One week before the U.S. midterm elections, America faces a defining moment in its politics. The result could reshape the balance of power in Washington – and what follows may have profound consequences far beyond the United States. For Canada, after a tumultuous year of tariffs, trade disputes and an increasingly strained relationship with its […]
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Canadian writer and poet Téa Mutonji comes together with Nigerian-born Igbo novelist Chika Unigwe for a sharp and moving conversation about the relationships between women, and how they shape our lives for better or for worse. In Mutonji’s My Person, lifelong best friends Tania and Margot reach an emotional breaking point, forcing them to reckon […]
Acclaimed Czech author Petra Hůlová and Korean novelist Lee Heejoo bring two unsettling perspectives to desire, devotion and power. In Hůlová’s The Long Version, a feminist writer in her fifties revisits a complicated relationship from her youth as her daughter challenges her understanding of consent, feminism and the shifting meanings of the past. In Lee’s […]
To define recent political, social and cultural upheaval as unprecedented is both to emphasize the crisis at hand and to negate its connection to what has gone before. In conversation with Philippe Sands, author of The Last Colony, about the Chagos Archipelago, two formidable chroniclers of the past discuss whether this is truly a historical […]
Recent political ruptures are reflective of a moment in time when we are increasingly losing faith in the institutions, communities and stories that once held a society together. New Yorker investigative journalist and Chief Washington Correspondent, Jane Mayer, is the bestselling author of Dark Money, and has spent decades exposing the hidden networks of money […]
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse and Gaël Faye have transformed histories of violence, exile and survival into extraordinary literature. Umubyeyi Mairesse’s All Your Children, Scattered follows three generations of family fractured by the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, while her new memoir, The Convoy, reconstructs her escape, aged fifteen, from the 1994 genocide. A hip-hop star […]
The stories Canada tells about itself have changed over the past decade with diverse perspectives begun to be added and a process of truth and reconciliation with Indigenous, First Nations and Metis peoples. This has been a flawed and imperfect journey and now new dynamics challenge the concept of Canada as a sovereign nation, and […]
2026 has been marked by an increase in climate catastrophes across the globe from extreme heat, forest fires to flash floods. Yet at the same time, the environmental movement is struggling to gain sufficient traction or momentum at a political or economic level. Bestselling author Robert Moor has spent years exploring how humans move through […]
“Sintering is bonding; it is building coalitions with your neighbours.” — Theory of Water: Nishaabe Maps to the Times Ahead by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson From poetry, to fiction, to nonfiction, to everything outside of and in-between, this evening’s event is a celebration of the encompassing, expansive, and uncontained way we know Indigenous excellence, globally and […]
What might it mean to build movements from a place of yearning? What forms of action become possible when we privilege stories of desire, connection, freedom, culture and joy over the stories of damage told about, but never for our communities? Bringing together four Indigenous writers from the stolen lands of Canada and Australia, this […]
Across generations, Indigenous voices have carried language, memory, and connection to culture despite ongoing colonial violence. Today’s writers continue and reshape that work anew. Through poetry, fiction, memoir, and experimental forms, these authors challenge dominant narratives and question the limits of “the master’s tools”. What does it mean to tell stories that refuse those tools, […]
Across generations and geographies, Indigenous peoples have always communicated stories, knowledge, memory, law, dreams and relationships through an extraordinary range of forms and technologies. Alongside immemorial traditions of song, dance, weaving and inscription that embody systems of relation to land, ancestors, community and the more-than-human world, Indigenous storytellers have inherited another set of stories: the […]
Indigenous writers’ works are often defined in ways different to how they themselves would define them. Dreamed worlds are considered speculative, ghosts are called horror, creation stories and deities are deemed mythology. But what if these imagined worlds have already happened, or are in the process of happening? What if a ghost in a story […]
Dave Eggers, bestselling author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, presents his latest novel Contrapposto, a sweeping story of friendship, the lifelong pursuit of art, and the pain and exhilarations of the creative impulse. Named among the most anticipated books of the year by People, and Oprah Daily, the novel draws on Eggers’ own […]
Join bestselling and prolific author Ann Cleeves as she presents the latest installment of her gripping Two Rivers series, The Dying Light (Publishers Group Canada). Detective Matthew Venn must solve a mysterious death in a luxury holiday home while caught between a powerful family’s secrets and a powder keg of local tensions. Pre-signed copies of […]
Evan Gershkovich, Carol Off and Philippe Sands in conversation with Nahlah Ayed on the challenges confronting writers and reporters in our world’s fast-changing geopolitical landscape. Featuring a personal introduction by Margaret Atwood, the 2026 PEN Canada Graeme Gibson Talk brings together Wall Street Reporter Evan Gershkovich, Canadian author and broadcast journalist Carol Off, and international […]
Join us for an evening with Bonnie Garmus, author of the New York Times bestselling novel Lessons in Chemistry. Garmus will present her second novel, Peck & Peck (Simon & Schuster Canada), which follows young poetry lover Batter Gray, who gets a job at a prestigious – albeit dysfunctional – New York literary journal, and […]
This event has been cancelled. If you purchased single tickets through Ticketmaster, you will automatically receive a refund. If you purchased a Festival or 5-day pass, you will receive an email from us with next steps.
Join bestselling author B.K. Borison and Danielle McKechnie for an engaging conversation celebrating their latest novels, Grim Tidings and This Changes Everything. Readers will get an inside look at their work, inspiration, and writing journey, as they discuss romance and unforgettably characters, and the creative process. A splendid romance event to hold you over until […]
Join us for an evening celebrating Emily St John Mandel, bestselling author of Station Eleven, and her latest novel, Exit Party (HarperCollins Canada), a breathtaking story of doubles and fractured timelines set in Los Angeles in 2031. Emily will be joined in conversation by Mattea Roach, host of CBC’s Bookends with Mattea Roach. Pre-signed books will be […]
Join New York Times bestselling author R.F. Kuang at the iconic Winter Garden Theatre as she discusses her latest contemporary fiction novel, Taipei Story, a wryly humorous and profoundly moving coming-of-age novel that grapples with grief, language, and culture shock—all set against the backdrop of an unforgettable summer in Taipei. Each ticket includes: One (1) […]
Why do writers write and what keeps them writing? Join Tom Ryan, Jonathan Whitelaw, Eva Jurczyk in conversation with Steven Beattie as they discuss the writers and books that inspire them, the tropes they love (or loathe), the culture and creative quirks that keep them going with inspiration- and perhaps a little procrastination. An informal […]
Maggie O’Farrell, the bestselling author and Academy Award–nominated co-writer of the TIFF People’s Choice Award–winning film Hamnet, joins us in person for the exclusive Canadian launch of her latest work of fiction, Land: A Novel, one of 2026’s most anticipated books. O’Farrell will discuss Land, as well as her creative process and her collaboration with […]
Join TIFA for this exclusive event with the multi-million best-selling author, Louise Penny, and writer and journalist, Mellissa Fung, as they launch their new novel, The Last Mandarin. This fast-paced, all-too-real thriller features an estranged mother and daughter caught in a global reckoning where family, loyalty, and power collide. It is an electrifying study of […]
