Jonathan Whitelaw
In-Person Conference Jonathan Whitelaw is an award-winning crime and mystery writer, journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism, covering everything from sports to music to radioactive waste. He’s also a regular reviewer and commen
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Holman Wang
In-Person Conference Holman Wang is a lawyer who also finds time to make children’s books. He and his brother, Jack, are the twin powers behind the board book series Cozy Classics and Star Wars Epic Yarns, which abridge literary and cinematic classics into just twelve words and twelve needle-felte
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Iryn Tushabe
In-Person Conference Iryn Tushabe is a Ugandan-Canadian writer and journalist. Most recently her nonfiction has appeared in The Walrus and in the trace press anthology river in an ocean: essays on translation. Her short fiction has twice been included in The Journey Prize Stories: The best of Canada
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Aren X. Tulchinsky
In-Person Conference Aren X. Tulchinsky (he/him), is a novelist, video editor, screenwriter and writing mentor. His critically acclaimed novel, THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES LAPINSKY was a Toronto Book Award finalist, won the One Book One Vancouver Prize and was awarded a permanent plaque in Toronto by Pr
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Faye Snowden
In-Person Conference Faye Snowden is the award-winning author of dark, southern gothic mysteries with strong (and flawed) women characters. She has published short stories and poems in anthologies and literary journals. A Killing Rain (Flame Tree 2022), the second book in her Killing series, was nam
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Cecily Nicholson
In-Person Conference Cecily Nicholson volunteers with community impacted by carcerality and food insecurity. She is the author of five books of poetry and past recipient of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry. Her most recent work, Crowd Source, fo
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Sara Leach
In-Person Conference Sara Leach is the author of nine books for children, including Duck Days, illustrated by Rebecca Bender, which was a finalist for the OLA Silver Birch Award. Its companion book, Slug Days, was an USBBY Outstanding International Book and nominated for the ALA Schneider Family Boo
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JM Landels
In-Person Conference Jennifer Landels is the Managing Editor of Pulp Literature Press. She holds a BA in Mediaeval English Literature from UBC and may some day return to her doctorate in Arthurian Romance at University College London. She has been a freelance editor since 2002, and co-founded Pulp L
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Farah Heron
In-Person Conference Farah Heron is a critically acclaimed author for adults and teens. Her books have been named as best books of the year by CBC books, USA Today, and NPR, and have been praised in Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, and Teen Vogue. She writes romantic comedies and young adult romances
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Sheree L. Greer
In-Person Conference Sheree L. Greer is a writer, teacher, and arts administrator living in Tampa, Florida. She is the author of two novels, Let the Lover Be (Bold Strokes Books 2014) and A Return to Arms (Bold Strokes Books 2016). Her work has been published online and in print at the Bellevue Lite
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Minister Faust
In-Person Conference According to The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science, “Since 1960s, Afrodiasporic authors including Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, and Minister Faust have become luminaries within the SF community.” The critically-acclaimed author of The Alche
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Stacey Chomiak
In-Person Conference Stacey Chomiak (she/her) is an artist, author and LGBTQ+ speaker. She writes and illustrates kids books that represent the queer community. Her YA illustrated memoir STILL STACE: MY GAY CHRISTIAN COMING-OF-AGE STORY published in 2021. She illustrated RAINBOW BOY AND THE PRIDE PA
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Shane Book
In-Person Conference Shane Book is a poet, filmmaker and professor in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria. His first collection, Ceiling of Sticks, was a Poetry Society of America “New Poet” Selection and won the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award and the Prai
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Sara Blaydes
In-Person Conference Sara Blaydes writes historical fiction featuring strong women in extraordinary times. She is a perpetual daydreamer who has been obsessed with books ever since she demanded her parents teach her to read when she was four years old so she could steal her older brother’s comic b
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Juliet Blackwell
In-Person Conference Juliet is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including three mystery series and several standalone novels set in France. Her latest, Asylum Hotel, is set in her native Northern California. Juliet studied Latin American Studies at the University of
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Shashi Bhat
In-Person Conference Shashi Bhat is the author of the story collection Death by a Thousand Cuts (McClelland & Stewart), and the novels The Most Precious Substance on Earth (M&S, Grand Central), and The Family Took Shape (Cormorant). Her fiction received the Writers’ Trust/McClelland 
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Xio Axelrod
In-Person Conference Xio Axelrod [she/her] is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary fiction and romance. Growing up in the music industry, Xio began her recording career at a young age. Her experiences bring a lyrical quality to her writing and vibrancy to her characters, offering a unique
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Finnian Burnett
In-Person Conference Dr. Finnian Burnett is a writer whose work explores the intersections of the human body, mental health, and gender identity. They are a recipient of a 2023 Canada Council for the Arts grant, a finalist in the 2023 CBC nonfiction prize, and a 2024 Pushcart nominee. Finnian’s wo
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