This weekend, more than 100 authors and thousands of book nerds will congregate in Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre to celebrate Canada’s literary scene at the 2019 Word on the Street Festival. With a lineup full of author talks, panels, workshops, and bookish activities, there will be something for every reader.
To get you all set for the festival, we’re casting the spotlight on five emerging new voices with must-read new releases to add to your fall reading list.
Adnan Khan
Adnan Khan is a Toronto-based writer with bylines in publications like VICE and the Globe and Mail, and now, his first novel has hit bookshelves. There Has to Be A Knife tells the story of a man who descends into a period of darkness after discovering his ex-girlfriend died from suicide and goes on a rampage of petty crime as a coping mechanism.
Buy There Has To Be A Knife on Amazon here and catch him at the Great Books Marquee from 11:15am-11:45am.
Derek Mascarenhas
In a new collection of short stories, Derek Mascarendas sheds light on the South Asian immigrant experience in Canada. It features 17 linked stories spanning time and place, following two siblings that journey across cultures.
Buy Coconut Dreams on Amazon here and catch him at the Great Books Marquee from 4:00pm-4:30pm.
Evan Winter
When writer Evan Winter’s son was born, he realized that none of the fantasy novels he loved so much had any characters that looked like him, as a man born in England, with South American parents, and who grew up in Africa near the historical territory of his Xhosa ancestors. So he set out to write one. In his new epic fantasy, The Rage of Dragons, a young man becomes the saviour in a world plagued by eternal war.
Buy The Rage of Dragons on Amazon here and catch him at Across The Universe from 1:15pm-1:45pm.
Jesse Thistle
In Jesse Thistle’s new memoir, From the Ashes, he walks readers through his journey growing up Métis-Cree in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, from being a high-school dropout who experienced homelessness, to healing from addiction, and finding his way to where he is now: a professor at York University, the winner of the Governor General’s Academic Media, and an award-winning scholar.
Buy From the Ashes on Amazon here and find him at Indigenous Voices from 1:00pm-1:30pm.
Smokii Sumac
Smokii Sumac, a a Ktunaxa two-spirit and transgender poet, is also a PhD candidate in Indigenous Studies at Trent University. In his debut poetry collection, he explores topics such as addiction, depression, love, gender, and being an Indigenous person in Canada.
Buy you are enough: love poems for the end of the world on Amazon here and catch him at Indigenous Voices from 11:30am-12:00pm.
