A century ago, the idea of a Canadian literary canon — and who might belong in it — looked very different. Women have moved from the margins of Canadian publishing to become many of its most celebrated and widely read voices, but that transformation has not happened equally for everyone. Who has been published, reviewed, […]
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History is never simply a record of what happened: it is shaped by who was there to document it, whose accounts were preserved, and whose experiences were considered worth remembering. Women writers today are widening that lens, recovering lives and perspectives pushed to the margins and challenging assumed versions of the past. Panelists will explore […]
Murder. Romance. Dragons. Domestic suspense. Women aren’t just writing genre fiction — they are driving some of the biggest publishing phenomena in the world. From crime and thrillers to romance, romantasy, horror and speculative fiction, women writers and readers have transformed genres once dismissed as formulaic or frivolous into cultural and commercial powerhouses. But why […]
Younger women writers are entering a world in which traditional boundaries — between literary and commercial, page and screen, fiction and memoir, writer and creator — are increasingly porous, while questions of representation, appropriation, authenticity and access have become more complicated, not less. Panelists look at the stories their generation wants to tell, the assumptions […]
In their books, Property and Runs in the Blood both Kate Cayley and Matthew J. Trafford write about queer experiences as they relate to chosen families. Join us as they talk about the various themes, such as the complexity of intimacy and interpersonal relationships, that surface when writing about family, chosen or otherwise. Moderated by […]
Join Terese Mason Pierre and Chinelo Onwalu as they confront and expand society’s preconceived notions around Blackness, particularly as it relates to Canadians. Let’s dig into what that means, how that works, and where we go from here. Moderated by Zilla Jones Diaspora Dialogues (DD) supports emerging voices from across Canada to turn their craft […]
What is CanLit? What is it to be a part of CanLit? Join authors Jinwoo Park and Nadia Staikos as they discuss their works and what it is to be a Canadian-based author who writes about characters in different countries and how their books and books like theirs contribute to the characterization of CanLit. Moderated […]
This panel features writers Sanita Fejzić and Jumoke Verissimo, whose works, Blissful State of Surrender and Circumtrauma, examine and parse the impact of war on identity and community in two different genres and two different forms. Moderated by Denise DaCosta Diaspora Dialogues (DD) supports emerging voices from across Canada to turn their craft into a […]
