Festival of Literary Diversity

In the 1960s, Kamal Al-Solaylee's father was one of the wealthiest property owners in Aden, in the south of Yemen, but when the country shrugged off its colonial roots, his properties were confiscated and the family was forced to leave. The family moved first to Beirut, which suddenly became one of the most dangerous places in the world, then to Cairo.After a few peaceful years, even the safe haven of Cairo struggled under a new wave of Islamic extremism that culminated with the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. The family returned to Yemen, a country that was then culturally isolated from the rest of the world.As a gay man living in an intolerant country, Al-Solaylee escaped first to England and eventually to Canada, where he became a prominent journalist and academic. While he was enjoying the cultural and personal freedoms of life in the West, his once-liberal family slowly fell into the hard-line interpretations of Islam that were sweeping large parts of the Arab-Muslim world in the 1980s and 1990s. The differences between his life and theirs were brought into sharp relief by the 2011 revolution in Egypt and the civil war in Yemen.Intolerable is part memoir of an Arab family caught in the turmoil of Middle Eastern politics over six decades, part personal coming-out narrative, and part cultural analysis. This is a story of the modern Middle East that we think we know so much about.

Michael and Francis are the bright, ambitious sons of Trinidadian immigrants. Coming of age in the outskirts of a sprawling city, the brothers battle against careless prejudices and low expectations.While Francis aspires to a future in music, Michael dreams of Aisha, the smartest girl in their school, whose eyes are firmly set on a life elsewhere. But one sweltering summer night the hopes of all three are violently, irrevocably cut short.In this timely and essential novel, David Chariandy builds a quietly devastating story about the love between a mother and her sons, the impact of race, masculinity and the senseless loss of young lives.EndorsementsWinner of the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction PrizeLonglisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize

June and her sister, lyn, are NDNs—real ones.Lyn has her pottery artwork, her precocious kid, Willow, and the uncertain terrain of her midlife to keep her mind, heart and hands busy. June, a Métis Studies professor, yearns to uproot from Vancouver and move. With her loving partner, Sigh, and their faithful pup, June decides to buy a house in the last place on earth she’d end up back home in Winnipeg with her family.But then into lyn and June’s busy lives a bomb: their estranged and very white mother, Renee, is called out as a “pretendian.” Under the name (get this) Raven Bearclaw, Renee had topped the charts in the Canadian art world for winning awards and recognition for her Indigenous-style work.The news is quickly picked up by the media and sparks an enraged online backlash. As the sisters are pulled into the painful tangle of lies their mother has told and the hurt she has caused, searing memories from their unresolved childhood trauma, which still manages to spill into their well-curated adult worlds, ripple to the surface.In prose so powerful it could strike a match, real ones pays homage to the long-fought, hard-won battles of Michif (Métis) people to regain ownership of their identity and the right to say who is and isn’t Métis.Written with the same signature wit and heart. An energetic, probing and ultimately hopeful story.

Forcibly removed from her Indigenous family as a child, Andrea Currie journeys back to her Nation and the truth of who she is.Otipemisiwak is a Plains Cree word describing the Métis, meaning "the people who own themselves."Andrea Currie was born into a Métis family with a strong lineage of warriors, land protectors, writers, artists, and musicians—all of which was lost to her when she was adopted as an infant into a white family with no connection to her people. It was 1960, and the policy of removing children from their Indigenous families was firmly in place. Together with her younger adopted brother, also Métis, she struggled through her childhood, never feeling like she belonged in that world. When their adoptions fell apart during their teen years, the two siblings found themselves on different paths, yet they stayed connected. Currie takes us through her journey, from the harrowing time of bone-deep disconnection, to the years of searching and self-discovery, into the joys and sorrows of reuniting with her birth family.Finding Otipemisiwak weaves lyrical prose, poetry, and essays into an incisive commentary on the vulnerability of Indigenous children in a white supremacist child welfare system, the devastation of cultural loss, and the rocky road some people must walk to get to the truth of who they are. Her triumph over the state's attempts to erase her as an Indigenous person is tempered by the often painful complexities of re-entering her cultural community while bearing the mark of the white world in which she was raised. Finding Otipemisiwak is the story of one woman's fight—first to survive, then to thrive as a fully present member of her Nation and of the human family.

Batshit Seven is a novel about a millennial living through the Hong Kong protests, as he struggles to make sense of modern life and the parts of himself that just won’t gel.Glen Wu (aka Glue) couldn’t care less about his job. He’s returned to Hong Kong, the city he grew up in, and he’s teaching ESL, just to placate his parents. But he shows up hungover to class, barely stays awake, and prefers to spend his time smoking up until dawn breaks.As he watches the city he loves fall—the protests, the brutal arrests—life continues around him. So he drinks more, picks more fights with his drug dealer friend, and thinks loftier thoughts about the post-colonial condition and Frantz Fanon. The very little he does care about are his sister, who deals with Hong Kong’s demise by getting engaged to a rich immigration consultant; his on-and-off-again relationship with a woman who steals things from him; and memories of someone he once met in Canada.When the government tightens its grip, language starts to lose all meaning for Glue, and he finds himself pulled into an unsettling venture, ultimately culminating in an act of violence.Inventive and utterly irresistible, with QR codes woven throughout, Sheung-King’s ingenious novel encapsulates the anxieties and apathies of the millennial experience. Batshit Seven is an ode to a beloved city, an indictment of the cycles of imperialism, and a reminder of the beautiful things left under the hype of commodified living.EndorsementsGovernor General's Award-nominated author — Sheung-King

A raw, beautiful memoir of a girl born missing an ear, a medical system insistent on saving her from herself, and our culture’s desire to “fix” bodies.When Kate Gies was four years old, a plastic surgeon pressed a synthetic ear to the right side of her head and pulled out a mirror. He told her he could make her “whole”—could make her “right”—and she believed him. From the age of four to thirteen, she underwent fourteen surgeries, including skin and bone grafts, to craft the appearance of an outer ear. Many of the surgeries failed, leaving permanent damage to her body.In short, lyrical vignettes, Kate writes about how her “disfigured” body was scrutinized, pathologized, and even weaponized. She describes the physical and psychic trauma of medical intervention and its effects on her sense of self, first as a child needing to be fixed and, later, as a teenager and adult navigating the complex expectations and dangers of being a woman.It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished is the story of a girl desperately trying to have a body that makes her acceptable and of a woman learning to own a body she has never felt was hers to define. In an age of speaking out about the abuse of marginalized bodies, this memoir takes a hard look at the role of the medical system in body oppression and trauma.

What does a teenage girl do when she sees her beloved older brother commit a horrific crime? Should she report to her parents, or should she keep quiet? Should she confront him? All her life, Naledi has been in awe of Basi, her charming and outgoing older brother. They've shared their childhood, with its jokes and secrets, the alliances and stories about the community. Having reached thirteen, she is preparing to go to the school dance. Then she sees Basi commit an act that violates everything she believes about him. How will she live her life now?This coming-of-age novel brings together many social issues that are not only specific to South Africa but are present elsewhere in the modern world: class and race, young love and physical desire, and homosexuality. In beautiful, lyrical, and intimate prose, Molope shows the dilemmas facing a young woman as she attempts to find her place in a new, multiracial, and dynamic nation emerging after more than a century of racist colonialism — a world now dominated by men.EndorsementsWinner of the Ottawa Book Award, English Fiction, 2019Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2018Named to the Globe 100, 2018CBC Books, Top YA Pick for 2018Named to Best Books for Kids and Teens, Fall 2018Named to Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books, 2018

Growing up, K.J. Aiello was fascinated by magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy, where monsters were not what they seemed and anything was possible. These books and films were both a balm and an escape, a safe space where Aiello’s struggle with mental illness transformed from a burden into a strength that could win battles and vanquish villains.A unique blend of memoir, research, and cultural criticism, The Monster and the Mirror charts Aiello’s life as they try to understand their own mental illness using The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other stories as both guides to heroism and agency and cautionary tales of how mental illness is easily stereotyped as bad and violent. Aiello questions who is allowed to be “mad” versus “sane,” “good” versus “evil,” and “weak” versus “strong,” and who is allowed to tell their own stories. The Monster and the Mirror explores our perceptions of mental illness in a way that is challenging and tender, empathetic and knowledgeable, and offers a path to deeper understanding and compassionate care.Revelatory memoir and cultural criticism that connects popular fantasy and our perceptions of mental illness to offer an empathetic path to compassionate care.Endorsements“The Monster and the Mirror asks us to identify the true villain among us: mental illness, or society’s unwillingness to accept it as reality for so many. A gutting, beautiful, and insightful book.” — AGA Wilmot, author of Withered and The Death Scene Artist

With humour, warmth and heartbreaking honesty, award-winning author David A. Robertson explores the struggles and small victories of living with chronic anxiety and depression, and shares his hard-earned wisdom in the hope of making other people’s mental health journeys a little less lonely.From the outside, David A. Robertson looks as if he has it all together—a loving family, a successful career as an author, and a platform to promote Indigenous perspectives, cultures and concerns. But what we see on the outside rarely reveals what is happening inside. Robertson lives with “little monsters”: chronic, debilitating health anxiety and panic attacks accompanied, at times, by depression. During the worst periods, he finds getting out of bed to walk down the hall an insurmountable task. During the better times, he wrestles with the compulsion to scan his body for that sure sign of a dire health crisis.In All the Little Monsters, Robertson reveals what it’s like to live inside his mind and his body and describes the toll his mental health challenges have taken on him and his family, and how he has learned to put one foot in front of the other as well as to get back up when he stumbles. He also writes about the tools that have helped him carry on, including community, therapy, medication and the simple question he asks himself on repeat: what if everything will be okay?In candidly sharing his personal story and showing that he can be well even if he can’t be “cured,” Robertson hopes to help others on their own mental health journeys.

When her daughter Sana is accused of murdering the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique, Kausar Khan returns to Toronto for the first time in twenty years. Back in the Golden Crescent suburb she once called home, Kausar finds that the thriving neighbourhood she remembered has changed. The murder of Sana's unpopular landlord is only the latest in a wave of local crimes which have gone unsolved. With a keen sense of observation and a deep wisdom honed by her years, Kausar knows there is more to the story than Sana lets on. With the help of some old friends and her teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs deeper into the case to uncover the truth. Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a harmless, meddlesome aunty? But even Kausar can't predict the secrets, lies and betrayals she finds along the way... Endorsements 'I'll read anything Uzma Jalaluddin writes' — Kate Quinn 'I am such a fan' — Emily Henry 'A read as cozy and delicious as a cup of chai' — Mia P. Manansala 'Uzma Jalaluddin has once more hit it out of the park. I can't wait for the next Kausar Khan mystery!' — Nalini Singh 'Detective Aunty is a charmer from beginning to end...sure to delight any fan of Nita Prose or Alexander McCall Smith' — Kate Hilton

Jasmine Palmer is looking for love, but only if it comes with stability. Unfortunately, this also leads to f*ckbois. After another one dumps her by text message, Jasmine hires a professional matchmaking company to search for her. They say they’ve found her perfect match using their matching algorithm with a 99% success rate. But “Nick” is an immature bartender with a bad case of Peter Pan Syndrome, even if he is hot and nice. He may not be boyfriend material, but she decides to cut her losses and asks him to help her save face at an upcoming event where her now engaged ex will be. It’s a one-time arrangement that won’t hurt anyone.This isn’t the first time Nick has followed a beautiful woman with a questionable idea. So, when Jasmine, a random customer at his bar, asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend, because she made the mistake of working with her ex and his parents, he figures he’s done a lot worse for far less. A night of rubbing elbows with rich people is a nice change from cleaning drunk people puke from the bar’s bathrooms and trying (and failing) to win his father’s approval. They even have a pretty nice time…and a really nice kiss. When Jasmine offers to repay the favour whenever he needs one, he wants to cash in sooner rather than later.Prim and proper Jasmine could be the key to a harmless ruse that would get him the loan he needs to buy his bar. But just when he thinks they’re partners in crime, he realizes that this whole time Jasmine thought he was someone else with the same name.If he tells her the truth, she might think he purposefully misled her and pull out of their deal. But losing her might actually be worse than losing his livelihood.Either love or science will prevail when it comes to deciding if these two misfits can redefine what it means to be a perfect match.He’s not her perfect match, but he might be perfect for her.

From John Elizabeth Stintzi, the mind that created the daringly bizarre novel My Volcano, comes an electrifying collection of strange and dark tales.In the surreal, often precarious realities of Bad Houses, a doctor discovers a double-edged cure for the Ebola virus, a college student loses a different body part each time they return home for the summer, Midas's hairdresser strives to keep his secrets, and a young girl develops a fascination with the trolls who harvest her father's pumpkin patch. At once humorous and horrifying, these stories will inevitably take residence in your mind.Present throughout Bad Houses is a deep and abiding sense of humanity sprinkled with a dash of alienation, guilt, and instability. Filtered through a fabulist lens, these stories contemplate the struggles of modern existence. Each character lives their own haunted life, trying to navigate the path from bad houses to good homes.Featuring Stintzi's own expressive ink illustrations.A boisterous collection of surreal, darkly humorous short stories that will delight fans of George Saunders and Alice Munro. Bad Houses feels like it was penned by a trans Alice Munro mixed with a bubblier Franz Kafka. Enter if you dare.

Virika Sameroo lives in colonized space under the Æerbot Empire, much like her ancestors before her in the British West Indies. After years of working hard to rise through the ranks of the empire’s merchant marine, she’s finally become first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel.When her captain dies under suspicious circumstances, Virika is arrested for murder and charged with treason despite her lifelong loyalty to the empire. Her conviction and subsequent imprisonment set her on a path to justice, determined to take down the evil empire that wronged her, all while the fate of her people hangs in the balance.A queer, Caribbean, anti-colonial sci-fi novella, inspired by the Count of Monte Cristo, in which a betrayed captain seeks revenge on the interplanetary empire that subjugated her people for generations.Endorsements2024 Nebula Award Nominee

A tender coming of age novel set in Uganda in which a young woman grapples with the truth about her sister in a country that punishes gay people.Eighteen-year-old Aine Kamara has been anticipating a reunion with her older sister, Mbabazi, for months. But when Mbabazi shows up with an unexpected guest, Aine must confront the truth that her beloved sister is gay in a country with strict anti-homosexuality laws.Over a weekend at Aine’s all-girls' boarding school, sisterly bonds strengthen, and a new friendship emerges between Aine and her sister’s partner, Achen. Later, a sudden death in the family brings Achen to Mbabazi’s and Aine’s home village, resulting in tensions that put Mrs. Kamara’s Christian beliefs to the test. She issues an ultimatum, forcing Mbabazi to make a difficult choice; Aine must, too. Unable to convince Mama to reconsider, Aine runs away to Mbabazi’s and Achen’s home in Kampala. There she reconnects with Elia, the sophomore at Makerere University she’s had a crush on for a while.Iryn Tushabe’s debut novel Everything Is Fine Here explores the choice Aine must make and its inevitable, harrowing results.