Read Quebec

Read Quebec Book Fair Opening Cocktail
2023-11-03 16:30 - 18:00 (America/Toronto) | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
McConnell Building, Concordia University Atrium
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal. Free, no registration required. In person.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Following the book fair events in the 4TH SPACE, attendees are invited to attend a wine and cheese reception to mingle with fellow book lovers, peruse and purchase books.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Create Your Own Comic Strip!
2023-11-04 11:30 - 12:30 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.
Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Getting Lit with Linda: Live podcast recording featuring guests Catherine Hernandez and Eva Crocker
2023-11-04 13:00 - 14:00 | DeSève Cinema, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montrea, Montreal, QC, Canada
DeSève Cinema, McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
In a first-ever episode with a live audience, award-winning podcaster Dr. Linda Morra will interview novelists Catherine Hernandez and Eva Crocker. Both authors will be available to sign books afterward. Co-sponsored by Montreal’s queer reading series, the Violet Hour.
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 and was a finalist for several awards including Canada Reads 2022. She wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which was nominated for 11 Canadian Screen Awards and won 8 including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Her second novel, Crosshairs, was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine’s 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third novel, The Story of Us, was published this year by HarperCollins Canada and was an instant bestseller. She is currently working on a few television projects and her fourth novel.
Eva Crocker grew up in Ktaqamkuk (Newfoundland) and currently resides in Tiohti:áke (Montreal). Her debut novel All I Ask was longlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize and won the 2020 BMO Winterset Award. Her short story collection Barreling Forward was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQS2 Writers and won the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction and the CAA Emerging Author’s Award. She is a PhD student in Concordia University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program.
Linda Morra is a professor of Canadian and Indigenous literatures, writer, editor, and literary podcaster who lives in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke). Getting Lit With Linda, which she co-produces with Marco Timpano, won the Canadian Podcasting Awards in 2022 and has been shortlisted for the People’s Choice Podcasting Awards this year. Photo credit: Nadia Zhang.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Postcards to the Future!
2023-11-04 13:30 - 14:30 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.
Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Scarborough Screening
2023-11-04 15:00 - 17:15 | DeSève Cinema, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montrea, Montreal, QC, Canada
DeSève Cinema, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In person. Free, no registration required.
In a pre-festival special event, Image+Nation Queer Culture, Montreal’s long-running queer film festival, will join the Violet Hour to co-sponsor this moving film, an adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’s novel of the same name.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Making Monster Heads - An Exercise in Slow Group Drawing
2023-11-04 15:30 - 16:30 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Together we’ll SLOWLY build a weird and wonderful bunch of monster heads that we can only create as a team! For all ages.
Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.

Read Quebec at the Salon du livre de Montréal
2023-11-22 09:00 - 2023-11-27 18:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
The Association of English-Language Publishers of Quebec will be at the Salon du livre de Montréal! We’ll have member titles available for purchase at kiosk #2206, courtesy of Saga Bookstore. Come by to discover new books and celebrate the province’s unique and vibrant English-language literary culture.

Tickets must be purchased in advance to attend the Salon. Entrance is free for QWF members!

https://www.salondulivredemontreal.com/exposants/aelaq

À propos du Salon:

Autour d’une communauté d’amoureux·euses du livre et de lecteur·rice·s en devenir, la mission première du Salon est de promouvoir le livre et le plaisir de la lecture comme biens culturels dans la société québécoise. Le Salon du livre de Montréal valorise le rôle essentiel des auteur·rice·s, des créateur·rice·s et des artisan·e·s dans le milieu du livre et contribue ainsi à faire rayonner la diversité de la production éditoriale régionale, nationale et internationale. Finalement, le Salon rassemble et mobilise les créateur·rice·s, la communauté professionnelle du livre et les lecteur·rice·s du Québec, tout en offrant des lieux qui favorisent la création, l’échange et le débat autour des enjeux de notre société. Les valeurs qui sont au cœur de notre mission sont le partage, la diversité, l’inclusion et le plaisir.

Écrire l’environnement / Writing the Environment
2023-11-24 12:00 - 13:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
Presented by the Association of English-Language Publishers of Quebec, this dialogic performance of poetry in English, French, and translation will imagine writing the environment. Featuring Kaie Kellough and Chantal Neveu, it will embody language in its relation to land and space, and reflect on poetry’s radical stance towards a sustainable future. This event is curated and hosted by Klara du Plessis. / Présentée par l’Association des éditeurs de langue anglaise du Québec, cette performance poétique, qui se déroulera en anglais et en français, permettra d’imaginer comment on écrit et décrit l’environnement. Kaie Kellough et Chantal Neveu exploreront la façon dont le texte incarne la langue dans ses rapports avec le territoire et l’espace. Ils réfléchiront aussi à l’attitude radicale de la poésie à l’égard d’un avenir durable. Cet événement est conçu et animé par Klara du Plessis.
Visit the official Salon du Livre de Montreal website for more information and the link to purchase tickets.

mRb Summer Launch
2024-07-04 18:00 - 19:30 | Café Osmo, 51 Sherbrooke O., Montreal, QC, Canada
The Montreal Review of Books launches its Summer 2024 issue on Thursday, July 4th at Café Osmo (51 Sherbrooke Street West)! Join us for readings by Frankie Barnet (Mood Swings, McClelland & Stewart), Nour Abi-Nakhoul (Supplication, Strange Light) and Nora Loreto (The Social Safety Net, Dundurn Press).

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., and mRb readings will start at 6:30 p.m. The authors will be available to sign books after the readings. Admission is free.

For those unable to attend in person, readings will be live-streamed on our YouTube.

We thank you for your continued support of the mRb, and look forward to seeing you there!

Artwork by Peter Krausz, detail from Sans Titre, 2023. Oil on canvas, 102 x 153 cm (40” x 60”). Collection of the artist. Photo credit: Paul Litherland.

On August 12th, I'm Buying a Quebecois Book!
2024-08-12 | QC
On August 12, discover a book from here!

Check back soon for details about Quebec Book Day, known in French as Le 12 août, j’achète un livre québécois ! We’re looking forward to sharing our Fall 2024 catalogue, which will include the latest releases written, published, translated and/or illustrated in Quebec.

: ReadQuebec.ca/Books

Read Quebec at the Salon du livre de Montréal!
2024-11-27 09:00 - 2024-12-01 17:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
Read Quebec is returning to the Salon du livre de Montréal!

We’re excited to showcase some of the latest releases and bestsellers from participating local English-language publishers. Find us at kiosk #401 through the week at the hours below:

Wednesday, Nov. 27: 9 am – 6pmThursday, Nov. 28: 9 am – 9 pmFriday, Nov. 29: 9 am – 9 pmSaturday, Nov. 30: 9am – 9 pmSunday, Dec. 1: 9 am – 5 pm

Discover which authors will be signing at our booth by visiting the Salon’s website here.

A Duck in New York City – Musical Performance for Kids of All Ages
2024-12-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
25th Anniversary Celebration with Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne, complete with anniversary cake!
Based on the Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winning musical picture book of the same name, a heartwarming children’s story and a dozen happy-go-lucky songs about self-esteem and determination. Follow a little duck from the Prairies who has a big dream: making it to New York City and doing his ducky dance on Broadway!

2024 Read Quebec Book Fair
2024-12-07 12:00 - 2024-12-08 17:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
The Read Quebec Book Fair is back! Join us on December 7th and 8th at Casa d’Italia (505 rue Jean Talon est) to discover the latest releases of new works from local publishers, authors, and translators. We’re also looking forward to a full program of literary events – including an interview with author and Mohawk activist Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel on Saturday, a comics panel with a stellar lineup, and QWF Spoken Word Prize Showcase performances on Sunday – as well as a multitude of author signings.
Produced by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ), the Read Quebec Book Fair celebrates the vibrancy of the English-language literary scene in Quebec, with local publishers displaying their titles, and Librairie Paragraphe selling books from Quebec writers and translators published elsewhere. The Fair will offer fun for young booklovers, with a cozy, book-filled Kids’ Nook both days, and a musical performance for children by Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne on Saturday at noon. There will be an opening cocktail Saturday evening —it is free and open to all, wine and bites will be served.
The fair is open from 12pm-7pm Saturday, and 12pm-5pm Sunday at Casa d’Italia. The building is accessible directly across from Jean-Talon metro and fully accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged, with hand sanitizing stations available at all locations.
Discover the full schedule of author signings here!

Schedule
Saturday, December 7th

A Duck in New York City – Musical Performance for Kids of All Ages
Saturday, December 7 2024
12 pm – 1 pm
20th Anniversary Celebration with Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne, complete with anniversary cake!
Based on the Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winning musical picture book of the same name, a heartwarming children’s story and a dozen happy-go-lucky songs about self-esteem and determination. Follow a little duck from the Prairies who has a big dream: making it to New York City and doing his ducky dance on Broadway!

Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel in Conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain
Saturday, December 7 2024
2 pm – 3 pm
Join Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, longtime activist and visual artist, to hear about her new book, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance. A memoir of a deeply engaged life, with an account of the 1990 Kanehsatake and Kahnawake Siege, where she was a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) spokesperson. In conversation with Samir Shaheen-Hussain, MD, author of Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, winner of the 2021 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the 2021 Concordia University First Book Prize, and le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole 2022.

Create Your Own Comic Strip! A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
Saturday, December 7 2024
2 pm – 3 pm
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.

The Violet Hour Book Club Reads Subterrane by Valérie Bah
Saturday, December 7 2024
3 pm – 4:30 pm
Led by founder Christopher DiRaddo, this monthly discussion group for lovers of classic and contemporary works of LGBTQ literature will hold its December meeting on the stage at Casa d’Italia. Author Valérie Bah will make a special appearance via Zoom at 4 pm for the last half hour of the group discussion.

Opening Cocktail
Saturday, December 7 2024
5 pm – 7 pm
A very special edition of the Read Quebec Book Fair’s 5 à 7. Come have a drink at the end of an exciting day of book browsing and literary events. Meet public historian, artist and educator Cassandra Marsillo, author of Dalla valigia alla tavola, an oral history of Montreal immigrants from the Italian region of Molise, complete with 40 recipes – and enjoy Molisan antipasti created from the book’s recipes. This event is also a “Super Schmoozer” bringing together members of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the Writers’ Union of Canada, Quebec chapter, and the English-language Arts Network. Chat about books, writing, and the delicious food! Everyone is welcome.
Sunday, December 8th

Archives Out Loud: A Panel Discussion on Italian-Canadian Writing in English in Quebec
Sunday, December 8 2024
12 pm – 1 pm
Moderated by Nancy Marrelli, archivist of the Italian-Canadian Community Archives of Quebec, which are housed at the Casa d’Italia, an exchange between: Domenic Cusmano, publisher of Accenti: The Magazine with an Italian Accent; novelist and literary impresario Christopher DiRaddo, and playwright Michaela Di Cesare. Reception in the Archives office in the basement to follow.

How I Got Published: Fiction Edition
Sunday, December 8 2024
1 pm – 2 pm
Looking for tips on getting your own writing into print? Writer/translator Mélissa Bull, editor of the QC Fiction imprint at Baraka Books, will moderate as panelists Rebecca Morris (Other Maps), Sofia Ajram (Coup de Grâce), and Lili Zeng (Dear Haider) recount their journeys to publication. There will be plenty of time for questions from the floor.

Postcards to the Future! A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
Sunday, December 8 2024
1 pm – 2 pm
Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.

Comic Book Confessions: Montreal Cartoonists Tell All
Sunday, December 8 2024
2 pm – 3 pm
Montreal has emerged as one of the most vibrant comic book scenes in the world, with a remarkable range of local creators producing weird, wild, and wonderful work that crosses over genres, generations, and languages. Join superstar cartoonists Walter Scott (Wendy), Éloïse Marseille (Naked: The Confessions of a Normal Woman), and Chris Oliveros (Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?) for a candid discussion about creating stories in pictures and words, finding humor in everyday life, and contemplating what could be next for Montreal’s thriving comic arts scene. Moderated by François Vigneault.

Cards for Peace: A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas

Sunday, December 8 2024
2 pm – 3 pm

We’ll create holiday greeting cards with drawings and writing for family and friends around the themes of peace, gratitude and light! Every tradition welcome!

Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase
Sunday, December 8 2024
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
The Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase will once again display the creative talents of the finalists for the Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize.
Moe Clark “committing a dream / pawâkan Palestine”
Lucia De Luca “Congratulations”
Emilia Malpica-Iruegas “twenty-one”
Roger Sinha “Hater’s n Baiters: The Culture Collision”
Mac van den Hoeven “Memory Justice”
Children’s Programming with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
At any time during the Read Quebec Book Fair, wee people can hang out in our Babar Books Kids’ Nook and look at children’s books, draw and colour, or just relax in a cozy spot meant specially for them. Kids and their big people can also do some creative activity of their own at one of the three fabulous activities led by artist and writer Vasilios Billy Mavreas. For younger kids: Create your own comic strip! For older kids: Postcards to the Future! And for all ages: Cards For Peace.

Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel in Conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Join Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, longtime activist and visual artist, to hear about her new book, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance. A memoir of a deeply engaged life, with an account of the 1990 Kanehsatake and Kahnawake Siege, where she was a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) spokesperson. . In conversation with Samir Shaheen-Hussain, MD, author of Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, winner of the 2021 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the 2021 Concordia University First Book Prize, and le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole 2022.

Create your own comic strip!
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.

Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.

The Violet Hour Book Club Reads Subterrane by Valérie Bah
2024-12-07 15:00 - 16:30 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Led by founder Christopher DiRaddo, this monthly discussion group for lovers of classic and contemporary works of LGBTQ literature will hold its December meeting on the stage at Casa d’Italia. Author Valérie Bah will make a special appearance via Zoom at 4 pm for the last half hour of the group discussion.

Opening Cocktail
2024-12-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
A very special edition of the Read Quebec Book Fair’s 5 à 7. Come have a drink at the end of an exciting day of book browsing and literary events. Meet public historian, artist and educator Cassandra Marsillo, author of Dalla valigia alla tavola, an oral history of Montreal immigrants from the Italian region of Molise, complete with 40 recipes – and enjoy Molisan antipasti created from the book’s recipes. This event is also a “Super Schmoozer” bringing together members of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the Writers’ Union of Canada, Quebec chapter, and the English-language Arts Network. Chat about books, writing, and the delicious food! Everyone is welcome.

Archives Out Loud: A Panel Discussion on Italian-Canadian Writing in English in Quebec
2024-12-08 12:00 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Moderated by Nancy Marrelli, archivist of the Italian-Canadian Community Archives of Quebec, which are housed at the Casa d’Italia, an exchange between: Domenic Cusmano, publisher of Accenti: The Magazine with an Italian Accent; novelist and literary impresario Christopher DiRaddo, and playwright Michaela Di Cesare. Reception in the Archives office in the basement to follow.

How I Got Published: Fiction Edition
2024-12-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Looking for tips on getting your own writing into print? Writer/translator Mélissa Bull, editor of the QC Fiction imprint at Baraka Books, will moderate as panelists Rebecca Morris (Other Maps), Sofia Ajram (Coup de Grâce), and Lili Zeng (Dear Haider) recount their journeys to publication. There will be plenty of time for questions from the floor.

Postcards to the Future!
2024-12-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.

Vasilios Billy Mavreas is an artist & writer making mostly book works, drawings, comics, visual poetry and collage. He designs and leads bilingual workshops and speaks publicly on creative process, collecting, zines and self-publishing, hybrid literature, found objects and paper ephemera.

Comic Book Confessions: Montreal Cartoonists Tell All
2024-12-08 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Montreal has emerged as one of the most vibrant comic book scenes in the world, with a remarkable range of local creators producing weird, wild, and wonderful work that crosses over genres, generations, and languages. Join superstar cartoonists Walter Scott (Wendy), Éloïse Marseille (Naked: The Confessions of a Normal Woman), and Chris Oliveros (Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?) for a candid discussion about creating stories in pictures and words, finding humor in everyday life, and contemplating what could be next for Montreal’s thriving comic arts scene. Moderated by François Vigneault.

Cards for Peace
2024-12-08 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
We’ll create holiday greeting cards with drawings and writing for family and friends around the themes of peace, gratitude and light! Every tradition welcome!

Vasilios Billy Mavreas is an artist & writer making mostly book works, drawings, comics, visual poetry and collage. He designs and leads bilingual workshops and speaks publicly on creative process, collecting, zines and self-publishing, hybrid literature, found objects and paper ephemera.

Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase
2024-12-08 15:30 - 16:30 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
The Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase will once again display the creative talents of the finalists for the Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize.
Moe Clark “committing a dream / pawâkan Palestine”
Lucia De Luca “Congratulations”
Emilia Malpica-Iruegas “twenty-one”
Roger Sinha “Hater’s n Baiters: The Culture Collision”
Mac van den Hoeven “Memory Justice”

Women in Translation Month
2025-08-01 08:00 - 2025-08-31 17:00 | QC
August is Women in Translation Month! Founded by Meytal Radzinski in 2014, Women in Translation Month celebrates writing by women in languages other than English.
Here in Quebec, we are grateful for the care and labour of translators who bring important stories to English-speaking audiences around the world.
Check out some featured titles below, translated from French, Spanish, Korean and more!

Featured Books

As the Andes DisappearedFiction Caroline Dawson, translated by Anita Anand Baldwin, Styron and MeMemoir, Nonfiction Mélikah Abdelmoumen, translated by Catherine Khorduc Club MicrobeKids Elise Gravel, translated by Montana Kane Dandelion DaughterFiction Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, translated by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch EmFiction Kim Thúy, translated by Sheila Fischman Hekla and LakiKids Marine Schneider, translated by Nick Frost and Catherine Ostiguy HorseflyFiction Mireille Gagné, translated by Pablo Strauss JournalMemoir Marie Uguay, translated by Jennifer Moxley Land of MirrorsFiction, Graphic novel Maria Medem, translated by Aleshia Jensen and Daniela Ortiz Nauetakuan, a Silence for a NoiseFiction Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, translated by Howard Scott Nights Too Short to DanceFiction Marie-Claire Blais, translated by Katia Grubisic Pale ShadowsFiction Dominique Fortier, translated by Rhonda Mullins PragueFiction Maude Veilleux, translated by Aleshia Jensen and Aimee Wall School for GirlsFiction Ariane Lessard, translated by Frances Pope So Long Sad LoveFiction, Graphic novel Mirion Malle, translated by Aleshia Jensen Songs for AngelFiction Marie-Claire Blais, translated by Katia Grubisic Sugaring OffFiction Fanny Britt, translated by Susan Ouriou The BigamistFiction Felicia Mihali, translated by Linda Leith The FutureFiction Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou The JellyfishGraphic novel Boum, translated by Robin Lang and Helge Dascher The Old Man and the ChildKids Gabrielle Roy, translated by Katherine Sehl The WaitingGraphic novel Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translated by Janet Hong This Radiant LifePoetry Chantal Neveu, translated by Erín Moure ValidFiction Chris Bergeron, translated by Natalia Hero youPoetry Chantal Neveu, translated by Erín Moure No results found.

On August 12th, I'm Buying a Quebecois Book!
2025-08-12 | QC
This #12aout, discover a book from here!
August 12 is Quebec Book Day, known in French as « Le 12 août, j’achète un livre québécois ». Founded in 2014 by authors Patrice Cazeault & Amélie Dubé, August 12 has since become one of the highest-selling days for bookstores across the province.
Here at Read Quebec, we’re excited to showcase the latest local literature with a special focus on English-language books published, written, and translated within Quebec. Beyond bestsellers and prizewinners, we’re also eager to share hidden gems and forthcoming titles that may just become your next pageturner.
Head to ReadQuebec.ca/Books to discover our Fall catalogue, and share your recommendations by tagging us and using the hashtags #12aout #12aoutjacheteunlivrequebecois and #QuebecBookDay. Looking for inspiration? Get started with some favourites from our team below, or pick up a copy of the new Montreal Review of Books to read about some of the latest releases!

: ReadQuebec.ca/Books

RSVP on Facebook

Staff Recommendations

Featured Books

Canada in the Age of RumNonfiction Allan Greer CannonGraphic novel Lee Lai Checked OutGraphic novel Katie Fricas Club MicrobeKids Elise Gravel, translated by Montana Kane Count on MeFiction Ann Cavlovic Dandelion DaughterFiction Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, translated by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch Dark Matter: Women Witnessing, Dreams Before ExtinctionNonfiction, Poetry Weil, Lise et al, editors DenniveniquityGraphic novel D. Boyd Diffracting the North: Contemporary Latinx Canadian Experiences and Practices in Film, New Media, and Visual ArtsNonfiction Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, Analays Álvarez Hernández, and Zaira Zarza DobrydFiction Ann Charney Eating the Urban WildNonfiction Natalie Doonan EmFiction Kim Thúy, translated by Sheila Fischman No results found.

mRb Fall 2025 Issue Launch
2025-10-30 18:30 - 21:00 | P’tit Ours, 5589 Park Ave, Montreal, QC, H2V 4H2, Canada
The Montreal Review of Books launches its Fall 2025 issue on Thursday, October 30 at P’tit Ours (5589 Park Ave)! Join us for readings by Stephanie Bolster (Long Exposure, Palimpsest Press), Veena Gokhale (Annapurna’s Bounty, Dundurn Press) and Andreas Kessaris (The Grand Tour of Park Ex, Guernica Editions). The authors will be available to sign books after the readings. Admission is free.
Doors at 6:30 Readings at 7:00
For those unable to attend in person, readings will be live-streamed on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@aelaq.

Featured Books

Annapurna’s BountyFiction Veena Gokhale Long ExposurePoetry Stephanie Bolster The Grand Tour of Park ExMemoir Andreas Kessaris No results found.

2025 Read Quebec Book Fair
2025-12-06 11:00 - 2025-12-07 17:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
The Read Quebec Book Fair turns 10! Celebrate this milestone year on December 6–7 at Casa d’Italia, with special events, author signings, and the latest releases from Canadian writers and publishers.
Produced by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ), the Fair celebrates the vibrancy of English-language writing, publishing, and translation in Quebec. In honour of the tenth anniversary, this year’s Fair will, for the first time, welcome publishers from across Canada.
Taking place in the historic Casa d’Italia, the Fair will present a full weekend of programming, including a discussion between Heather and Arizona O’Neill about their new collaborative book Valentine in Montreal. Comic fans and those looking to discover the city’s beloved bédéistes will enjoy Art and Life in Graphic Novels with Juli Delporte, Pascal Girard and D. Boyd. Meanwhile, find your next dinner table discussion topic at our non-fiction lightning round, where authors such as Francine Pelletier will demystify their research and share the passion inspiring their work. For writers looking to pitch a book idea, we’re hosting the fair’s first ever speed-dating event for writers and editors, where up-and-coming and seasoned wordsmiths will have the opportunity to deliver their pitches directly to publishers.
The Fair will offer plenty of fun for young booklovers in a cozy, book-filled Kids’ Nook both days, and a special reading and guided yoga practice for children with author Marlee Kostiner on Saturday afternoon. Other programming highlights include a panel discussion hosted by Italian community archivist Nancy Marrelli, and a showcase of publisher Guernica Editions’ latest Quebec authors and releases.
Stick around for our 5 à 7 opening cocktail on Saturday for delicious hors d’oeuvres and a chance to connect with Montreal’s vibrant literary community, with a special 10th Anniversary High Fidelity DJ set with local journalist and author Brendan Kelly.
Casa d’Italia is located at 505 Jean-Talon East, and is fully accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. The fair takes place on the second floor, accessible via stairs or elevator. Take the entrance on Berri Street, across the street from Jean-Talon metro (exit Jean-Talon Nord).
Visit readquebec.ca for all the details.

Author Signing Schedule

Event Schedule
Saturday December 6, 2025

New Knowledge: Nonfiction Lightning Round
December 6, 2025 at 12 pm – 1 p.m.Main Stage, Salle des célébrations

Nathalie Cooke
Martha Langford
Valérie Lefebvre-Faucher
Stephen Monteiro
Francine Pelletier
Catherine Richardson
Alex R. Tipei
Thomas Waugh
Andrei Zanescu

Moderated by Ryan Van Huijstee
Often, fiction gets the limelight, poetry gets the prestige. But nonfiction books are published every day that help illuminate, preserve and create the world around us. Join local authors as they share the passions that led them to investigate a single subject in depth and then write an entire book about it.
Nathalie Cooke is an English professor at McGill University and a specialist in literary food studies and material culture. Her research uncovers the hidden stories told by menus, textiles, and other everyday artefacts, revealing how their forms, codes, and designs shape what we remember, and how we read.
Catherine Richardson Kineweskwêw is a Métis therapist, family therapist, researcher and academic working at Concordia University. Her maternal relatives come from Fort Chipewyan and have ties to Red River. She holds a research Chair in Indigenous Healing Knowledges and teaches in First Peoples Studies and Creative Arts Therapies. She is a co-founder of the Centre for Response-Based Practice where she and her colleagues advance dignity-centered approaches to violence. Cathy is also interested in the broader and multi-dimensional aspects of healing, such as the person as whole being, a spirit in a body with emotions, intelligence, physicality and in relation to all beings in the natural world.
She has taught in various counselling and social work programs and is the former director of the First Peoples Studies program at Concordia University. She explores various approaches to well- being on her substack podcast, where she speaks with healers, activists and response-based therapists. She is a student of shamanic practice and the mother of three amazing adult children.
Martha Langford, FRSC, is the author of A History of Photography in Canada. The first of three volumes, Anticipation to Participation, 1839 1918 has just appeared. Beautifully produced, the book is both lively and comprehensive, with over 400 illustrations. Langford is a distinguished professor emeriti of Concordia University in Montreal. She is the former research chair and director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art. In prior lives, she was the founding director of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, an affiliate of the National Gallery of Canada, and before that, Executive Producer of the Still Photography Division of the National Film Board of Canada. She has organized photographic exhibitions for museums and festivals in Canada, the UK, and Europe.
Valérie Lefebvre-Faucher is editor-in-chief of Liberté. She has worked as an editor at both Remue-ménage and Écosociété, with a focus on environmental, anti-capitalist, and feminist work. In addition to having collaborated with numerous collectives, blogs, and magazines, she published Procès Verbal and Promenade sur Marx, published in English under the title Jenny, Eleanor, and Laura, et al., translated by Mélissa Bull.
Stephen Monteiro teaches and researches media and culture at Concordia University. He has written or edited several books, including Needy Media, The Fabric of Interface, and The Screen Media Reader. He has contributed as an expert on contemporary technology to CBC Radio and the Toronto Star, among other media outlets.
Well-known journalist, documentary filmmaker, teacher and broadcaster, Francine Pelletier, formerly of CBC’s the fifth estate, is the author of three books: Second début: Cendres et renaissance du féminisme, Atelier 10, (2015), a short personal history of feminism in Quebec; : L’Art de se mouiller : Chroniques pour nourrir le débat, Écosociété (2022), a selection of her columns in Le Devoir from 2013-22; and Dream Interrupted : the Rise and Fall of Quebec Nationalism, Sutherland House (2025).
A transnational historian, primarily focused on Southeast Europe and France, Alex R. Tipei is professor of history and international studies at the Université de Montréal. MQUP published her book, Unintended Nations: France’s Empire of Civilization, Southeast Europe, and the Post-Napoleonic World. Alex’s research has received funding from SSHRC, the Fulbright Program, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She has taught and researched at McGill and Princeton Universities as well as the Universities of Bucharest and Illinois. Alex is also a team leader on the European Research Council funded project Transnational Histories of Corruption in South-East-Central Europe based at New Europe College/Institute for Advanced Study in Bucharest.
Ryan Van Huijstee is the director of Concordia University Press. He previously held a range of roles at University of Toronto Press and McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Thomas Waugh is a writer, programmer, and activist who taught film studies and sexuality at Concordia University from 1976 to 2017. He is the author of The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinema; and fourteen other books.

Valentine in December! With Heather and Arizona O’Neill
December 6, 2025, 2–3 pmMain Stage, Salle des célébrations
The duo will take to the stage to discuss their collaboration Valentine in Montreal. The novel, written by Heather with illustrations by Arizona, is a sweet Montreal adventure in which our famous metro plays a starring role. The O’Neills will sign copies after their onstage appearance.
Heather O’Neill is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Her most recent novel is Valentine in Montreal. Her previous works include Capital of Dreams and When We Lost Our Heads, a #1 national bestseller and finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal. The Lonely Hearts Hotel, won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads. Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. O’Neill has also won CBC’s Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. Born and raised in Montreal, she lives there today.
Arizona O’Neill is a Montreal-based author and illustrator. Her illustrations appear in Valentine in Montreal. She is the author of Est-ce qu’un artiste peut être heureux ?, a collection of graphic interviews, and illustrated Nelly Arcan’s L’enfant dans le miroir. Her comics have appeared in Hazlitt, Exclaim!, the Montreal Gazette and mRb. She has created animated videos for many outlets, including CBC. She is a regular contributor to Radio-Canada’s Il restera toujours la culture, and is one half of the bookstagram page @ONeillReads. She is currently working on a graphic memoir.

Guernica Editions Showcase
December 6, 2025, 3:30 – 5 pmRotunda
An event celebrating Guernica Editions’ longstanding presence in Quebec, featuring readings by authors with new releases this year, including fiction, memoir, and poetry. With the purchase of a book, guests will be entered into a raffle to win a selection of Guernica titles.

Michael Carin, Edisson & Jeremiah
Ann Cavlovic, Count on Me
Jonathan Kaplansky and Francis Catalano, The Origin of the Future
Andreas Kessaris, The Grand Tour of Park Ex
Bunmi Oyinsan, A Ladder of Bones
Meryem Yildiz, Backbone
Contributors from The Nuances of Love

Michael Carin trained as a political theorist at McGill University, where he also studied under the godfather of Canadian literature, Hugh MacLennan. He is the author of several novels, including Five Hundred Keys, The Kremlin Papers, and the work of alternate history Churchill at Munich. His non-fiction response to the Holocaust, The Future Jew, won him wide recognition as a provocative secular humanist. Mr. Carin lives in Montreal.
Poet, novelist, short story writer and essayist born in Montreal, Francis Catalano won the Quebecor Prize of the Trois-Rivières International Poetry Festival for Qu’une lueur des lieux (2010) and the La Métropole Prize of Excellence for Climax (2022). As a translator of Italian poetry, he won the John Glassco Prize in 2006 for Instructions pour la lecture d’un journal de Valerio Magrelli.
Ann Cavlovic’s fiction and creative non-fiction have appeared in Canadian literary magazines and news media, such as Event, The Fiddlehead, Grain, PRISM International, The Globe & Mail, and CBC. She lives in Western Quebec.
Connie Guzzo McParland, president and co-director of Guernica Editions, holds a BA in Italian Literature and a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University. She is the author of The Girls of Piazza D’amore (2013), The Women of Saturn (2017), Le Donne di Saturno (2019), An opera in 3 Acts/Un opéra en trois actes (2021), and The Twelfth Room, a translation of La Dodicesima Stanza.
Jonathan Kaplansky is a literary translator of French in Montreal. He won a French Voices Award to translate Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux’s Things Seen and was shortlisted for the David Booth Award for Jonathan Bécotte’s Like a Hurricane. He has also translated works by Hélène Dorion, Lise Gauvin, Louis- Philippe Hébert, Hélène Rioux and Lise Tremblay.
Andreas Kessaris grew up in Montreal’s Park Extension district, the son of Greek immigrants. He graduated from Dawson College and Concordia University, earning a BA in Communications & English. His column, Read On! with Andreas Kessaris, was a popular feature in the West-End community paper The Local Herald. His writing has also appeared on Suite101.com, in the literary journal The Write Place, on the Montreal entertainment website Curtainsup.tv, The Miramichi Reader, and The Montreal Review of Books. His first book, The Butcher of Park Ex & Other Semi-Truthful Tales, was released in 2020 to great acclaim.
Bunmi Oyinsan is a Nigerian/Canadian writer. From novels to scripts for radio, television, and the theatre, she has contributed to both the nonfiction and fiction canons of African literature. Oyinsan gained her MA focusing on orature and literature from Saint Mary’s University and a Ph.D. from York University. She is the writer, producer, and presenter for the Sankofa Pan African Series, which has over 100K subscribers and over 5 million views. She is a winner of the Matatu Prize for her YA novel Fabulous Four and has been nominated for THEMA’s Best Film Script. Her novel Three Women was nominated for the Flora Nwapa Prize for Women’s Literature in 2006. Born in Lagos, she lives in Bowmanville, Ontario.
Meryem Yildiz is a Turkish-Canadian poet from Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Her poems have appeared in journals across the country, including Arc Poetry Magazine, The Ex-Puritan, PRISM International, The Fiddlehead, and yolk, among others. In 2022, she won The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for Poetry as well as the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s carte blanche Prize. She’s also a poetry editor at LBRNTH, a queer literature and arts magazine, which she co-edits with Misha Solomon. In her debut collection, Backbone, Meryem explores the complexities of identity across geographies, and reveals how friendship and memory shape the search for home.

NaMOOste Yoga for Kids
December 6, 2025, 3:30 – 4:30 pmMain Stage, Salle des célébrations
Author Marlee Kostiner never fails to get kids giggling as she reads all the ways animals say “Namaste” with their animal sounds (the cow says naMOOste, the chick says namaSQUEEK). After an engaging reading, Marlee guides the kids through yoga poses they learned in the book, ending with a relaxing moment of silence (yes, the kids are quiet!). NaMOOste features 13 beautiful watercolour animals practising authentic yoga poses, and shows young readers ways to care for their bodies and minds. For kids ages 3–9.
Marlee Kostiner is an award-winning journalist, writer, editor, and the author of NaMOOste, a playful yoga book that helps kids build social-emotional skills. A passionate advocate for neurodiversity and mental health, Marlee brings these values into all her creative work. In 2021, she founded Garden Wolf Publishing House to help fellow purpose-driven experts, organizations and non-profits turn their ideas into meaningful children’s books. She lives in Montreal with her two sons, her husband, and their grumpy cat.

Opening Cocktail
December 6, 2025, 5 – 7 pmSalle des mémoires
Join us for a special 10th anniversary edition of the Read Quebec Book Fair’s 5 à 7 featuring a DJ set by journalist and author of Habs Nation Brendan Kelly, known for his popular High Fidelity in the Park events. New wave, old-school disco and you. Open to all!
Born in Glasgow, raised in Montreal and a fan of the Canadiens for longer than he can remember, Brendan Kelly was one of the founders of the late great alternative weekly the Montreal Mirror. He worked at the Montreal Daily News in the late ‘80s and had a weekly music column on CBC Radio for over 30 years. His Montreal Gazette column What the Puck is a controversial contrarian hot take on the Canadiens that elicits much hate and even more love. He has written for the Gazette since 1996. He also frequently contributes to various Radio-Canada cultural shows. He has published two books on the Montreal Canadiens – Le CH et son people (2024), and Habs Nation: A People’s History of the Montreal Canadiens (2025).

Sunday December 7, 2025

Archives Out Loud: Italian-Canadian Literature
December 7, 2025, 11:30 am – 12:30 pmMain Stage, Salle des célébrations

Licia Canton
Mary di Michele
Carmine Starnino

Moderated by Nancy Marrelli
There is a significant body of excellent Italian-Canadian literature available from a variety of sources in English, French, and Italian. The panel will discuss some established works as well as new voices emerging from the next generation. This session is part of the Archives Out Loud series organized by the Italian-Canadian Archives of Quebec. The panel will be followed by a reception in the office of the Italian-Canadian Community Archives of Quebec, in the basement level of Casa d’Italia.
Licia Canton has published short stories, nonfiction and poetry in English, French, Italian and a Venetian dialect. She has been translator-in-residence at the University of Hull, UK, and Writer-in-Residence at Università della Calabria, Italy. She is co-founder of Accenti Magazine and co-director of the Queer Italian-Canadian Artists Research Project (U of Toronto). She is the director of the documentary film Creative Spaces: Queer and Italian Canadian (2021). She mentors emerging writers through the Quebec Writers’ Federation Hire-a-Writer directory. For her work in culture, she was awarded the Italy in the World Prize (2018). She holds a Ph.D. from Université de Montréal and an M.A. from McGill University.
Born in Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1955, Mary di Michele is an award-winning, internationally published writer. She is the author of more than twelve books, including the collection of poems Stranger in You and the novel Tenor of Love. Her last collection of poetry, Bicycle Thieves (ECW 2017), was short-listed for the Pat Lowther Award. She is active in the collaborative writing group Yoko’s Dogs. Now retired from teaching at Concordia University, she continues to live in Montreal.
Nancy Marrelli is Director of the Italian-Canadian Archives of Quebec at the Casa d’Italia, and Archivist Emerita, Concordia University. She is also co-publisher of Véhicule Press. Her family left Italy and settled in Montreal in 1909.
Carmine Starnino is the Editor in Chief of The Walrus. He is the author of eight books, including Dirty Words: Selected Poems 1997–2016.

Acquiring Editors at Work
December 7, 2025, 1 – 2 pmMain Stage, Salle des célébrations

Leila Marshy, Baraka Books
Curtis John McRae, Véhicule Press
Yashaswi Kesanakurthy, Simon & Schuster Canada

Moderated by Tawhida Tanya Evanson
Who gets to choose which books will be published – and how do they do it? Editors from three publishers will discuss how they decide what to publish, and how writers can improve their chances. Simon & Schuster children’s book editor Yashaswi Kesanakurthy, Baraka Books’ fiction and nonfiction editor Leila Marshy, and Curtis McRae, fiction editor at Véhicule Press, will give us the inside scoop on what acquisitions editors really do.
Yashaswi Kesanakurthy [yush-us-we kay-sah-nah-koor-thi] is the Children’s Editor at Simon & Schuster Canada. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s MA program in Children’s Literature and Toronto Metropolitan University’s publishing program. Her publishing career began as Publishing Assistant at Tundra Books, PRHC. She then joined HarperCollins Canada as Associate Editor where she developed a vibrant list including The Garden of Lost Socks by Esi Edugyan and Amélie Dubois, The Hockey Skates by Karl Subban and Maggie Zeng, and Mortified by Kristy Jackson and Rhael McGregor. At Simon & Schuster Canada, she remains focused on publishing marginalized, Canadian voices that tell entertaining and transformative stories. Yash lives in Toronto with a magical, if unruly, library that just keeps growing.
Leila Marshy is the author of The Philistine (LLP, 2018) and My Thievery of the People (Baraka Books, 2025), and is editor of the anthology Razing Palestine: Punishing Solidarity and Dissent in Canada (Baraka Books, 2025). Daughter of a Palestinian refugee, Marshy lived in Cairo during the First Intifada and worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Mental Health Association. She has been a community and political organizer, including founding a dialogue group with the Hasidic community in her local neighbourhood, helping elect the first Hasidic woman to public office in the world. Marshy is Editor at Baraka Books and lives in Montreal.
Curtis John McRae is the fiction editor at Véhicule Press and the Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief of yolk literary journal. He is the author of Quietly, Loving Everyone (Vehicule Press, 2025). His fiction has appeared in The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, and others. He won the 2021/22 David McKeen Award, was longlisted for the 2025 DISQUIET Literary Fiction Contest, received an honourable mention in the 2024 Peter Hinchcliffe award, and was a finalist in the 2019 Quebec Writers’ Federation contest for emerging young writers. Curtis teaches English literature at John Abbott College and formerly served as a board member for the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, novelist, artist and Ashiq. Her work blends poetry, orality, music, movement and film around themes of African diasporic identity, Sufi spirituality and resistance to Western values. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, she has roots in Antigua, West Indies. Evanson’s novels include the French Livre des ailes (Marchand de feuilles 2023), and the award-winning Book of Wings (Véhicule 2021); her two poetry collections are Nouveau Griot (Frontenac 2018) and Bothism (Ekstasis 2017). She has an extensive history of spoken word performance, audio recordings and films including the multi-award-winning Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE (2024). Evanson’s work has travelled to festivals across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. She is past director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word Program; past president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation; and 2025 Poet Ambassador in Residence at the League of Canadian Poets. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.

Speed Dating for Writers and Publishers!
December 7, 2025, 2 – 3 pmArchives room, basement level
Writers, bring your pitch and get ready to present it to a range of local publishers. Introduce yourselves, and then you’ll have three minutes to tell your publisher “date” what your book is all about. Don’t forget to leave time for questions or a little discussion. When the bell dings, move to the next available seat and do it again. Whether you find a home for your manuscript or not, you’ll make contacts and gather information that may serve you now and in the future. Note that authors will be asked to sign up at the welcome table on Sunday in order to participate.

Dave Dufour, Flame Arrow PublishingYashaswi Kesanakurthy, Simon & Schuster Canada
Firoze Manji, Daraja Press
Leila Marshy, Baraka Books
Curtis McRae, Véhicule Press
Shannae Nitti, Crackboom! Books
Moderated by Lori Schubert, Quebec Writers’ Federation

Dave Dufour is the Founder & Publisher of Flame Arrow Publishing, a bilingual speculative-fiction press based in British Columbia and Québec. He leads a growing catalogue of hopepunk, fantasy, and science fiction in both English and French, and is dedicated to championing bold, imaginative voices across Canada. With a professional background as an educator and linguist, Dave brings a deep understanding of language, culture, and storytelling to his editorial vision. He also oversees Brins d’éternité, one of Québec’s longest-running speculative-fiction magazines.
Yashaswi Kesanakurthy [yush-us-we kay-sah-nah-koor-thi] is the Children’s Editor at Simon & Schuster Canada. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s MA program in Children’s Literature and Toronto Metropolitan University’s publishing program. Her publishing career began as Publishing Assistant at Tundra Books, PRHC. She then joined HarperCollins Canada as Associate Editor where she developed a vibrant list including The Garden of Lost Socks by Esi Edugyan and Amélie Dubois, The Hockey Skates by Karl Subban and Maggie Zeng, and Mortified by Kristy Jackson and Rhael McGregor. At Simon & Schuster Canada, she remains focused on publishing marginalized, Canadian voices that tell entertaining and transformative stories. Yash lives in Toronto with a magical, if unruly, library that just keeps growing.
Firoze Manji, PhD, is a Kenyan / Canadian, resident in Québec. He has spent more than 50 years in international development, health, human rights and political activism. He is the publisher of Daraja Press and is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa. He is the recipient of the 2021 Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association.
Leila Marshy is the author of The Philistine (LLP, 2018) and My Thievery of the People (Baraka Books, 2025), and is editor of the anthology Razing Palestine: Punishing Solidarity and Dissent in Canada (Baraka Books, 2025). Daughter of a Palestinian refugee, Marshy lived in Cairo during the First Intifada and worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Mental Health Association. She has been a community and political organizer, including founding a dialogue group with the Hasidic community in her local neighbourhood, helping elect the first Hasidic woman to public office in the world. Marshy is editor at Baraka Books and lives in Montreal.
Curtis John McRae is the fiction editor at Véhicule Press and the Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief of yolk literary journal. He is the author of Quietly, Loving Everyone (Vehicule Press, 2025). His fiction has appeared in The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, and others. He won the 2021/22 David McKeen Award, was longlisted for the 2025 DISQUIET Literary Fiction Contest, received an honourable mention in the 2024 Peter Hinchcliffe award, and was a finalist in the 2019 Quebec Writers’ Federation contest for emerging young writers. Curtis teaches English literature at John Abbott College and formerly served as a board member for the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
Lori Schubert is the executive director of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, where she has worked since 2003. From 1998 to 2017 she was also a member and general manager of VivaVoce, a professional chamber choir. Prior to her work in arts management, Lori was a singer and corporate communications trainer in the New York metropolitan area. She has taught written and oral communication at Columbia, McGill and Concordia Universities. She was instrumental in the founding of Quebec’s English-language Arts Network (ELAN) and has served two terms on its board of directors. Through QWF, Lori co-founded the National Juries and Awards Working Group in 2021. She has also served in an advisory capacity for YES Montreal, the Blue Metropolis Foundation and the Atwater Writers’ Exhibition, and currently chairs the Education and Skills Development Table for the Working Group on Arts and Culture.

Art and Life in Graphic Novels
December 7, 2025, 3 – 4 pmMain Stage, Salle des célébrations

D. Boyd
Juli Delporte
Pascal Girard
Moderated by François Vigneault

Three of Quebec’s most distinctive voices in contemporary comics come together to explore the intimate connections between art and autobiography. Juli Delporte (Portrait of a Body), D. Boyd (Denniveniquity), and Pascal Girard (Pastimes) draw from personal experience to craft stories that are tender, funny, and deeply human. Join them for a conversation about turning life into art, the creative risks of vulnerability, and the evolving landscape of autobiographical graphic novels. Moderated by François Vigneault.
Montreal-based cartoonist D. Boyd hails from Saint John, New Brunswick – the setting for Denniveniquity and her first graphic memoir, Chicken Rising. Her work has appeared in the New Brunswick Chapbook Series (Frog Hollow Press), the Montreal Review of Books, and in unique collaborations with some exciting Canadian writers.
Juli Delporte is an author and multidisciplinary artist born in France in 1983. She now lives in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal. She is the author of several graphic novels published by Drawn & Quarterly, including This Woman’s Work and Portrait of a Body. She has also published children’s albums, including the recent Grands oreilles (Éditions de la Pastèque), and a book of poems illustrated with etchings, Décroissance sexuelle (L’Oie de Cravan). She occasionally writes literary essays, produces illustrations for various magazines and publishing houses, and collaborates on collective publications. Alongside all this, Juli explores different printing techniques (serigraphy, risography, and etching), creates zines, gives creative workshops, and makes ceramic pieces.
Pascal Girard was born in Jonquière, QC, in 1981. He is a part-time cartoonist and part-time social worker. He is the award-winning author of several graphic novels, including Rebecca and Lucie in the Case of the Missing Neighbor, Nicolas, Petty Theft, and most recently the collection Pastimes. He lives in Montreal with his family.
François Vigneault is an American-born cartoonist living in Québec. He is the creator of the sci-fi graphic novel TITAN (Oni Press, 2020 / Éditions Pow Pow, 2017), the illustrator of books including Le gâteau empoisonée (Éditions de la Pastèque, 2025), Extraordinary Eyeglasses (Helvetiq, 2024), and Orcs in Space (Oni Press 2021-22), and also works as a translator and designer.
Thank you to our generous funders and sponsors!

New Knowledge: Nonfiction Lightning Round
2025-12-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
December 6, 2025 at 12 pm – 1 p.m.
Main Stage, Salle des célébrations

Nathalie Cooke
Martha Langford
Valérie Lefebvre-Faucher
Stephen Monteiro
Francine Pelletier
Catherine Richardson
Alex R. Tipei
Thomas Waugh
Andrei Zanescu

Moderated by Ryan Van Huistjee
Often, fiction gets the limelight, poetry gets the prestige. But nonfiction books are published every day that help illuminate, preserve and create the world around us. Join local authors as they share the passions that led them to investigate a single subject in depth and then write an entire book about it.
Nathalie Cooke is an English professor at McGill University and a specialist in literary food studies and material culture. Her research uncovers the hidden stories told by menus, textiles, and other everyday artefacts, revealing how their forms, codes, and designs shape what we remember, and how we read.
Catherine Richardson Kineweskwêw is a Métis therapist, family therapist, researcher and academic working at Concordia University. Her maternal relatives come from Fort Chipewyan and have ties to Red River. She holds a research Chair in Indigenous Healing Knowledges and teaches in First Peoples Studies and Creative Arts Therapies. She is a co-founder of the Centre for Response-Based Practice where she and her colleagues advance dignity-centered approaches to violence. Cathy is also interested in the broader and multi-dimensional aspects of healing, such as the person as whole being, a spirit in a body with emotions, intelligence, physicality and in relation to all beings in the natural world.
She has taught in various counselling and social work programs and is the former director of the First Peoples Studies program at Concordia University. She explores various approaches to well- being on her substack podcast, where she speaks with healers, activists and response-based therapists. She is a student of shamanic practice and the mother of three amazing adult children.
Martha Langford, FRSC, is the author of A History of Photography in Canada. The first of three volumes, Anticipation to Participation, 1839 1918 has just appeared. Beautifully produced, the book is both lively and comprehensive, with over 400 illustrations. Langford is a distinguished professor emeriti of Concordia University in Montreal. She is the former research chair and director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art. In prior lives, she was the founding director of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, an affiliate of the National Gallery of Canada, and before that, Executive Producer of the Still Photography Division of the National Film Board of Canada. She has organized photographic exhibitions for museums and festivals in Canada, the UK, and Europe.
Valérie Lefebvre-Faucher is editor-in-chief of Liberté. She has worked as an editor at both Remue-ménage and Écosociété, with a focus on environmental, anti-capitalist, and feminist work. In addition to having collaborated with numerous collectives, blogs, and magazines, she published Procès Verbal and Promenade sur Marx, published in English under the title Jenny, Eleanor, and Laura, et al., translated by Mélissa Bull.
Stephen Monteiro teaches and researches media and culture at Concordia University. He has written or edited several books, including Needy Media, The Fabric of Interface, and The Screen Media Reader. He has contributed as an expert on contemporary technology to CBC Radio and the Toronto Star, among other media outlets.
Well-known journalist, documentary filmmaker, teacher and broadcaster, Francine Pelletier, formerly of CBC’s the fifth estate, is the author of three books: Second début: Cendres et renaissance du féminisme, Atelier 10, (2015), a short personal history of feminism in Quebec; : L’Art de se mouiller : Chroniques pour nourrir le débat, Écosociété (2022), a selection of her columns in Le Devoir from 2013-22; and Dream Interrupted : the Rise and Fall of Quebec Nationalism, Sutherland House (2025).
A transnational historian, primarily focused on Southeast Europe and France, Alex R. Tipei is professor of history and international studies at the Université de Montréal. MQUP published her book, Unintended Nations: France’s Empire of Civilization, Southeast Europe, and the Post-Napoleonic World. Alex’s research has received funding from SSHRC, the Fulbright Program, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She has taught and researched at McGill and Princeton Universities as well as the Universities of Bucharest and Illinois. Alex is also a team leader on the European Research Council funded project Transnational Histories of Corruption in South-East-Central Europe based at New Europe College/Institute for Advanced Study in Bucharest.
Ryan Van Huijstee is the director of Concordia University Press. He previously held a range of roles at University of Toronto Press and McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Thomas Waugh is a writer, programmer, and activist who taught film studies and sexuality at Concordia University from 1976 to 2017. He is the author of The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinema; and fourteen other books.

Valentine in December! With Heather and Arizona O’Neill
2025-12-06 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
December 6, 2025, 2–3 pm
Main Stage, Salle des célébrations
The duo will take to the stage to discuss their collaboration Valentine in Montreal. The novel, written by Heather with illustrations by Arizona, is a sweet Montreal adventure in which our famous metro plays a starring role. The O’Neills will sign copies after their onstage appearance.
Heather O’Neill is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Her most recent novel is Valentine in Montreal. Her previous works include Capital of Dreams and When We Lost Our Heads, a #1 national bestseller and finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal. The Lonely Hearts Hotel, won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads. Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. O’Neill has also won CBC’s Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. Born and raised in Montreal, she lives there today.
Arizona O’Neill is a Montreal-based author and illustrator. Her illustrations appear in Valentine in Montreal. She is the author of Est-ce qu’un artiste peut être heureux ?, a collection of graphic interviews, and illustrated Nelly Arcan’s L’enfant dans le miroir. Her comics have appeared in Hazlitt, Exclaim!, the Montreal Gazette and mRb. She has created animated videos for many outlets, including CBC. She is a regular contributor to Radio-Canada’s Il restera toujours la culture, and is one half of the bookstagram page @ONeillReads. She is currently working on a graphic memoir.

Featured Books

Valentine in MontrealFiction Heather O'Neill No results found.

NaMOOste Yoga for Kids
2025-12-06 15:30 - 16:30 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
December 6, 2025, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Main Stage, Salle des célébrations
Author Marlee Kostiner never fails to get kids giggling as she reads all the ways animals say “Namaste” with their animal sounds (the cow says naMOOste, the chick says namaSQUEEK). After an engaging reading, Marlee guides the kids through yoga poses they learned in the book, ending with a relaxing moment of silence (yes, the kids are quiet!). NaMOOste features 13 beautiful watercolour animals practising authentic yoga poses, and shows young readers ways to care for their bodies and minds. For kids ages 3–9.
Marlee Kostiner is an award-winning journalist, writer, editor, and the author of NaMOOste, a playful yoga book that helps kids build social-emotional skills. A passionate advocate for neurodiversity and mental health, Marlee brings these values into all her creative work. In 2021, she founded Garden Wolf Publishing House to help fellow purpose-driven experts, organizations and non-profits turn their ideas into meaningful children’s books. She lives in Montreal with her two sons, her husband, and their grumpy cat.

Featured Books

NaMOOsteKids Marlee Kostiner No results found.
