| 2026 FESTIVAL AUTHORS* |
*Stay tuned for more lineup announcements, coming soon!
Kate Beaton
is the author of the graphic memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, which won the Eisner, Ignatz and Harvey Awards, as well as the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. The collections of her landmark strip Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops each spent several months on the New York Times graphic novel bestseller list and won multiple awards. She has also published the picture books King Baby, The Princess and the Pony and Shark Girl. Her latest picture book, Rebecca, will be released in September. Kate lives in Cape Breton with her family.
Photo credit: Steve Rankin Photography
Elamin Abdelmahmoud
is a culture writer for BuzzFeed News and was the host of CBC’s pop culture show Pop Chat. He is the host of new CBC Radio show Commotion. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others. His memoir, Son of Elsewhere, was a national bestseller.
Photo credit: Kyla Zanard
Sharon Bala
is the author of the bestselling debut novel, The Boat People, which won the 2020 Newfoundland & Labrador Book Award and the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. It was a finalist for Canada Reads 2018, the 2018 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, and was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Her second novel, Good Guys, was released in January.
Daniel MacIvor
is one of Canada’s most celebrated playwrights. He is the recipient of a Governor General’s Literary Award, the Siminovitch Prize, a New York Obie Award and a GLAAD Award. His works have been translated into French, German, Czech, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese. In January, he published the play Your Show Here, about his long-time friendship and collaboration with the late director Daniel Brooks.
Photo credit: Guntar Kravis
David A. Robertson
is the author of numerous books for young readers including Governor General’s Literary Award winners On the Trapline and When We Were Alone. The Barren Grounds, Book 1 of The Misewa Saga series, was a Kirkus, NPR, and Quill & Quire best middle-grade book of 2020, as well as a USBBY and Texas Lone Star selection. Winner of the Writers’ Union of Canada’s Freedom to Read Award, as well as the 2021 Globe and Mail Children’s Storyteller of the Year recipient, Dave is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and currently lives in Winnipeg, Canada.
Photo credit: Amber Green