Zalika Reid-Benta
ZALIKA REID-BENTA is a Canadian writer. Her debut novel RIVER MUMMA has been shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award and has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist Magazine. RIVER MUMMA is an Amazon Books Editors' Pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and was selected a Best Book of the Month for
Apple Books in February 2024. It was the October 2023 pick for the CityLine book club and has been listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 on numerous platforms, including CBC Books, Indigo Books, Kobo Books and The Walrus.
Reid-Benta's debut short story collection FRYING PLANTAIN won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction in 2020. FRYING PLANTAIN was lon
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David Chariandy
David Chariandy is a Canadian writer and one of the co-founders of Commodore Books.
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His debut novel Soucouyant was nominated for ten literary prizes and awards, including the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (longlisted), the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize (longlisted), the 2007 Governor General's Award for Fiction (finalist), the 2007 ForeWord Book of the Year Award for literary fiction from an independent press ("gold" winner), the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book of Canada and the Caribbean (shortlisted), the 2008 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize of the British Columbia Book Prizes (shortlisted), the 2008 City of Toronto Book Award (shortlisted), the 2008 "One Book, One Vancouver" of the Vancouver Public Library -
Robert Schnakenberg
Robert Schnakenberg has been called "the Howard Zinn of nerd pop culture." He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Old Man Drinks, Christopher Walken A-to-Z, Secret Lives of Great Authors, and the New York Times bestseller The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray. His work has appeared in Penthouse.
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Marcus McCann
Marcus McCann is a poet and journalist. He grew up in Hamilton. From 2006-2011, he worked at Xtra, where he held various posts including managing editor of both the Toronto and Ottawa editions. He’s the author of two books of poems, Soft Where and The Hard Return, and a number of chapbooks. He was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert and Robert Kroetsch awards, and he’s won the John Newlove Award and the EJ Pratt Medal for poetry. He now lives in Toronto.
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Yomi Adegoke
Yomi Adegoke is a British journalist and author. She has written for The Guardian, The Independent and the Pool.
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Of Nigerian heritage, Adegoke was born in East London and raised in Croydon. She attended the University of Warwick and studied law.
She published her debut novel, The List, in 2023. -
Waubgeshig Rice
Waubgeshig Rice grew up in Wasauksing First Nation on the shores of Georgian Bay, in the southeast of Robinson-Huron Treaty territory. He’s a writer, listener, speaker, language learner, and a martial artist, holding a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge and the novels Legacy, Moon of the Crusted Snow, and Moon of the Turning Leaves. He appreciates loud music and the four seasons. He lives in N’Swakamok - also known as Sudbury, Ontario - with his wife and three sons.
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Maisy Card
Maisy Card is a writer and a librarian. Her debut novel, These Ghosts are Family, won an American Book Award, the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize in Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, The Center For Fiction's First Novel Prize, and an Audie Award in the Literary Fiction & Classics category. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review's "The Daily," The New York Times, Lenny Letter, AGNI, Guernica, and other publications. Maisy was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, but was raised in Queens, New York. She earned an MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College, an MLS from Rutgers University. She is currently an instructor for the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop and a ficti
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Derek Owusu
Derek Owusu is an award-winning writer and poet from North London.
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He has written for the BBC, ITV, Granta, Esquire, GQ and Tate Britain.
In 2019, Owusu collated, edited and contributed to SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space, an anthology exploring the experiences of Black men in Britain.
His first novel, That Reminds Me, and the first work of fiction to be published by Stormzy’s Merky Books imprint, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel published in the UK and Ireland.
His second novel, Losing the Plot, was published in 2022 and was Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and Jhalak Prize.
In 2023 he was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.
His third novel, Borderline Fiction, will be published by Can -
Lorna Goodison
Lorna Goodison was born in Jamaica, and has won numerous awards for her writing in both poetry and prose, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Musgrave Gold Medal from Jamaica, the Henry Russel Award for Exceptional Creative Work from the University of Michigan, and one of Canada’s largest literary prizes, the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People (2007). Her work has been included in the major anthologies and collections of contemporary poetry over the past twenty-five years, such as the Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, the Harper Collins World Reader, the Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, the Norton Anthology of World Masterp
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David Ly
David Ly is the author of Mythical Man (Anstruther Books, 2020) and Dream of Me as Water (Anstruther Books, 2022), both short-listed for ReLit Poetry Awards. He is also co-editor (with Daniel Zomparelli) of Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022).
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David’s poems have appeared in publications such as Pan MacMillan’s He, She, They, Us: Queer Poems anthology (2024), Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry, PRISM International, and The Ex-Puritan, where he won the inaugural Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence. David is the Poetry Editor at This Magazine.
David’s debut novel, Not All Dragons, is forthcoming with Poplar Press in 2026. -
J.P. Smith
J.P. Smith was born in New York City and began his writing career in England, where he lived for several years with his wife and daughter, and where his first novel was published. As a screenwriter, he was an Academy Nicholl Fellowship Semifinalist in 2014.
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His ninth novel, The Summoning, a psychological thriller, was published on September 7th, 2021. -
Heather O'Neill
Heather O'Neill was born in Montreal and attended McGill University.
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She published her debut novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, in 2006. The novel won the Canada Reads competition (2007) and was awarded the Hugh Maclennan Award (2007). It was nominated for eight other awards included the Orange Prize, the Governor General's Award and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize. It was an international bestseller.
Her books The Girl Who Was Saturday Night (2014) and Daydreams of Angels (2015) were both shortlisted for the Giller Prize.
Her third novel The Lonely Hearts Hotel will be published in February 2017.
Her credits also include a screenplay, a book of poetry, and contributions to The New York Times Magazine, This American Life, The Globe and Mai -
Kei Miller
Kei Miller was born in Jamaica in 1978. He completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a PhD in English literature at the University of Glasgow. He works in multiple genres - poetry, fiction and non-fiction and has won major prizes across these genres. He won the Forward Prize for poetry and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. He has taught at the Universities of Glasgow, London, and Exeter. He is presently Professor of English at the University of Miami.
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David Chariandy
David Chariandy is a Canadian writer and one of the co-founders of Commodore Books.
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His debut novel Soucouyant was nominated for ten literary prizes and awards, including the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (longlisted), the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize (longlisted), the 2007 Governor General's Award for Fiction (finalist), the 2007 ForeWord Book of the Year Award for literary fiction from an independent press ("gold" winner), the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book of Canada and the Caribbean (shortlisted), the 2008 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize of the British Columbia Book Prizes (shortlisted), the 2008 City of Toronto Book Award (shortlisted), the 2008 "One Book, One Vancouver" of the Vancouver Public Library -
Waubgeshig Rice
Waubgeshig Rice grew up in Wasauksing First Nation on the shores of Georgian Bay, in the southeast of Robinson-Huron Treaty territory. He’s a writer, listener, speaker, language learner, and a martial artist, holding a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge and the novels Legacy, Moon of the Crusted Snow, and Moon of the Turning Leaves. He appreciates loud music and the four seasons. He lives in N’Swakamok - also known as Sudbury, Ontario - with his wife and three sons.
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Catherine Leroux
Catherine Leroux est née en 1979 non loin de Montréal, où elle vit aujourd’hui avec un chat et quelques humains. Elle a été caissière, téléphoniste, barmaid, commis de bibliothèque. Elle a enseigné, fait la grève, vendu du chocolat, étudié la philosophie et nourri des moutons puis elle est devenue journaliste avant, de publier La marche en forêt. Finaliste au Prix des libraires du Québec, ce roman d’une grande humanité a charmé le public et la critique. Le mur mitoyen est son second roman.
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Katherena Vermette
Katherena Vermette is a Canadian writer, who won the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection North End Love Songs. Vermette is of Metis descent and from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was a MFA student in creative writing at the University of British Columbia.
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Her children's picture book series The Seven Teachings Stories was published by Portage and Main Press in 2015. In addition to her own publications, her work has also been published in the literary anthology Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water. She is a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective of Manitoba, and edited the anthology xxx ndn: love and lust in ndn country in 2011.
Vermette has described her writing as motivated by an a -
Jessica Johns
Jessica Johns, Cree writer from Canada, is a nehiyaw-English-Irish aunty and member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Northern Alberta.
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Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn
Nicole Dennis-Benn is the author of the novels PATSY (June 4, 2019) and HERE COMES THE SUN (Liveright, 2016), which won the Lambda Literary Award, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award.
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HERE COMES THE SUN was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and received “Best Book of the Year” nods from NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Entertainment Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, BuzzFeed, Vice, and Kirkus Reviews, among others. It was named one of the best books to read in summer 2016 by the New York Times, NPR, BBC, O, The Oprah Magazine, E -
S. Qiouyi Lu
S. Qiouyi Lu writes, translates, and edits between two coasts of the Pacific. Their work has appeared in several award-winning venues. They edit the magazine Arsenika and run microverses, a hub for tiny narratives.
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Catherine Hernandez
Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, the Edmund White Award, and the Trillium Book Award; and was longlisted for Canada Reads. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. She recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which is currently in post-production by Compy F
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Téa Mutonji
Téa Mutonji is a Canadian author. She was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but came to Canada at a young age. She grew up in in Scarborough and Oshawa. She studied media studies and creative writing at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
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Breanne Mc Ivor
Breanne Mc Ivor is an award-winning writer. Her short story collection, Where There Are Monsters, was published in 2019. Mc Ivor holds degrees in English from the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh and has a certificate in Advanced Professional Makeup Artistry. She lives in her home country of Trinidad and Tobago. The God of Good Looks, her debut novel, was published by William Morrow/ HarperCollins (North America) and Fig Tree/ Penguin Random House (UK & Commonwealth) in summer 2023.
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Celeste Mohammed
Celeste Mohammed is a Trinidadian lawyer-turned-writer whose debut novel-in-stories, Pleasantview (Ig, 2021), won the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, along with multiple other awards. Her second novel-in-stories, Ever Since We Small, inspired by her Indo-Caribbean heritage, was released in the Caribbean in April 2025 by Jacaranda Books UK, with international editions forthcoming in October 2025. Celeste’s nonfiction debut, A Different Energy: Women in Caribbean Oil & Gas (2024), has been well received within the energy industries of Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname.
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Celeste holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, and her short fiction has earned prestigious accolades, including the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story -
Jen Ferguson
Jen Ferguson (she/her/hers) Métis (on her father's side) and Canadian settler (on her mother's side) is an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD. She believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. She is represented by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
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Her debut young adult novel, THE SUMMER OF BITTER AND SWEET, is forthcoming from Heartdrum / Harper Collins in the summer of 2022. Her first book for adults, Border Markers, a collection of interrelated flash fiction stories, is out now with NeWest Press.
She lives and works in Los Angeles.
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Visit her website to subscribe to News from the Michif Creamery, an occasional (seasonally or less) newsletter, for a chance to win The Summer of Bi -
O.O. Sangoyomi
O.O. Sangoyomi is a Nigerian American author with a penchant for African mythology and history. During a childhood of constantly moving around, she found an anchored home in the fictional worlds of books. She is a recent graduate of Princeton University, where she studied literature. Her debut novel, Masquerade, will be published by Macmillan/Forge in July 2024.
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You can find Sangoyomi on Instagram and Twitter @oosangoyomi. -
Ishi Robinson
Ishi Robinson was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. A Canadian citizen, she has lived in Bern, Toronto, Rome, London and now lives in Berlin with her Czech husband. Her first published work was a short story in Jamaica’s national newspaper when she was eleven years old. At seventeen, she sent a letter to her father from Switzerland that he thought was so funny he sent it to the other national newspaper, which snagged her a weekly column on teenage life in Kingston. She also previously wrote a weekly column on life as an expat in Rome for a now defunct online magazine. She got back into fiction writing in Berlin, from where she has published short stories in several online publications and one anthology. SWEETNESS IN THE SKIN is her firs
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Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall
Ms Nuttall (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, W̱SÁNEĆ) holds an MA from the International Institute of Modern Letters. She won the 2020 Adam Foundation Prize and was runner-up in the 2021 Surrey Hotel–Newsroom writer’s residency award. She lives on the Kāpiti Coast of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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From the NZ publisher's website -
Angel Di Zhang
Angel is a Canadian author. A painter and an internationally exhibited fine art photographer, she lives in a secret garden near Toronto. Order her debut novel THE LIGHT OF ETERNAL SPRING here!
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Lorena Gale
Lorena Gale was a Canadian actress, director, and writer. She was active onstage and in films and television since the 1980s. She also authored two award-winning plays, Angélique and Je me souviens.
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She appeared in such movies as Fantastic Four, The Chronicles of Riddick, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. She has guest starred on programs such as The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, Smallville and Kingdom Hospital. Until August 2005, she starred as Priestess Elosha on the SciFi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica.
Her play, Angélique, the story of executed slave Marie-Joseph Angelique, was the winner of the 1995 duMaurier National Playwriting Competition in Canada.
Gale died following a battle with cancer on June 21, 2009, aged 51.