Grab a notebook, open your phone, go to the calendar on the kitchen wall (the one you never fill in), or rip a page from the notebook you’re writing in, and get these dates down, and use a highlighter! They are all PWYC with ALL proceeds supporting the authors. Paid tickets get entered into the raffle.
May 25: Kasia Jaronczyk, Ardra Shephard, and Karen Smythe join us for readings and a Q & A at TYPE Books Junction, 2887 Dundas Street West.
Kasia Jaronczyk is a Polish-Canadian writer, artist and microbiologist. She is the author of a novel Voices in the Air (Palimpsest Press 2025) and a short story collection Lemons (Mansfield Press 2017). She co-edited the only anthology of Polish-Canadian short stories Polish(ed): Poland Rooted in Canadian Fiction (Guernica Editions, 2017). Her stories were short-listed for the Bristol Prize 2016 and long-listed for CBC Short Story Prize 2010.
Ardra Shephard is a sought-after writer, consultant, podcaster, and speaker, whose award-winning blog Tripping on Air has an international reach and reputation. Ardra is the creator and host of AMI-tv’s lifestyle series Fashion Dis. Ardra’s personal essays and non-fiction work have appeared in FASHION magazine, InStyle, WebMD and others. Ardra has a regular column with BezzyMS (Ask Ardra Anything), and a powerful social media presence. Yahoo Lifestyle reported that “@ms_trippingonair is the number one chronic illness account to follow on Instagram.” Ardra’s memoir Fallosophy: My Trip Through Life with MS will be published in March 2025 (Douglas & McIntyre).
Karen Smythe is the author of the novels A Town with No Noise and This Side of Sad; a short-story collection, Stubborn Bones; and Figuring Grief, a groundbreaking analysis of the depiction of mourning in fiction by Mavis Gallant, Alice Munro, Virginia Woolf, Edna O’Brien, and others. Her stories have also appeared in Grain, the Fiddlehead, the Antigonish Review, and the Gaspereau Review. A former English professor, university Registrar, and senior policy analyst, Karen now writes full time. She lives in Guelph, Ontario.
May 29: Louise Ells joins Alison on Instagram Live for a writerly chat about life, love, loss and all the challenges in writing about the tough stuff. Author, educator, and Creative Writing PHD graduate from Northeastern Ontario, her fiction Lies I Told My Sister and short story collection Notes Towards Recovery are available to purchase now. Check out Latitude 46 Publishing for more details.
June 8: We are thrilled to welcome Zilla Jones to a virtual reading and conversation about her novel, THE WORLD SO WIDE from Cormorant Books. An award-winning author, Zilla was just named a Writers’ Trust Rising Star. Charlotte Gill’s words about her selection: “Zilla Jones writes with humourous affection and brilliant incisiveness about immigrant life and the Caribbean diaspora; her stories often take place at the complicated intersection of race, class, and hybrid identity. With empathy and a deep sense of justice, Jones’ writing lays bare the hidden powers and tensions that animate everyday moments while championing the conspiratorial affection between girls and women. Her scenes are ingeniously imagined and beautifully written with rewards that endure long after the last page has turned. In a not-too-distant future, Zilla Jones’ name will be everywhere.”
June 22: We wrap up the season at TYPE Books with Martha Bailie, Sara Flemington, and Rachel Phan. Readings and a Q & A, and as always a chance to win a book bundle (just what you need heading into summer!).
Martha Baillie lives and works in Toronto. Her novel The Incident Report was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and is being made into a feature film to be released in 2023. The Search for Heinrich Schlögel was an Oprah editors’ pick. Sister Language, co-written with her late sister, Christina Baillie, was a 2020 Trillium Award finalist. Martha’s non-fiction can be found in Brick: A Literary Journal. Her poetry has appeared in the Iowa Review. Her multimedia project based on The Search for Heinrich Schlögel is archived at www.schlogel.ca
Sara Flemington is the author of the novel Egg Island. Her short fiction has appeared in the Feathertale Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Eclectica, subTerrain and others. Sara lives in Toronto.
Rachel Phan is a Chinese Canadian author who was born and raised in a small town in Southern Ontario, where she was one of only two racialized people in her class. A graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Master of Journalism program, she’s shared her stories on CBC, CBC Radio, HuffPost, the National Post and Maclean’s. She now lives in Toronto, ON. We are grateful for the support of Rachel’s reading through the National Public Readings Program.
June 26: Nina Berkhout joins Alison on Instagram for a live chat about writing and her latest fiction, THE BRIGHT DUST from Goose Lane Editions.
July 17: Alison is excited to talk with Pratap Reddy again about his latest collection from Guernica Editions, REMAINDERED AND OTHER STORIES. INSTAGRAM LIVE, follow us @junctionreads to see The First Thirty chats.
August 21: Nicole Haldoupis will talk about writing on Instagram Live with Alison. Check out her website for more about her writing.
Follow us and share with all your friends because next season is oging to be one for the books. We kick off the season with Michelle Winters, Catherine Bush, Terri Vlassopoulos, Heather Birrell, Rod Carley and so many great authors!
Junction Reads 
Leave a comment