Susan Ouriou is an award-winning fiction writer and literary translator from French and Spanish with over sixty translations and co-translations of fiction, non-fiction, children’s and young-adult literature to her credit. She has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation and been short-listed for that same award on five other occasions. A number of her translations have also been placed on IBBY’s (International Board on Books for Youth) Honour List. She has also written two novels, Nathan and Damselfish, the latter of which was short-listed for two awards, as well as numerous short stories. Susan lives in Calgary, Alberta.
Leigh Nash is the publisher at House of Anansi Press. Previously she was the publisher at Invisible Publishing, taught book publishing at York University, worked at Coach House Books, was a founding partner of editorial firm Re:word Communications and co-founder of chapbook press The Emergency Response Unit. She earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph and has published a poetry collection, Goodbye, Ukulele. (Photo credit: Johnny CY Lam)
Brandi Morin is an award-winning French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6, Alberta, Canada. For the last ten years Brandi has specialized in sharing Indigenous stories, which have influenced reconciliation in Canada’s political, cultural, and social environments. She is one of Canada’s most prominent voices on Indigenous issues. Morin has published or broadcast with the New York Times, National Geographic, the Guardian, the Toronto Star, Al Jazeera English, Vice, Elle Canada, CBC’s Power & Politics, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network National News, among many other outlets. She won a Human Rights Reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for her work with the CBC’s Beyond 94 project tracking the progress of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. She has worked with Journalists for Human Rights and has presented to various university campuses in Canada and the United States regarding her work as an Indigenous journalist and is in high demand for commentary and expertise on Indigenous topics.
Saeed Teebi is a writer and lawyer based in Toronto. His story Her First Palestinian was shortlisted for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. He was born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait and, after some time in the U.S., has lived in Canada since 1993.
Lisa Moore is the acclaimed author of the novels Caught, February, Alligator; the story collections Open and Something for Everyone; and the young-adult novel Flannery. Her books have won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and CBC’s Canada Reads, been finalists for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize and been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Lisa is also the co-librettist, along with Laura Kaminsky, of the opera February, based on her novel of the same name (2023). She lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Melanie Raabe is a German author. She debuted with psychological thriller The Trap in 2015, followed by The Stranger (2016), The Shadow (2018) and The Woods (2019). Her latest work is a non-fiction book on creativity. Raabe’s novels are published in more than 20 countries. She lives in the city of Cologne.
Melanie Raabe’s Festival appearance is generously supported by Goethe-Institut.
Helene Flood is a psychologist specializing in violence, revictimization and trauma-related shame and guilt. She lives in Oslo with her husband and two children. The Therapist is her first novel.
Helene Flood’s Festival appearance is generously supported by NORLA – Norwegian Literature Abroad.
Martha Bátiz is an award-winning writer, translator, and professor of Spanish language in literature. She is the author of four books, including the story collection Plaza Requiem, winner of an International Latino Book Award, and the novella The Wolf’s Mouth, winner of the Casa de Teatro Prize. Born and raised in Mexico City, she lives in Toronto.
Alix Ohlin is the author of five books, including the novels Inside and Dual Citizens, which were both finalists for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Best American Short Stories, and many other publications. Born and raised in Montreal, she lives in Vancouver, where she chairs the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia.
Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright. Her novel Purge won the Prix Femina and the Nordic Council Literature Prize, and When the Doves Disappeared won the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize. Her latest novel, Norma, was a #1 bestseller in Finland and finalist for the Young Aleksis Literature Prize and the New Academy Prize in Literature. Oksanen was recently awarded a Medal of Honour by the Ukrainian Association in Finland. She has also received the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize and the Chevalier Medal of Honour from the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
Sofi Oksanen’s Festival appearance is generously supported by Nordic Bridges.