Margaret DeRosia is a writer, editor and historian originally from Michigan. She has taught film, literature and digital media at the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz, Sonoma State University, the California College of the Arts, and Western University. Eight Strings is her debut novel. She currently resides in Toronto with her wife and two cats.
S. K. Ali is the author of Saints and Misfits, a finalist for the American Library Association’s 2018 William C. Morris Award and the winner of the APALA Honor Award and Middle East Book Honor Award; and Love from A to Z, a Today show Read with Jenna Book Club selection. Both novels were named best YA books of the year by various media including Entertainment Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. She is also the author of Misfit in Love. You can find Sajidah online at SKAliBooks.com and follow her on Instagram @SKAliBooks, TikTok @SKAliBooks, and on Twitter at @SajidahWrites.
Roz Nay is the bestselling author of Hurry Home and Our Little Secret, which won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for best foreign thriller in France and was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Mystery and the Arthur Ellis Best First Crime Novel Award. Roz has lived and worked in Africa, Australia, the US and the UK. She now lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and two children. Visit her at RozNay.com or connect with her on Twitter @RozNay1 and Instagram @RozNay.
Amy Stuart is the #1 bestselling author of three novels, Still Mine, Still Water and Still Here. Shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award and winner of the 2011 Writers’ Union of Canada Short Fiction Competition, Amy is the founder of Writerscape, an online community for hopeful and emerging writers. Amy lives in Toronto with her husband and their three sons. Connect with her on her website AmyStuart.ca and on Twitter @AmyFStuart.
Robyn Harding is the author of numerous books, including the international bestseller, The Party, and The Swap, which was an instant #1 Globe and Mail (Toronto) and #1 Toronto Star bestseller. She has also written and executive produced an independent film. She lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family. Visit her at RobynHarding.com or follow her on Twitter and Instagram @RHardingWriter or Facebook @AuthorRobynHarding.
Sonya Singh is a former entertainment reporter turned communications professional who has followed her dream of telling stories in front of the camera and now behind the scenes. Her debut novel, Sari, Not Sari, is an ode to her own personal dating experiences, during which she honed the art of writing the perfect break-up email/text. Sonya lives in Toronto. You can follow her at SonyaSinghBooks.com and on Instagram @SonyaSinghWrites.
Mia Kankimäki has worked with books all her life: she has a Master’s degree in comparative literature from the University of Helsinki, and she has worked as a copywriter and editor at various publishing houses. Her travels in Tanzania, Kenya, Italy and Japan in the footsteps of inspirational, historical female figures inspired her book The Women I Think About at Night. When not traveling for her next book project, Mia Kankimäki lives in Helsinki, Finland.
Mia Kankimäki’s Festival appearance is generously supported by Nordic Bridges.
Michael Posner is an award-winning writer, playwright, and journalist, and the author or coauthor of eight previous books. These include the bestselling Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years, Vol. 1, as well as the Mordecai Richler biography The Last Honest Man, and the Anne Murray autobiography All of Me, both of which were national bestsellers. He was Washington Bureau Chief for Maclean’s magazine and also managing editor of the Financial Times of Canada. He later spent sixteen years as a senior writer with The Globe and Mail.
Beverley McLachlin was the Chief Justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the first woman to hold that position and the longest-serving Chief Justice in Canadian history. Her memoir, Truth Be Told, was an instant bestseller and won the prestigious Writers’ Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize. Her debut novel, Full Disclosure, was a #1 national bestseller and was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Best First Crime Novel Award. In 2018, McLachlin became a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest honour within the Order. Denial, also an instant bestseller, is her latest novel.
Lisa Taddeo is the author of Three Women. She has contributed to The New York Times, New York, Esquire, Elle, Glamour and many other publications. Her nonfiction has been included in the anthologies Best American Political Writing and Best American Sports Writing and her short stories have won two Pushcart Prizes. She lives with her husband and daughter in New England.