean literature at the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan. His publications include Konga and other Dagaaba Folktales; Visions of Venom; Caribbean Blues & Love’s Genealogy; Echoes from Dusty Rivers; and Voices from Kibuli Country. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

David Neil Lee

David Neil Lee is a writer and double bassist. Originally from BC, he spent years in the Toronto art scene and on BC's Sunshine Coast, and currently lives in Hamilton, Ontario. He has just finished a PhD in English at the University of Guelph. In 2012, Toronto's Tightrope Books issued David's first novel, Commander Zero. In 2014, a new and revised edition of David's critically acclaimed jazz book The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field was launched at the New School for Public Engagement in New York City. In 2016, the City of Hamilton awarded the Kerry Schooley award for the book that "best conveys the spirit of Hamilton" to David's Lovecraftian young adult novel, The Midnight Games.

Robin Lefler

Robin Lefler grew up near Toronto and (briefly) pursued an ill-fated career in equine massage therapy before stumbling into the world of robotics and tech sales. Not How I Pictured It is her second novel. Her first, Reasonable Adults, was published in 2022. Robin Lefler still lives in her hometown with her family and two very needy canines.

Canisia Lubrin

Canisia Lubrin’s books include Voodoo Hypothesis and The Dyzgraphxst. Lubrin’s work has been recognized with the Griffin Poetry Prize, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, the Derek Walcott Prize, the Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Stars prize, and others. Also a finalist for the Trillium Award for Poetry and Governor General's Literary Award, Lubrin has held fellowships at the Banff Centre, Civitella Ranieri in Italy, Simon Fraser University, Literature Colloquium Berlin, Queen’s University, and Victoria College at University of Toronto. She studied at York University and the University of Guelph, where she now coordinates the Creative Writing MFA in the School of English & Theatre Studies. In 2021, Lubrin received a Windham-Campbell prize for poetry, and the Globe & Mail named her Poet of the Year. Code Noir: Metamorphoses is her debut fiction, and includes stories listed for the Journey Prize (2019, 2020), Toronto Book Award (2018) and the Shirley Jackson Award (2021). Born in St. Lucia, Lubrin now lives in Whitby, Ontario, and is poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. CANISIA LUBRIN’s books include Voodoo Hypothesis and The Dyzgraphxst. Lubrin’s work has been recognized with the Griffin Poetry Prize, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, the Derek Walcott Prize, the Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Stars prize, and others. Also a finalist for the Trillium Award for Poetry and Governor General's Literary Award, Lubrin has held fellowships at the Banff Centre, Civitella Ranieri in Italy, Simon Fraser University, Literature Colloquium Berlin, Queen’s University, and Victoria College at University of Toronto. She studied at York University and the University of Guelph, where she now coordinates the Creative Writing MFA in the School of English & Theatre Studies. In 2021, Lubrin received a Windham-Campbell prize for poetry, and the Globe & Mail named her Poet of the Year. Code Noir: Metamorphoses is her debut fiction, and includes stories listed for the Journey Prize (2019, 2020), Toronto Book Award (2018) and the Shirley Jackson Award (2021). Born in St. Lucia, Lubrin now lives in Whitby, Ontario, and is poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. 

Peter Mansbridge

Peter Mansbridge is one of Canada’s most respected journalists. He is the former chief correspondent for CBC News; anchor of The National, CBC’s flagship nightly newscast where he worked for thirty years reporting on national and international news stories; and host of Mansbridge One on One. He has received over a dozen national awards for broadcast excellence, including a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. He is a distinguished fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto and the former two-term chancellor of Mount Allison University. In 2008 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada – the country’s highest civilian honour – and in 2012 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He is the author of the instant #1 national bestsellers Off the Record and Extraordinary Canadians, as well as the national bestseller Peter Mansbridge One on One: Favourite Conversations and the Stories Behind Them. He lives in Stratford, Ontario. Follow him on Twitter @PeterMansbridge, visit him at ThePeterMansbridge.com, or listen to his daily podcast, The Bridge, with Sirius XM Canada.

George Matuvi

George Makonese Matuvi grew up in Chamini, a rural area in the district of Zvishavane, in Zimbabwe, where he was surrounded by mountains and developed a love of both soccer and books. He is currently an electrical engineer and runs a small consulting company. The War as I Saw It: In Rhodesia, Now Zimbabwe, Through the Eyes of a Black Boy is his first book. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with his family.

Paige Maylott

Paige Maylott is a Canadian novelist and gamer who delves into alternate realities and identities. Her memoir, My Body is Distant (Sept 2023, ECW Press) explores her intersections of transition, critical illness, and vivid, dreamlike digital spaces. 

Beyond writing, Paige excels as an academic accessibility professional and renowned speaker on accessible spaces and media. Her hobbies include hoarding rabbit paraphernalia and collecting retro video games from the 80s and 90s. She also paints a lot of geeky miniatures, usually sporting a deceptively pensive expression.

Shani Mootoo

Shani Mootoo was born in Ireland and raised in Trinidad. Mootoo's highly acclaimed writing includes the novels Cereus Blooms at Night and Polar Vortex, a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the poetry collections Cane | Fire and Oh Witness Dey!. Her poetry has appeared in Wasafiri, Poetry Magazine, and Room Magazine. She has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa from Western University, is a recipient of Lambda Literary’s James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize, and the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award. She lives in Southern Ontario, Canada.

Matthew R. Morris

Matthew R. Morris is an educator, anti-racism advocate, and writer based out of Toronto. He earned a BA (Hons) and an MA in Social Justice Education from the University of Toronto. In addition to teaching, his work and public speaking on the deconstruction of Black masculinity, hip-hop culture, and schooling has taken him across North America to consult on and learn about the challenges facing students and educators in the current education system. He has written articles for TVO, Huffington Post, ETFO Voice, and Education Canada magazine. Morris is a TEDx speaker and has been featured in Toronto Star and Toronto Sun, and on CBC Radio and CityNews Toronto.

Geoffrey D. Morrison

Geoffrey D. Morrison is the author of the poetry chapbook Blood-Brain Barrier (Frog Hollow Press, 2019) and co-author, with Matthew Tomkinson, of the experimental short fiction collection Archaic Torso of Gumby (Gordon Hill Press, 2020). He was a finalist in both the poetry and fiction categories of the 2020 Malahat Review Open Season Awards and a nominee for the 2020 Journey Prize. His debut novel, Falling Hour, was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. He lives on unceded Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh territory (Vancouver).

Lishai Peel

Lishai Peel is a Hamilton based writer, spoken word artist and community engaged consultant with over a decade of experience working in the arts and culture sector. Her writing has won awards with the Malahat Review, the Vancouver Writers Fest and the Writers’ Trust of Canada. Her essays and poems have been published by Book*hug Press, Room Magazine, Lilith Magazine, Hey Alma, Middleground Magazine, Arc Poetry Magazine, the Malahat Review, Illanot Review and others. Lishai has an MFA in creative writing from Guelph University and works as the ED of gritLIT, Hamilton’s festival of readers and writers.

Casey Plett

Casey Plett is the author of A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, and A Safe Girl to Love, the co-editor of Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy From Transgender Writers, and the publisher at LittlePuss Press. She has written for the New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, the Guardian, Globe and Mail, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, the Winnipeg Free Press, and other publications. A winner of the Amazon First Novel Award and the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award, her work has also been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Leanne Toshiko Simpson

Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a mixed-race Yonsei writer who lives with bipolar disorder. She was named Scarborough’s Emerging Writer in 2016 and was nominated for the Journey Prize in 2019. She co-founded a reflective writing program at Canada’s largest mental health hospital and teaches at the University of Toronto. Since her hospitalization, Simpson has connected with students, cultural centres, companies and media outlets about the power of storytelling in shaping recovery. Never Been Better is her debut novel.

Kai Cheng Thom

Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performance artist, and community healer. She is the author of the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, which was chosen by Emma Watson for her online feminist book club and shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award. Her poetry collection a place called No Homeland was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book, and her essay collection, I Hope We Choose Love, received a Publishing Triangle Award. She writes the advice column “Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse” for Xtra.

Anuja Varghese

Anuja Varghese is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Hobart, the Malahat Review, the Fiddlehead, Plenitude Magazine, and others. Her stories have been recognized in the PRISM International Short Fiction Contest and the Alice Munro Festival Short Story Competition and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Chrysalis is her first book.

Jessica Westhead

Jessica Westhead is the author of the novels Pulpy & Midge (Coach House Books) and Worry (HarperCollins Canada), and the critically acclaimed short story collections And Also Sharks and Things Not to Do (Cormorant Books). And Also Sharks was a Globe & Mail Top 100 Book, one of Kobo’s Best Ebooks of 2011, and a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Short Fiction Prize, and Worry was included on CBC Books’ Best Canadian Fiction of 2019 and the CBC Canada Reads Longlist. In a starred review, Quill & Quire calls Avalanche, Jessica’s short story collection with Invisible Publishing, “so artfully rendered as to be quietly devastating.” Jessica lives in Toronto with her family.

Nathan Whitlock

Nathan Whitlock is the author of the novels A Week of This and Congratulations On Everything. His work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, the Walrus, the Globe and Mail, Best Canadian Essays, and elsewhere. He lives with his family in Hamilton, Ontario.

Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson Tehoháhake is a Mohawk performer, writer, storyteller, and visual artist from Hamilton, Ontario. A multiple Juno Award winner, his memoir Beautiful Scars was a national bestseller and a CBC Best Book of 2017.