TIFA ANNOUNCES LATEST SEASON OF TORONTO LIT UP FEATURING 21 NEW BOOKS BY LOCAL AUTHORS
On July 26, 2022, the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) announced that 21 new books have been selected to be part of the latest season of Toronto Lit Up, a joint initiative with Toronto Arts Council that spotlights Toronto writers and provide career-building opportunities through book launch celebrations. The latest Toronto Lit Up season will take place between July 2022 and March 2023, and feature new works of fiction and non-fiction for adults and young people, poetry, memoir and drama, by debut and established Toronto authors.
The authors and new books selected for the new Toronto Lit Up season are:
• Didier Leclair, Toronto, I Love You (translated to English by Elaine Kennedy) (Mawenzi House)
• Pamela Mordecai, de Book of Joseph (Mawenzi House)
• Curtis Carmichael, Butterflies in the Trenches: The Hood, an Epic Bike Ride, and Finding Inspiration (Synergy)
• Sophie Jai, Wild Fires (HarperCollins Canada)
• Khashayar Mohammadi, WJD (Gordon Hill)
• Emily Saso, Nine Dash Line (Freehand Books)
• Diane Borsato with illustrations by Kelsey Oseid, Mushrooming: The Joy of the Quiet Hunt – An Illustrated Guide to the Fascinating, the Delicious, the Deadly and the Strange (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Tanya Turton, Jade Is a Twisted Green (Dundurn Press)
• Nancy Lam, The Loyal Daughter (At Bay Press)
• Robert Priest, If I Didn't Love the River (ECW Press)
• Daniel Scott Tysdal, The End Is in the Middle: MAD fold-in poems (Icehouse Poetry)
• Sam Shelstad, Citizens of Light (TouchWood Editions)
• Danee Wilson, Murder at San Miguel (Radiant Press)
• S.K. Ali, Love from Mecca to Medina (Simon & Schuster Canada)
• Jon S. Dellandrea, The Great Canadian Art Fraud Case: The Group of Seven & Tom Thomson Forgeries (Goose Lane Editions)
• Elaine Kachala, Superpower? The Wearable-Tech Revolution (Orca Book Publishers)
• Chris MacDonald, The Things I Came Here With: A Memoir (ECW Press)
• Elizabeth Gillian Muir, An Unrecognized Contribution: Women and Their Work in 19th-Century Toronto (Dundurn Press)
• Natasha Adiyana Morris, The Negroes Are Congregating (Playwrights Canada Press)
• George Elliott Clarke, Canticles III (MMXXII) (Guernica Editions)
• Brooke Lockyer, Burr (Nightwood Editions)
Book launch events will take place at venues throughout Toronto. Event dates and details will be posted throughout the season at FestivalofAuthors.ca/Toronto-Lit-Up. As always, Toronto Lit Up events are open to the public and free to attend.
“Toronto Lit Up continues to provide invaluable opportunities for Toronto writers to enjoy well-deserved time in the spotlight, along with the resources to celebrate and promote their publishing accomplishments. Toronto Arts Council is pleased to partner with TIFA as we applaud twenty-one accomplished authors participating this season, reflecting a wealth of diverse and compelling stories” – Claire Hopkinson, Director & CEO, Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Arts Foundation
“It’s an honour for us to continue to celebrate local Toronto authors and be a part of showcasing the diversity of the city’s vibrant literary landscape. We are particularly delighted that many of this season’s launches are scheduled to be in-person after many, many months of virtual launches. Congratulations to all the authors launching new books this year. We look forward to receiving – and greatly encourage – new submissions when the next call opens this fall.” – Ayesha Chatterjee, Toronto Lit Up committee member.
This is an extended season of Toronto Lit Up, which takes into account that many book launches were delayed during the past two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All submissions were reviewed by the Toronto Lit Up Committee, composed of Ayesha Chatterjee (past president, League of Canadian Poets), Alison Jones (Quill and Quire) and Hazel Millar (Literary Press Group).
Toronto Lit Up is produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.
ABOUT TORONTO LIT UP
Toronto Lit Up is a multi-year initiative, started in 2016 by the Toronto International Festival of Authors and Toronto Arts Council, to spotlight Toronto writers and empower local artists with career-building opportunities. Between April 2016 and June 2022, Toronto Lit Up has presented 137 events to launch 161 books by 236 Toronto authors. Launches are always open to the public and free to attend.