Photo credit: Alex Jacobs-Blum.

We are excited to announce the appointment of Cody Caetano to the board of directors at the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA). As of January 2024, Caetano will serve the board, chaired by A. Charles Baillie, for a two-year term.

“I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to Cody as the newest addition to the TIFA Board. I am confident he will play a meaningful role in shepherding fresh opportunities for creative exchange, meaningful dialogue and the celebration of literary excellence,” said Charles Baillie.

Cody Caetano is a writer and literary agent. His debut memoir, Half-Bads in White Regalia, came out through Penguin Canada’s Hamish Hamilton imprint and was an instant national bestseller. It won the 2023 Indigenous Voices Award for Best Published Prose, made the shortlist for the 2023 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, and was longlisted for the 2023 Toronto Book Award, the 2023 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, and Canada Reads 2023, respectively. The memoir was also named one of the best books of the year by The Globe and Mail and CBC Books. Cody works as a literary agent at CookeMcDermid, where he represents a small list of emerging and acclaimed writers. Since 2018, Cody has given dozens of talks, participated in interviews, and facilitated workshops on writing, agenting, and trade publishing throughout Canada. In 2023, Cody served on the advisory committee for The Word on the Street Toronto, as the Writer in Residence for the 2023 Whistler Writers Festival, and as a judge for both The Fiddlehead‘s 2023 Creative Non-Fiction Contest and The Ex-Puritan‘s 2023 Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence. Cody is an off-reserve member of Pinaymootang First Nation. His mother’s family is from the Manitoba Interlake and his father’s family emigrated to Canada from the Azores in the 1960s.

“We are thrilled that Cody has joined the TIFA Board. As a literary agent and acclaimed author, he brings a unique perspective that will help TIFA to continue supporting and celebrating Canada’s dynamic publishing industry while bringing high-calibre books, stories and ideas from around the world to audiences in Toronto,” said Roland Gulliver, TIFA Director.

The TIFA Board of Directors is comprised of A. Charles Baillie (President), Harriet Lewis (Vice President/Secretary), Gail Appel, Heather Conway, Shagorika Easwar, John Macfarlane, Malcolm McLean, Beth Nowers, Nalini Stewart and Iris Tupholme.