Festival Participants

AUTHORS, POETS & PERFORMERS

CHIDIOGO AKUNYILI-PARR is an author, speaker, and consultant with a passion for human development and connection. She is the founder of She ROARs.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE is the author of three books of nonfiction: Intolerable, Brown, and Return. He is the director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at UBC.

ANDRÉ ALEXIS is the author of several novels and works of fiction, including Fifteen Dogs, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His latest novel is Ring, the conclusion to his quincunx of five novels.

DIJA AYODELE is a skin care expert and the author of Black Skin, out now with HarperCollins.

SUZANNE BARR is the author of My Ackee Tree: A Chef’s Memoir of Finding Home In The Kitchen. She grew up watching her parents prepare every meal, which was an opportunity to bond as a family, learn about cultural roots, tell stories and express love.

S. BEAR BERGMAN is the author of nine books and the founder of Flamingo Rampant press.

CURTIS CARMICHAEL is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed memoir Butterflies In The Trenches—The World’s First Augmented Reality memoir—set in a close-knit Toronto public housing community in Scarborough.

KERN CARTER is a writer and author who has written three novels. His latest is Boys And Girls Screaming, out now with Cormorant/DCB.

SHAKIL CHOUDHURY is an award-winning educator and author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, described as a “breakthrough” book that integrates psychology with critical race perspectives.

HABIBA COOPER DIALLO is the author of #BlackInSchool.

DAVID DELISCA is a writer, poet, actor and humorist. A versatile artist, he uses stories about the immigrant and diasporic experience, as well as other various human realities, to bridge realms of communication.

STEPHEN DORSEY is the Canadian-born author of Black and White, An Intimate, Multicultural Perspective on “White Advantage” and the Paths to Change, which was published in February 2022 by Nimbus Publishing.

NORMA DUNNING is an Inuk writer, professor, and grandmother. Her story collection, Tainna, won the 2021 Governor General’s Award for English Language Fiction. KIM FU is the author of two novels, a collection of poetry, and most recently, the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century.

CHLOE GONG is the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and its sequel Our Violent Ends.

SHELLY GRACE is a Toronto-based spoken word poet. She uses her art for community building and healing and focuses on the experiences of women and the Black community.

ANAIS GRANOFSKY is an actor, director, producer and writer. The Girl in the Middle is her first book.

Popular Instagram poet and artist MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS has created her life’s work around the stories of others. Her latest book, Peace is a Practice: An Invitation to Breathe Deep and Find a New Rhythm for Life, was published in February 2022.

SYDNEY HEGELE (they/them) is the author of The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021).

FARAH HERON writes romantic comedies for adults and teens. Her latest YA novel is Tahira In Bloom.

JUNE HUR is the critically acclaimed author of The Silence of Bones, The Forest of Stolen Girls, The Red Palace, and A Crane Among Wolves.

SHAYDA KAFAI (she/her) is a queer, disabled, Mad femme of color writer, scholar, and educator. She is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.

H.N. KHAN is a first-time author whose debut novel, Wrong Side Of The Court, was published in spring 2022 with Penguin Teen.

ANOSH IRANI is a three-time Governor General’s Literary Award-shortlisted author and playwright, and a two-time winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play.

TSERING YANGZOM LAMA is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies.

PREMEE MOHAMED is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based out of Edmonton, Alberta.

OMAR MOUALLEM is an Alberta-based writer and filmmaker. His latest book is Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas, and latest documentary is The Last Baron.

CLAYTON THOMAS-MÜLLER is a campaigner, award winning film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker and best selling author on Indigenous rights and environmental & economic justice.

HASAN NAMIR is an Iraqi-Canadian author and poet.

ABDI NAZEMIAN is a screenwriter, producer, and the author of four novels, and the recipient of a Stonewall Honor and Lambda Literary Award.

TOLOLUPE OLORUNTOBA’s debut poetry collection, The Junta of Happenstance, received the Governor General’s Literary Award, while his second collection, Each One a Furnace, is forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart.

CHELUCHI ONYEMELUKWE is a writer, academic and lawyer. Her debut novel was finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2021.

MARIAM S. PAL is the author of Ballet is not for Muslim Girls, her memoir about growing up Pakistani-Canadian in 1960s and 70s Victoria B.C.

DOROTHY ELLEN PALMER is an award-winning disabled senior author of five books including her newest, Kerfuffle, featuring an improv troupe making sense and nonsense of the Toronto G20 protests.

NISHA PATEL is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Edmonton and a Canadian Individual Slam Champion.

REEMA PATEL is a Toronto-based writer and lawyer whose first novel, Such Big Dreams, was inspired by her work in human rights advocacy abroad.

MATTHEW SALESSES is the author of several books, including Craft in the Real World and Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear.

ZENA SHARMAN is a writer, speaker, strategist and LGBTQ+ health advocate who has authored and/or edited three books, including The Care We Dream Of (2021) and The Remedy (2016).

JULIETTA SINGH is a writer and academic whose work engages the enduring effects of colonization, current ecological crisis, and queer-feminist futures. She is the author of The Breaks (Coffee House Press, 2021), and other books.

SONYA SINGH Sonya Singh is an author, writer, and storyteller. Her debut rom-com, Sari Not Sari, was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2022.

ANNA QUON is a Mad, mixed-race, middle-aged novelist and poet living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax).

KATHERENA VERMETTE (she/elle) is a Red River Métis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation. She has worked in poetry, novels, children’s literature, and film.

JACK WANG is the author of We Two Alone, winner of the 2020 Danuta Gleed Literary Award from the Writers’ Union of Canada for best debut collection in English.

JESSE WENTE is an Anishinaabe author, speaker and arts administrator. His first book, Unreconciled: Family Truth and Resistance is a national bestseller.

BETHANEY WILKINSON is a world class facilitator and race conscious leadership coach. She is author of The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change.

MARY-LOU ZEITOUN is a Palestinian Canadian author, essayist, arts journalist and activist.

MODERATORS

SHARON BALA is the author of The Boat People, which won a couple of awards, was short listed for a few others, is available in five languages, and was a best-seller. She won The Journey Prize in 2017.

GARY BARWIN is the author of 26 books including Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy.

SKYE BOWEN is an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience, and a passionate advocate for equity and social justice.

ANN YU-KYUNG CHOI is a Toronto-based author and educator. Ann currently sits on the Program Advisory Committee for gritLIT and is the co-founder of the Authors Book Club, an initiative that connects authors with readers in Canada.

SAM DEVOTTA (she/her) is the Senior Associate, Marketing & Publicity at Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers. Outside of work, Sam spends a lot of time talking about YA books and pop-punk bands (often at the same time).

DAMALI FRAISER (she/her/hers) is a Kettlebell Instructor and Nutrition Coach passionate about exploring fitness from an intersectional lens.

ALYSSA GRAY-TYGHTER (she/her) is an educator, writer, speaker, and PhD student. Her current research focuses of Black girlhood, identity, and belonging in Canada.

SHOILEE KHAN is a writer, editor, and a doctoral candidate in English Literature. She serves as a member of the Planning Committee for the Festival of Literary Diversity and is also the Assistant Director for the inclusive combat arts and fitness organization Sister Fit.

Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, YEJIDE KILANKO lives in Chatham, Ontario where she practices as a social worker. Kilanko’s debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path, a Canadian national bestseller, was longlisted for the 2016 Nigeria Literature Prize. Kilanko’s latest novel, A Good Name, is available now.

CARRIANNE LEUNG is a fiction writer and educator. She is currently working on a new novel, titled The After.

KATHRYN MOCKLER co-edited the print anthology Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020) and is the publisher of the Watch Your Head website.

AMIL NIAZI is a freelance writer and producer whose work has appeared in The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post and New York Magazine. She is the showrunner and panelist for CBC’s Pop Chat.

KAREN RICHARDSON MASON is a founding director of the FOLD Foundation. She holds degrees in Political Science and Journalism from McGill and University of Kings College, respectively. Karen lives in Brampton with her husband Kylan and two children.

JANET MARIE ROGERS (JANUARY) is a poet, media producer, new publisher and a sound/performance artist living and working on her home territory, Six Nations of the Grand River.

JENNA TENN-YUK is a writer, speaker and facilitator who empowers people to share their stories and truths.

PUBLISHING PROFESSIONALS

AEMAN ANSARI is a Toronto-based freelance editor with 5 years of experience editing both fiction and non-fiction.

MARILYN BIDERMAN is a Partner, Senior Agent with the Transatlantic Agency.

HANA EL NIWAIRI is a writer, publishing professional, and media enthusiast who handles international rights at a literary agency based in Toronto. She is also a co-founder of the non-profit organization BIPOC of Publishing in Canada.

BRENNA ENGLISH-LOEB is an associate agent with Transatlantic Agency and is excited to grow her list of genre fiction in both YA and adult, as well as adult nonfiction.

CYNARA GEISSLER (she/her) is the director of marketing and publicity at Arsenal Pulp Press in Vancouver, BC.

BRYAN IBEAS is a Fiction Editor at Invisible Publishing.

BRIDGETTE KAM is a literary associate at Westwood Creative Artists.

STEPHANIE SINCLAIR is literary agent who works on books that provoke conversation and strives to challenge the way we think, feel and live.

LÉONICKA VALCIUS is a Literary Agent at Transatlantic Agency, representing commercial and genre fiction for adults and children. As the founder of #DiverseCanLit and the former Chair of The Festival of Literary Diversity, working with writers of colour is a key part of her mandate. She is currently a JD Candidate at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law.

MARIA VICENTE is a senior literary agent and advisor at P.S. Literary Agency.

PROGRAM CONTRIBUTORS

AGATA ANTONOW is a writer living in New Brunswick, in a town known as the French Fry Capital of the world.

AMIR AZIZ is a writer based in the GTA. His work has appeared in Asparagus Magazine and The Walrus.

MANAHIL BANDUKWALA is a writer and visual artist. Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming in 2022. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.

MONI BRAR writes about identity, diasporic guilt, and trauma. She is a winner of the SAAG Arts Writing Prize and a runner-up in PRISM’s Grouse Grind Prize.

CHRISTINA BROBBY is a writer and photographer living in the Yukon on the traditional territories of Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. She is currently working on a memoir about finding her first family.

TREENA CHAMBERS is Métis, holds a BA in International Studies and is slowly working her way though a Masters in Public Policy. LEANNE CHARETTE writes poetry grounded in her experience of disability. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her husband and twin sons, surrounded by many houseplants.

MEGHAN EAKER (she/her) is an amiskwaciywâskahikanbased poet, registered nurse, and beading artist of mixed european and nehiyaw ancestry (Woodland Cree First Nation).

SAMANTHA MARTIN-BIRD is a citizen of Peguis First Nation, currently living on the north shore of Lake Superior in Thunder Bay. Her work has appeared in Room and CV2 Magazine, and she was a 2021 winner of the Indigenous Voices Awards.

SUSAN MACLEOD writes and draws about long-term care. Her 2021 humorous book, Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care was published by Conundrum Press. www.susanmacleod.ca

NADINE NAKAGAWA is an organizer, activist, intersectional feminist, social justice fairy, New Westminster city councillor, and co-founder of The Feminist Campaign School.

AMAL RANA is a poet and educator based out of unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territories. Their poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. Twitter: @movementauntie

LEANNE SHIRTLIFFE is a teacher and writer who lives in Calgary. She’s written multiple children’s books and is working on a poetry collection interweaving farming, feminism and family. Twitter: @LShirtliffe

JOHN ELIZABETH STINTZI is the author of My Volcano, Vanishing Monuments, and Junebat. They’re occasionally working on a graphic novel.

ANNA SWANSON (she/her) writes about chronic illness, concussion, queerness, swimming and joy. Her first book, The Nights Also, won a Lambda and Gerald Lampert Award.

GIAN MARCO VISCONTI is a multiethnic (Arbëreshë & South Asian) writer from Alberta. His work has appeared in Glass Buffalo, The Polyglot and Ismaili Canada Magazine.

YILIN WANG is a writer and Chinese–English translator. Their writing has appeared in Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Words Without Borders, The Malahat Review and elsewhere.

SEBASTIAN YŪE is a game designer and emerging poet. Adopted from China, Sebastian writes about belonging, destiny, and establishing an identity. Twitter: @sebastianyue