Festivals: Toronto Lit Up 2023-2024

Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness

Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness is Danila Botha’s third collection of short fiction. In these brilliant stories she observes with her signature vulnerability and humour what it’s like to struggle to find your place in the world. From the bullied twelve-year-old (Born, Not Made) to the musician saved from sleeping in doorways (Blasting Molly Rockets), […]

Read more »

Danila Botha

Danila Botha is the critically acclaimed author of short story collections Got No Secrets and the Trillium Book Award, Vine Awards, and ReLit Awards finalist For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I’ve Known. Her award winning novel Too Much on the Inside was published in 2015. It was optioned for film by […]

Read more »

Lien Chao

Lien Chao came to Canada in 1984 to pursue her graduate studies. She is the author of Beyond Silence: Chinese Canadian Literature in English (1997), winner of the Gabrielle Roy Prize for Canadian Criticism. Her publications also include Tiger Girl: Hu Nü (2001), a creative memoir about growing up in Mao’s China; Strike the Wok: […]

Read more »

Spiritual Pursuits and Other Stories

Lien Chao’s new collection of stories is about Toronto as a meeting place for people of all backgrounds. Set in the decades from the 1980s to the 2020s, the stories depict the ripple effects of China’s economic success, the peak of business globalization, and its inevitable decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author has chosen […]

Read more »

Mecha Jesus and Other Stories

From distant stars to a Cocoa Beach Hooters, Derwin Mak‘s short fiction takes readers through tales of mystery, wonder, and horror. Ethnic traditions meld with fantastic visions in these twelve stories about memory fabric, eldritch gods during the Salem witch trials, and of course, Mecha-Jesus, Japan’s very own android kami.

Read more »

Blood Of Gods (Birthright, Book 2)

Across the galaxy, mysteries deepen and threats increase. On Utopia, home of the peacekeeping Rashani, anti-neutrality protests teeter on the brink of riots. On the outskirts of the galaxy, the Sun God finds a derelict spaceship that somehow crossed the supposedly-impenetrable Firmament, its purpose still unknown. And on a storm-wracked jungle world, the first battle […]

Read more »

Derwin Mak

Derwin Mak‘s story “Transubstantiation” won the 2006 Aurora Award for Best Short Fiction. The Dragon and the Stars, an anthology that he co-edited with Eric Choi, won the 2011 Aurora Award for Best Related Work. Where the Stars Rise, an anthology that he co-edited with Lucas Law, won the Alberta Book Publishing Award for Speculative […]

Read more »

Simon A.G. Spencer

Simon A. G. Spencer is a prolific reader, obsessive gamer and kaiju enthusiast who specializes in genre-melding science fiction and fantasy. He lives in Toronto. Blood of Gods is his third book.

Read more »

M. NourbeSe Philip

M. NourbeSe Philip is a renowned poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, and independent scholar. She practised law for seven years before becoming a poet and writer. Among her published works are the seminal She Tries Her Tongue; Her Silence Softly Breaks; the speculative prose poem Looking for Livingston: An Odyssey of Silence; the young adult novel […]

Read more »

Zong!

A haunting lifeline between archive and memory, law and poetry. In November, 1781, the captain of the slave ship Zong ordered that some 150 Africans be murdered by drowning so that the ship’s owners could collect insurance monies. Relying entirely on the words of the legal decision Gregson v. Gilbert—the only extant public document related […]

Read more »

Best Canadian Essays 2024

Selected by editor Marcello Di Cintio, the 2024 edition of Best Canadian Essays showcases the best Canadian nonfiction writing published in 2022. Featuring: Lyndsie Bourgon • Nicole Boyce • Robert Colman • Daniel Allen Cox • Acadia Currah • Sadiqa de Meijer • Gabrielle Drolet • Hamed Esmaeilion • Kate Gies • David Huebert • […]

Read more »

Best Canadian Poetry 2024

Selected by editor Bardia Sinaee, the 2024 edition of Best Canadian Poetry showcases the best Canadian poetry writing published in 2022. Featuring: David Barrick • Nina Berkhout • Nicholas Bradley • Alison Braid • Louise Carson • Hilary Clark • Erin Conway-Smith • Nancy Jo Cullen • Kayla Czaga • Rocco de Giacomo • Jean […]

Read more »

Best Canadian Stories 2024

Selected by editor Lisa Moore, the 2024 edition of Best Canadian Stories showcases the best Canadian fiction writing published in 2022. Featuring: Madhur Anand • Sharon Bala • Gary Barwin • Billy-Ray Belcourt • Xaiver Michael Campbell • Corinna Chong • Beth Downey • Allison Graves • Joel Thomas Hynes • Elise Levine • Sourayan […]

Read more »

Dragging Mason County

“A timely tale of friendship, self-acceptance, and the importance of proper contouring.”—Kevin Christopher Snipes, author of Milo and Marcos at the End of the World A laugh-out-loud YA debut that examines the realities of small-town queer life and celebrates the transformative power of drag—perfect for fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pumpkin. Peter Thompkin needs […]

Read more »

Curtis Campbell

Curtis Campbell is a writer, playwright and director. Curtis released his debut novel, Dragging Mason County, to critical acclaim in 2023. Recent nominations include the Forest of Reading White Pine Award and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play. He is currently the Ontario Arts Council Playwright In Residence at Tarragon Theatre, as […]

Read more »

Pride & Persistence: Stories of Queer Activism

Making spaces and finding places for queerness. Every day, people face discrimination because of their sexuality and gender identity. The people between these pages have stood up for the queer community, whether on their own behalf or in support of people they love. Some made a difference by confronting injustice; others dared to be fully […]

Read more »

Mary Fairhurst Breen

Mary Fairhurst Breen is the author of the memoir Any Kind of Luck at All and the children’s books Pride and Persistence: Stories of Queer Activism and Awesome Andie’s Best of the Block. As a queer feminist author, writing is Mary’s current form of activism after decades spent working for social change and protesting for […]

Read more »

Naila Keleta-Mae

Naila Keleta-Mae is a Dorothy Killam Fellow, the Tier 2 SSHRC Canada Research Chair in Race, Gender, and Performance, an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo, a multidisciplinary artist, and the Principal Investigator of Black And Free. She lives in Toronto.   

Read more »

Performing Female Blackness

Performing Female Blackness examines race, gender, and nation in Black life using critical race, feminist and performance studies methodologies. This book examines what private and public performances of female blackness reveal about race, gender, and nation and considers how the land widely known as Canada shapes these performances. By exploring Black expressive culture in familial, […]

Read more »

The Woman and Her Bear Cub

When a mother and daughter find a polar bear cub alone on the sea ice, the daughter cannot bear to leave it behind. Finding no mother bear in sight, the two adopt the cub and raise it as the girl’s brother. The cub and the girl become fast friends—even if the cub’s bear sense of […]

Read more »

For the Love of Cocktails

A great cocktail is more than the sum of its parts. Globally acclaimed beverage expert Evelyn Chick knows that our enjoyment of a cocktail goes beyond the ingredients, equipment, and skills in the mix: it’s about keeping an open mind and embracing the simple joy of sharing flavours with others. In this playful collection of […]

Read more »

Evelyn Chick

Evelyn Chick is a highly accredited specialist in the world of wine, spirits and the anatomy of all things bar and beverage. She is globally recognized as a WSET Sommelier and Certified Specialist of Spirits. She was also crowned Global Beefeater MIXLDN champion in 2015. Evelyn is the founder of Evelyn Chick Projects Inc., owner […]

Read more »

Reuniting With Strangers

Inspired by the work of Souvankham Thammavongsa, Catherine Hernandez and Wayson Choy, this unforgettable novel follows the reunification of Filipino caregiver families over one Canadian winter—and the mysterious progress of Monolith, who appears and disappears in their lives. When five-year-old Monolith is taken from the Philippines to live with his mother in Canada, he immediately […]

Read more »

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio has worked with Ontario school boards as a settlement worker, public speaker and researcher, also founding Filipino Talks – a program that builds bridges between educators and Filipino families. She has a Masters in Immigration and Settlement Studies, a post-graduate certificate from the Humber School for Writers. Her writing has appeared in anthologies, […]

Read more »