Amanda Leduc is the author of the nonfiction book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space, out now from Coach House Books, and the novel The Miracles of Ordinary Men, published by ECW Press in 2013. Her next novel, The Centaur’s Wife, is forthcoming from Random House Canada in February 2021.

Amanda has an MFA in Writing from the University of St. Andrews, UK. She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where she serves as the Communications and Development Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD).

Ardo Omer has written for online platforms as a reviewer and critic for almost a decade. She’s been a judge for a few kids comics awards and is an advisor at the Canadian Comics Open Library. Ardo lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she serves as the Kids Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD).

Clayton Thomas-Müller is a member of the Treaty #6 based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation also known as Pukatawagan located in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Based in Winnipeg, Clayton is a senior campaign specialist with 350.org. Clayton is a campaigner, award winning film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker and best selling author on Indigenous rights and environmental & economic justice.

katherena vermette (she/elle) is a Red River Métis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation. She has worked in poetry, novels, children’s literature, and film. vermette received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry for her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses’ Company). The Break (House of Anansi) won several awards including the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and was a bestseller in Canada. Her second novel, The Strangers (Hammish Hamilton) won the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize and was named Chapters Indigo’s Book of the Year 2021.

Jesse Wente is an Anisinaabe author, speaker and arts administrator. His first book, Unreconciled: Family Truth and Resistance is a national bestseller.

Janet Marie Rogers (January) is a poet, media producer, new publisher and a sound/performance artist living and working on her home territory, Six Nations of the Grand River. She has 7 published poetry collections and many media project including a soon to be released 10 episode web series NDNs on the Airwaves which she wrote and produced.

Bridgette Kam is a literary associate at Westwood Creative Artists, where she is proud to co-represent writers of literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, and children’s picture books with WCA’s senior agents. She previously worked in WCA’s rights department and interned at McClelland & Stewart. Before publishing, Bridgette worked in the arts, communications, education and legal industries in Toronto and Hong Kong.

Aeman Ansari is a Toronto-based freelance editor. Previously, she acquired, commissioned, and edited narrative-driven fiction and non-fiction at HarperCollins Canada. Aeman has a particular interest in projects by BIPOC authors that showcase authentic voices, nuanced narratives, and intersectional identities.

Cynara Geissler (she/her) is the director of marketing and publicity at Arsenal Pulp Press, a leading Canadian independent book publisher in Vancouver, BC. Arsenal Pulp Press celebrated its 50th anniversary in fall 2021 and has over 400 titles currently in print, which include literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry; books on social issues; gender studies; LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC literature; graphic novels and non-fiction; children's and young adult literature; regional history; cookbooks; alternative crafts; and books in translation.

Hana El Niwairi is a writer, publishing professional, and media enthusiast who handles international rights at a literary agency based in Toronto. Prior to joining the publishing industry, Hana worked in the non-profit, arts, and culture sectors. She is also a co-founder of the non-profit organization BIPOC of Publishing in Canada.

Dr. Shayda Kafai (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Ethnic and Women’s Studies Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As a queer, disabled, Mad femme of color, she commits to practicing the many ways we can reclaim our bodyminds from systems of oppression. To support this work as an educator-scholar, Shayda applies disability justice and collective care practices in the spaces she cultivates.

Anna Quon, a poet and novelist living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), likes to make paintings and short animated films of her poems. Mixed-race, middle-aged and Mad, Anna has facilitated writing and creative arts workshops for people with lived experience of mental health diagnoses/ psychiatric histories for 15 years. Her first professionally published poetry chapbook, Body Parts, was released in 2021 by Gaspereau Press. Anna’s third novel, Where the Silver River Ends, which creates a trilogy with her first two unrelated stories, Migration Songs and Low, will be released in March 2022.

Zena Sharman is a writer, speaker, strategist and LGBTQ+ health advocate. She’s the author of three books, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health (published by Arsenal Pulp Press in the fall of 2021). Zena edited the Lambda Literary award-winning anthology The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care. She’s also an engaging speaker who brings her passion for LGBTQ+ health to audiences of health care providers, students and community members at universities and conferences across North America. You can learn more about Zena and her work at https://zenasharman.com/

Kai Cheng Thom is the writer of five award-winning books in various genres. Based in Toronto/tkaronto, Kai Cheng is a widely known advocate for transformative social change and the winner of multiple literary awards, including the Stonewall Honor Book Award and the Publishing Triangle Award.

Cynara Geissler (she/her) is the director of marketing and publicity at Arsenal Pulp Press, a leading Canadian independent book publisher in Vancouver, BC. Arsenal Pulp Press celebrated its 50th anniversary in fall 2021 and has over 400 titles currently in print, which include literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry; books on social issues; gender studies; LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC literature; graphic novels and non-fiction; children's and young adult literature; regional history; cookbooks; alternative crafts; and books in translation.

Kim Fu is a Canadian-born writer living in Seattle, Washington. Fu’s most recent book, the short story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, received starred reviews from Quill & Quire, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Foreword. Her novel The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the OLA Evergreen Award, and her novel For Today I Am a Boy won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Fu’s writing has appeared in Granta, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Hazlitt, and enRoute.

Norma Dunning is an Inuk writer, professor and grandmother. Her book, Tainna (the unseen ones) received the Governor General's award for literary fiction in English 2021. Her short story collection, Annie Muktuk and Other Stories (University of Alberta Press, 2017), received the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story and the Bronze for short stories in the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. She is also the author of Eskimo Pie (Bookland Press, 2020), a collection of poetry and an Alberta bestseller. Her second collection of poetry, Akia (the other side) is releasing in July of 2022. Norma Dunning lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Jack Wang is the author of WE TWO ALONE (House of Anansi Press, HarperVia), winner of the 2020 Danuta Gleed Literary Award from the Writers’ Union of Canada for best debut collection in English. His fiction has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and longlisted for the Journey Prize. He has received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts and held the 2014-15 David T. K. Wong Creative Writing Fellowship at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He teaches writing at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Sharon Bala is the author of The Boat People, which won a couple of awards, was short listed for a few others, is available in five languages, and was a best-seller. She won The Journey Prize in 2017. Visit her at: sharonbala.com.

Ardo Omer has written for online platforms as a reviewer and critic for almost a decade. She’s been a judge for a few kids comics awards and is an advisor at the Canadian Comics Open Library.

Omer lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she serves as the Kids Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD).

Abdi Nazemian is the author of four novels. His first, The Walk-In Closet, won a Lambda Literary Award. His most recent, Like a Love Story, was awarded a Stonewall Honor, and was chosen as one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible, Buzzfeed, the New York Public Library and more. His screenwriting credits include the films The Artist's Wife, The Quiet, and Menendez: Blood Brothers, and the television series Ordinary Joe, The Village and Almost Family. He has been an executive producer and / or associate producer on numerous films, including Call Me By Your Name.

Sam Devotta (she/her) is the Senior Associate, Marketing & Publicity at Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers. She has a publishing certificate from Ryerson University and can most often be found behind-the-scenes on the Penguin Teen Canada social media accounts. Outside of work, Sam spends a lot of time talking about YA books and pop-punk bands (often at the same time).

Farah Heron is the critically acclaimed author of romantic comedies for adults and teens filled with family, food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. She lives in Toronto with her husband, two children, a rabbit, and two cats. Farah’s romantic comedy, Accidentally Engaged, was named one of the best books of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, NPR, CBC Books, Kobo, and more. Her young adult debut, Tahira in Bloom, was named one of the best books of the year by USA today. Her recent adult release, Kamila Knows Best is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma.

H.N. KHAN is a first-time author, his debut novel "Wrong Side of the Court" is set to be published in spring, 2022 by Penguin Teen. Born in Pakistan, he immigrated to Canada at age seven and grew up in Regent Park, a low-income community housing project. After graduating with a business degree he decided to drop out of law school to pursue a career in Toronto's start-up scene before setting his sights on writing.

Sarena Nanua and Sasha Nanua are twin sisters living in Ontario, Canada. Born on Diwali ten minutes apart from each other, they grew up loving stories about twins and magic, and began writing books together when they were nine years old. They are graduates of the English and Professional Writing programs at the University of Toronto and are also the authors of The Pendant Trilogy. Their newest novel, Sisters of the Snake, is available now from HarperCollins.

Damali Fraiser (she/her/hers) is a Kettlebell Instructor and Nutrition Coach passionate about exploring fitness from an intersectional lens. She began her strength and nutrition journey from a passion for Muay Thai as an amateur fighter for 3 years. Founder of Lift Off Strength & Wellness Damali is a compassionate coach and student of strength. Damali’s coaching has evolved to practice safe evidence-based kettlebell training, body-positive fitness and sustainable nutrition that supports you in starting wherever you are and confidently moving forward to where you want to be.

Bethaney is a facilitator, author, and champion of race-conscious leadership. She has dedicated more than a decade to exploring the intersections of community, racial justice, and social change—specifically in the organizational context. As author and founder of The Diversity Gap, Bethaney loves helping teams and leaders pair their good intentions for diversity with true cultural change.

Popular Instagram poet and artist Morgan Harper Nichols has created her life’s work around the stories of others. She also hosts a podcast, The Morgan Harper Nichols Show, where she shares daily reflections on finding meaning and peace in life and work. Morgan is often creating, teaching, and performing, in hopes of spreading her unique inspirational message and inviting others into her creative process. Her latest book, Peace is a Practice: An Invitation to Breathe Deep and Find a New Rhythm for Life, will be available nationwide February 15, 2022.

Skincare Expert and Author of Black Skin, The Definitive Skincare Guide.

Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, Yejide Kilanko lives in Chatham, Ontario where she practices as a social worker. Kilanko’s debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path, a Canadian national bestseller, was longlisted for the 2016 Nigeria Literature Prize. A poet and short story writer, Kilanko’s work includes a novella, Chasing Butterflies, two children’s picture books, There Is An Elephant In My Wardrobe, and Juba and The Fireball. Kilanko’s latest novel, A Good Name, is available now.

CHIDIOGO AKUNYILI-PARR is speaker, and consultant with a passion for human development and connection. She is the founder of She ROARs, an organization committed to coaching women of colour around the world to connect to their intuition and purpose. Her work is focused on harnessing the power of our interdependence with a foundation in the humanist African philosophy of Ubuntu, which celebrates our shared humanity. Chidiogo has lived and worked across four continents and speaks seven languages, including Mandarin, German, Spanish, and French, allowing for an even deeper connection with people. She led the growth and impact of the Global Shapers Community across Africa and the Middle East.

Tolu Oloruntoba lived in Nigeria and the United States before settling in the metro area of Coast Salish lands known as Vancouver with his family. He spent his early career as a primary care physician, and currently manages virtual health projects with organizations in British Columbia. His poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, while his debut chapbook, Manubrium, was a bpNichol Chapbook Award finalist. The Junta of Happenstance, his first full-length collection, was the winner of the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for English Language Poetry.

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe is a writer, academic and lawyer. Her debut novel was finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2021, won the Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2021, the SprinNG Women Authors Prize 2020 and the Best International Fiction Prize, Sharjah International Book Fair. She is at work on her second novel.

Where rhyme, wordplay and metaphor intersect, Karen found her voice and lent it to the stage for 20 years as a performance poet. Her work in arts and media spans radio, film, TV, print, and arts administration with a focus on opening doors for lesser-known creators. She co-edited T-Dot Griots: An Anthology of Toronto's Black Storytellers with Steven Green. Karen is a founding director of the FOLD Foundation. She holds degrees in Political Science and Journalism from McGill and University of Kings College, respectively. Karen lives in Brampton with her husband Kylan and two children.

CHIDIOGO AKUNYILI-PARR is speaker, and consultant with a passion for human development and connection. She is the founder of She ROARs, an organization committed to coaching women of colour around the world to connect to their intuition and purpose. Her work is focused on harnessing the power of our interdependence with a foundation in the humanist African philosophy of Ubuntu, which celebrates our shared humanity. Chidiogo has lived and worked across four continents and speaks seven languages, including Mandarin, German, Spanish, and French, allowing for an even deeper connection with people. She led the growth and impact of the Global Shapers Community across Africa and the Middle East.

Suzanne Barr is one of North America's most respected chefs with a signature flair for fresh comfort food. Her food is a reflection of her roots and is ever evolving as she travels the world refining her culinary storytelling and personal education.

ANAIS GRANOFSKY is an actor, director, producer and writer. Best known for her role as Lucy Fernandez on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, she has directed and starred in a number of films. She is also developing a fictional TV series loosely based on her childhood. The Girl in the Middle is Granofsky's first book.

Skye Bowen is an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience. She is a passionate advocate for equity and social justice. Skye taught in a youth correctional facility where she saw firsthand the impact of the school to prison pipeline. This further motivated Skye to advocate for racialized youth and address systemic barriers. She has a passion for restorative justice and supports leaders to ensure that anti-racist/anti-oppressive approaches are part of the school culture. Skye has been married to Orlando Bowen for 19 years and they have three sons, Dante, Justice, and Marcus.

Curtis Carmichael is the author of Butterflies in the Trenches—the World’s First Augmented Reality memoir and 2021 Best Indie Book Award Winner for Inspirational Non-Fiction. His cross-Canada cycling tour Ride for Promise raised funds for Toronto Community Housing afterschool programs and was featured in an award-winning documentary, CBC, Global News, CityNews, Your Morning, CP24 Breakfast, and TEDx. Curtis is an award-winning social entrepreneur, STEM and hip-hop teacher, and founder of Source Code Academy Canada. As a self-taught computer programmer, Curtis built the mobile app which brings his memoir to life by giving readers access to hidden content throughout the book.

Kern Carter is a full-time freelance writer and author who has written and self-published two novels — Thoughts of a Fractured Soul (novella) and Beauty Scars. When Kern isn’t penning novels, he curates stories through CRY Magazine, his online publication that creates space for artists to navigate through the emotions of their creative journey. He lives in downtown Toronto with his nineteen-year-old daughter.

Habiba Cooper Diallo is the author of #BlackInSchool. She was a finalist in the 2020 Bristol Short Story Prize. She was also one of six finalists in the 2018 London Book Fair Pitch Competition. She is a women’s health advocate passionate about bringing an end to a maternal health condition called obstetric fistula. You can find her on Twitter @haalabeeba.

Ardo Omer has written for online platforms as a reviewer and critic for almost a decade. She’s been a judge for a few kids comics awards and is an advisor at the Canadian Comics Open Library.

Omer lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she serves as the Kids Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD).

Chloe Gong is the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and its sequel Our Violent Ends. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double-majored in English and International Relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Chloe is now located in New York pretending to be a real adult. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok under @thechloegong.

Farah Heron is the critically acclaimed author of romantic comedies for adults and teens filled with family, food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. She lives in Toronto with her husband, two children, a rabbit, and two cats. Farah’s romantic comedy, Accidentally Engaged, was named one of the best books of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, NPR, CBC Books, Kobo, and more. Her young adult debut, Tahira in Bloom, was named one of the best books of the year by USA today. Her recent adult release, Kamila Knows Best is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma.

June Hur is the critically acclaimed author of The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls, both finalists for an Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel, as well as The Red Palace and A Crane Among Wolves. Born in South Korea and raised in Canada, she studied History and Literature at the University of Toronto. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter.

Kathryn Mockler co-edited the print anthology Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020) and is the publisher of the Watch Your Head website. Her debut collection of stories is forthcoming from Book*hug in 2023, and she is an Assistant Professor of Writing at the University of Victoria.

Sydney Warner Brooman (they/them) lives in Toronto, Canada with their fiancé and French bulldog. They are the author of the short fiction collection The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021), and an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Workshop (2021) and the Lighthouse Summer Workshop under Sheila Heti (2021).

Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is the author of novels 'Beneath the Rising' (finalist for Crawford Award, Aurora Award, British Fantasy Award, and Locus Award) and 'A Broken Darkness,' and novellas 'These Lifeless Things,' 'And What Can We Offer You Tonight,' and 'The Annual Migration of Clouds.' Her next novel, 'The Void Ascendant,' is the final book in the Beneath the Rising trilogy and is due out in spring 2022. Her short fiction has appeared in many print and audio venues.

Mary-Lou Zeitoun is a Canadian author, essayist, arts journalist and activist. Her novel"13" was the YA winner of the 2008 New England Book festival award and she has publsihed her more recent fiction in Taddle Creek and Canadian Notes and Queries.

Zena Sharman is a writer, speaker, strategist and LGBTQ+ health advocate. She’s the author of three books, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health (published by Arsenal Pulp Press in the fall of 2021). Zena edited the Lambda Literary award-winning anthology The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care. She’s also an engaging speaker who brings her passion for LGBTQ+ health to audiences of health care providers, students and community members at universities and conferences across North America. You can learn more about Zena and her work at https://zenasharman.com/

Jenna Tenn-Yuk is a writer, speaker and facilitator who empowers people to share their stories and truths. She has spoken at Harvard, The Walrus Talks and TEDx, exploring the complexities of race, queerness and faith. Her writing has appeared in Broadview, CBC, the Ottawa Citizen and The Huffington Post. She is the founder of Queer Sunday, a community for QTBIPOC people of faith. Jenna believes in the power of storytelling to break silences, connect people and change the world around us.

Sydney Warner Brooman (they/them) lives in Toronto, Canada with their fiancé and French bulldog. They are the author of the short fiction collection The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021), and an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Workshop (2021) and the Lighthouse Summer Workshop under Sheila Heti (2021).

Omar Mouallem is an author, filmmaker, and educator. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, WIRED, and NewYorker.com, and his latest book, Praying to the West, was named one of the Globe and Mail’s 100 best books of 2021. His documentary The Last Baron, about the unlikely link between a Canadian fast-food institution and the Lebanese civil war, was hailed as “one of the best Canadian food documentaries” by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine. Omar is also the "fake dean" of Pandemic University, a virtual school he founded in support of writers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with his family.

Author of Ballet is not for Muslim Girls, Mariam S. Pal grew up in Victoria but moved to Montréal to study economics at McGill. After two decades working in international development and relocating to both Africa and Asia, she returned to Montreal, earning her law degree from McGill. Mariam is now retired from her second career with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and lives in Montréal with her husband Eli. Mariam is working on her second book a memoir of her life in international development: Eating Pineapple Upside Down Cake in Monrovia.

Alyssa Gray-Tyghter (she/her) is an educator, writer, speaker, and PhD student. For the last 10 years, she has taught a variety of subjects in a public middle school in Peel where she is now a guidance counsellor. In 2020, She began a series on Instagram (@AlyssaGTyghter) titled #HerstoricallySpeaking where she tackled Canadian Black History, Indigenous Stories, and other racialized communities in Canada. Her current research focuses of Black girlhood, identity, and belonging in Canada.

Kern Carter is a full-time freelance writer and author who has written and self-published two novels — Thoughts of a Fractured Soul (novella) and Beauty Scars. When Kern isn’t penning novels, he curates stories through CRY Magazine, his online publication that creates space for artists to navigate through the emotions of their creative journey. He lives in downtown Toronto with his nineteen-year-old daughter.

Abdi Nazemian is the author of four novels. His first, The Walk-In Closet, won a Lambda Literary Award. His most recent, Like a Love Story, was awarded a Stonewall Honor, and was chosen as one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible, Buzzfeed, the New York Public Library and more. His screenwriting credits include the films The Artist's Wife, The Quiet, and Menendez: Blood Brothers, and the television series Ordinary Joe, The Village and Almost Family. He has been an executive producer and / or associate producer on numerous films, including Call Me By Your Name.

Mary-Lou Zeitoun is a Canadian author, essayist, arts journalist and activist. Her novel"13" was the YA winner of the 2008 New England Book festival award and she has publsihed her more recent fiction in Taddle Creek and Canadian Notes and Queries.

Shelly Grace is a Toronto-based spoken word poet. She uses her art for community building and healing and focuses on the experiences of women and the Black community. She previously released a chapbook, Sisters in Stanzas, with fellow poet Desiree McKenzie in 2020, which sold out very quickly. In 2019 she won the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word while on the Up From The Roots slam team, becoming a National Spoken Word Champion. In 2020 her piece "Atlantic" was shared with CBC Arts. She has worked with TTC, Toronto District School Board, and more.

Born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida residing in Scarborough. David Delisca is a writer, poet, actor and humorist. A versatile artist, he uses stories about the immigrant and diasporic experience, as well as other various human realities, to bridge realms of communication. His works and performances have been featured in Toronto Star, CBC, Netflix.

Nisha Patel is an award-winning queer and disabled spoken word artist. She was the City of Edmonton’s 8th Poet Laureate, and is a Canadian Individual Slam Champion. Her debut collection COCONUT is available at Glass Bookshop. You can find her at nishapatel.ca.

Gary Barwin is the author of 26 books including a Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and Bird Arsonist (with Tom Prime) 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.

Anosh Irani is a three-time Governor General’s Literary Award-shortlisted author and playwright, and a two-time winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play. His novel, The Parcel, was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, National Post, CBC Books and The Walrus.

Dorothy Ellen Palmer is a disabled senior writer, mom of two, former English/Drama teacher, improv coach and union activist. Winner of the 2020 Helen Henderson Award for disability journalism, her fiction and nonfiction appear in literary and disability journals. Long-listed for the ReLit Award, When Fenelon Falls, (Coach House, 2010) features a disabled teen in the Moonwalk-Woodstock summer of 1969. Her memoir, Falling for Myself, (Wolsak and Wynn, 2019), was a finalist for the Hamilton Book Award. Kerfuffle, the tale of an improv troupe making sense and nonsense of Toronto’s G20 protests, hits the stage this spring with Renaissance Press.

Sonya Singh is an author, writer, and storyteller who currently lives in Toronto, Canada. She's a former entertainment reporter turned PR expert. Her debut novel Sari, Not Sari, slated for a spring release in '22, is already generating serious advanced buzz (including being selected for the prestigious Debutante Ball). She also signed an international two book deal. Sonya wrote Sari, Not Sari, to laugh her way through some of her more disastrous breakups. In her spare time, you can find Sonya sipping on a matcha latte, enjoying a homemade pizza, or hanging out with her adorable dog, Moses Alexander.

Jael Richardson is the author of The Stone Thrower, a book columnist on CBC’s q and the founder and Executive Director for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) in Brampton, Ontario. Her debut novel, Gutter Child was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award and is a finalist for the Forest of Reading White Pine Award. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and lives in Brampton, Ontario.

Shakil Choudhury is an award-winning educator and author with over 25 years of experience in the field of racial justice, diversity and inclusion. He coaches executive teams and has worked with thousands of leaders across sectors across North America. Shakil also facilitates dialogue processes to resolve inter-group conflict, having led projects internationally. His book, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, has been called a “breakthrough” book due to its non-judgmental approach that integrates psychology with critical race perspectives.

Stephen Dorsey is a Canadian-born Business Strategist and Visual Media Producer with 30-years of global experience, and a respected community Leader, and public speaker. His debut book, “Black and White, An Intimate, Multicultural Perspective on “White Advantage” and the Paths to Change” was published in February 2022 by Nimbus Publishing.

Bethaney is a facilitator, author, and champion of race-conscious leadership. She has dedicated more than a decade to exploring the intersections of community, racial justice, and social change—specifically in the organizational context. As author and founder of The Diversity Gap, Bethaney loves helping teams and leaders pair their good intentions for diversity with true cultural change.

Kamal Al-Solaylee is a journalist and the author of three books of nonfiction: Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (for Everyone), and Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From. He holds a PhD in English from Nottingham University and is the director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Omar Mouallem is an author, filmmaker, and educator. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, WIRED, and NewYorker.com, and his latest book, Praying to the West, was named one of the Globe and Mail’s 100 best books of 2021. His documentary The Last Baron, about the unlikely link between a Canadian fast-food institution and the Lebanese civil war, was hailed as “one of the best Canadian food documentaries” by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine. Omar is also the "fake dean" of Pandemic University, a virtual school he founded in support of writers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with his family.

Tsering Yangzom Lama is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia, and an MFA from Columbia University. Born and raised in Nepal, Tsering has lived in Toronto, New York City, and Vancouver – where she now resides.

Kern Carter is a full-time freelance writer and author who has written and self-published two novels — Thoughts of a Fractured Soul (novella) and Beauty Scars. When Kern isn’t penning novels, he curates stories through CRY Magazine, his online publication that creates space for artists to navigate through the emotions of their creative journey. He lives in downtown Toronto with his nineteen-year-old daughter.

Sonya Singh is an author, writer, and storyteller who currently lives in Toronto, Canada. She's a former entertainment reporter turned PR expert. Her debut novel Sari, Not Sari, slated for a spring release in '22, is already generating serious advanced buzz (including being selected for the prestigious Debutante Ball). She also signed an international two book deal. Sonya wrote Sari, Not Sari, to laugh her way through some of her more disastrous breakups. In her spare time, you can find Sonya sipping on a matcha latte, enjoying a homemade pizza, or hanging out with her adorable dog, Moses Alexander.

Sydney Hegele (they/them) is the author of The Pump, published by Invisible Publishing in 2021. They live in Toronto, Canada with their fiancé and French bulldog. They are an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Workshop (2021) and the Lighthouse Summer Workshop under Sheila Heti (2021).

Carrianne Leung is a fiction writer and educator. Her debut novel, The Wondrous Woo was shortlisted for the 2014 Toronto Book Awards. Her collection of linked stories, That Time I Loved You was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by CBC, shortlisted for the Toronto Book Awards 2019, long listed for Canada Reads 2019 and awarded the Danuta Gleed Literary Award 2019. She is currently working on a new novel, titled The After.

Matthew Salesses is the author of several books, including Craft in the Real World and the PEN/Faulkner finalist Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear. He was adopted from Korea and teaches in the MFA and PhD program at Oklahoma State University.

Amil Niazi is a freelance writer and producer whose work has appeared in The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post and New York Magazine. She is the showrunner and panelist for CBC's Pop Chat.

S. Bear Bergman is the author of nine books, founder of Flamingo Rampant press, and frequent consultant in equity and inclusion to business and government. Bear began his work in equity at the age of 15, as a founding member of the first ever Gay/Straight Alliance and has continued to help organizations and institutions move further along the pathways to justice ever since. 

Iraqi-Canadian author Hasan Namir graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BA in English and received the Ying Chen Creative Writing Student Award. He is the author of God in Pink (2015), which won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Fiction and was chosen as one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 by The Globe and Mail. His work has also been featured on Huffington Post, Shaw TV, Airbnb, in the film God in Pink: A Documentary, Breakfast Television Toronto, CTV Morning Live Saskatoon. He was recently named a writer to watch by CBC books. He is also the author of poetry book War/Torn (2019, Book*Hug Press), children’s book The Name I Call Myself (2020, Arsenal Pulp Press) and Umbilical Cord (Book*Hug Press).

Julietta Singh is a writer and academic whose work engages the enduring effects of colonization, current ecological crisis, and queer-feminist futures. She is the author of The Breaks (Coffee House Press, 2021), No Archive Will Restore You (Punctum Books, 2018) and Unthinking Mastery: Dehumanism and Decolonial Entanglements (Duke University Press, 2018). She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her family.

Shoilee Khan is a writer, editor, and a doctoral candidate in English Literature. Her research focuses on the writing of disasters (both intimate and colossal) in memoir, fiction, and non-fiction. Her fiction most recently appeared in The Malahat Review while her creative non-fiction most recently appeared in The Puritan. She serves as a member of the Planning Committee for the Festival of Literary Diversity and is also the Assistant Director for the inclusive combat arts and fitness organization Sister Fit.

Kamal Al-Solaylee is a journalist and the author of three books of nonfiction: Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (for Everyone), and Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From. He holds a PhD in English from Nottingham University and is the director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Omar Mouallem is an author, filmmaker, and educator. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, WIRED, and NewYorker.com, and his latest book, Praying to the West, was named one of the Globe and Mail’s 100 best books of 2021. His documentary The Last Baron, about the unlikely link between a Canadian fast-food institution and the Lebanese civil war, was hailed as “one of the best Canadian food documentaries” by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine. Omar is also the "fake dean" of Pandemic University, a virtual school he founded in support of writers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with his family.

Tsering Yangzom Lama is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia, and an MFA from Columbia University. Born and raised in Nepal, Tsering has lived in Toronto, New York City, and Vancouver – where she now resides.

Jael Richardson is the author of The Stone Thrower, a book columnist on CBC’s q and the founder and Executive Director for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) in Brampton, Ontario. Her debut novel, Gutter Child was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award and is a finalist for the Forest of Reading White Pine Award. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and lives in Brampton, Ontario.

André Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His novel Fifteen Dogs won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness , Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, and The Night Piece.

Jack Wang is the author of WE TWO ALONE (House of Anansi Press, HarperVia), winner of the 2020 Danuta Gleed Literary Award from the Writers’ Union of Canada for best debut collection in English. His fiction has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and longlisted for the Journey Prize. He has received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts and held the 2014-15 David T. K. Wong Creative Writing Fellowship at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He teaches writing at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Chloe Gong is the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and its sequel Our Violent Ends. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double-majored in English and International Relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Chloe is now located in New York pretending to be a real adult. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok under @thechloegong.

Ann Yu-Kyung Choi is a Toronto-based author and educator. Her novel Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award. Her debut children’s picture book, Once Upon An Hour, was a FOLD Kids Book-of-the-Month in 2020. Ann currently sits on the Program Advisory Committee for gritLIT and is the co-founder of the Authors Book Club, an initiative that connects authors with readers in Canada.

Sonya Singh is an author, writer, and storyteller who currently lives in Toronto, Canada. She's a former entertainment reporter turned PR expert. Her debut novel Sari, Not Sari, slated for a spring release in '22, is already generating serious advanced buzz (including being selected for the prestigious Debutante Ball). She also signed an international two book deal. Sonya wrote Sari, Not Sari, to laugh her way through some of her more disastrous breakups. In her spare time, you can find Sonya sipping on a matcha latte, enjoying a homemade pizza, or hanging out with her adorable dog, Moses Alexander.

Reema Patel holds a B.A. from McGill University and a J.D. from the University of Windsor. After working in Mumbai in the youth non-profit sector and in human rights advocacy, she has spent the last ten years working in provincial and municipal government. Such Big Dreams is her first novel, an excerpt of which won the Penguin Random House Student Award for Fiction at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Toronto, where she currently works as a lawyer.

Tsering Yangzom Lama is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia, and an MFA from Columbia University. Born and raised in Nepal, Tsering has lived in Toronto, New York City, and Vancouver – where she now resides.