Festival of Authors

Lana Button

Session Moderator

Lana Button is the award-winning author of 16 books for children, which have been translated into five languages. Lana’s books are often used in Canadian classrooms to enhance social-emotional learning. She shares her stories in schools and festivals across Canada each year, encouraging reading, writing, empathy, inclusion and mental health.  

Madeline Nixon

Session Moderator

Madeline Nixon is a longtime resident of Oakville. She has edited hundreds of elementary and middle grade level educational books and written fourteen. She received a Professional Writing and Communication degree from the University of Toronto. Since graduating, Madeline has published a collection of ghost stories and two romance novels. Her most recent release was Not Actually.

Sharon Frayne

Session Moderator

Sharon Frayne is a former Halton secondary teacher and administrator. She’s a member of the Writers Union of Canada, and past president of the Canadian Authors Association. She lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the setting of her historical fiction novel, Caught Between the Walls. Her award-winning YA novel is The Sound of a Rainbow.

Lisa de Nikolits

Session Moderator

Lisa de Nikolits is the award-winning author of 11 novels, numerous short stories, and poetry, garnering five-star reviews and a strong fanbase. Originally from South Africa, Canada has been her home since 2000. Forthcoming works include Mad Dog and the Sea Dragon (2025, Radiant Press) and That Time I Killed You (2026, Level Best Books). 

Dr. Samra Zafar

Book: Unconditional

Dr. Samra Zafar is an award-winning, internationally renowned speaker, physician, author and educator. She has been recognized among the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, the Top 25 Most Inspirational Women in Canada, and the Top 25 Canadian Immigrants. Samra's speaking portfolio includes four successful TEDx Talks and many leading organizations around the world.

Jessica Moorhouse

Session Moderator

Jessica Moorhouse is a sought-after money expert, TV personality and speaker. She is an Accredited Financial Counsellor Canada®, an award-winning financial content creator and the host of the More Money Podcast. Her debut book Everything but Money: The Hidden Barriers Between You and Financial Freedom came out December 31, 2024 and became an instant Bestseller.

Rebecca Bender

Session Moderator

Author-illustrator Rebecca Bender is best known for her award-winning Giraffe and Bird books. Her other titles include Ballewiena, How Do You Feel? and the illustrations for the Duck Days series. When Rebecca is not painting or writing, she is working as a graphic designer and art director in the publishing industry. 
She lives in Burlington, Ontario, with her husband and four children.

Kevin Sylvester

Session Moderator

Kevin Sylvester has written and illustrated more than thirty books for kids. His latest novel is Apartment 713 – a time travel mystery, which won three kid voted awards. Coming soon, Time Surfers, and Soccerology. He’s also the co-writer and illustrator of The Fabulous Zed Watson! (along with his kid Basil) and a graphic novel, Puffin and Penguin, with Helaine Becker. 

Liann Zhang

Book: Julie Chan is Dead

Liann Zhang is a second-generation Chinese Canadian who splits her time between Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario. After a short stint as a skincare content creator, she graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in psychology and criminology. Julie Chan Is Dead is her first novel.

Barbara Ramsay Orr

Session Moderator

Barbara Ramsay Orr is a journalist specializing in culture and travel. She has been published in major outlets nationally and internationally. Barbara is the past president of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), has received the prestigious Lowell Thomas Award for Excellence in Journalism and is the author of three guide books. 

Wendy Million

Book: Miss Matched

Wendy Million is an award-winning author whose contemporary romances about strong women and troubled men have captivaed her loyal readers. She has written When Stars Fall, Miss Matched, the Bellerive Royals series, the Tucker Billionaires series, and the Litlle Falls series. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and two cute pooches.

Robin lefler

Session Moderator

Robin Lefler grew up near Toronto and (briefly) pursued an ill-fated career in equine massage therapy before stumbling into the world of robotics and tech sales. Not How I Pictured It is her second novel. Her first, Reasonable Adults, was published in 2022. Robin still lives in her hometown with her family and two very needy canines. 

Edy Graziani

Session Moderator

Edy (E.) Graziani is a teacher/librarian and author of YA novels, including The Alice Series, Magenta, War in My Town, and Breaking Faith. Her works have been recognized by Barnes & Noble, CCBC, and CBC Canada. Edy is a regular CHCH Morning Live guest, a TWUC and CANSCAIP member, and has spoken at many elementary and secondary school events. 

John Corr

Session Moderator

John Corr is the author of Eight Times Up, a middle grade novel about martial arts and anxiety. Eight Times Up was a TD Summer Reading Club Top 10 pick and shortlisted for the Hamilton Literary Awards (best novel). John is a professor, an aikido black belt, a U15 hockey coach, and licensed private investigator.

Rachel McMillan

Book: The Mozart Code

Rachel McMillan is the author of over 20 novels including the bestselling
The London Restoration, The Mozart Code and the upcoming Operation Scarlet.
She has also co-written The Liberty Scarf and The Castle Keepers with Aimie K Runyan and J'nell Ciesielski. Rachel lives in Toronto where she works as a literary agent. 

Ellen Palmer

Session Moderator

Dr. Ellen Palmer has been teaching in Appleby College’s English Department for 25 years. In her role as Director of Learning, Teaching, and Research, she is passionate about delivering authentic educational opportunities to Appleby students. In her Ph.D thesis, Ellen explored the intersection of history and fiction in 18th century British Literature, so she is excited to be hosting this panel!

Joyce Wayne

Session Moderator

Joyce Wayne was an editor at Quill & Quire and Director of Non-fiction at McClelland & Stewart Publishers. Her most recent novel, Last Night of the World, is about a Canadian woman spy. Her essay “All the Kremlin’s Men” was chosen for Best Canadian Essays. At Sheridan College, she launched the journalism program for refugee and displaced writers.  

Kate Gies

Book: It Must be Beautiful to be Finished

Kate Gies is a writer and educator living in Toronto with her husband and three cats. She teaches creative writing and expressive arts at George Brown College. Her memoir, It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished, details her experiences as a girl born missing an ear, and a medical system insistent on “fixing” her. 

Lydia Perovic

Book: Lost in Canada: An Immigrant's Second Thoughts

Lydia Perovic is the author of books Lost in Canada: An Immigrant's Second Thoughts, All That Sang, and Incidental Music. She's been writing an arts and culture newsletter, Long Play, since 2021 and can be found these days in The Hub, where she reviews Canadian non-fiction, and in the Wholenote magazine, where she covers opera and classical music. 

Brenda Missen

Session Moderator

Brenda Missen is the author of the memoir  Tumblehome: One Woman’s Canoeing Adventures in the Divine Near Wilderness (Inanna Publications, 2022), the literary thriller based on a true story Tell Anna She’s Safe (Inanna, 2011), and numerous personal essays. She has almost finisheduntangling a fraught sisters’ relationship in a new memoir, Blue Threads Loosened.

Harrison and Rachel Browne

Book: Let us Play

Harrison Browne is the first transgender athlete in professional hockey and played for the Metropolitan Riveters and the Buffalo Beauts. He is the inclusion leader for the NWHL advisory board and special ambassador for the NHL's Hockey Is for Everyone initiative. 
Rachel Browne is an award-winning investigative journalist and documentary producer.

Alison Gadsby

Session Moderator

Alison Gadsby is a writer. She hosts Junction Reads, a reading series in Toronto. Author of Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive (Guernica, 2026), her fiction also appears in Blank Spaces, The Temz Review, The Ex-Puritan, Blue Lake Review and more. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.

John Lawrence Reynolds

Book: Beach Strip

John Lawrence Reynolds is the author of 40+ fiction and non-fiction books. A native of Hamilton he graduated with degrees in English and Psychology from McMaster University. His first book The Man Who Murdered God was published in 1989. His international best-selling work Shadow was published in 12 languages and his most recent book, Beach Blues was released in July 2024.

Robert Rotenberg

Session Moderator

Robert Rotenberg is the author of several bestselling novels, including Old City Hall, The Guilty Plea, Stray Bullets, Stranglehold, Heart of the City, Downfall, and What We Buried. He is a criminal lawyer in Toronto and a partner at the firm Rotenberg Shidlowski Jesin. He also works as a television screenwriter and teaches writing.

Shelly Sanders

Session Moderator

Shelly Sanders is the author of five novels including Canadian bestseller, Daughters of the Occupation. Her most recent book, The Night Sparrow, centres on a female sniper and interpreter in the Red Army, WWII, inspired by unsung women who changed history.