Author Readings: Fantasy Authors
Description
Join these Canadian authors as they read from their books, and be sure to check out our full list of live virtual sessions for this year's event at: FictionFest.ca/events
Lineup
Will Fawley
Originally from Virginia, Will has called Manitoba home for over a decade. He holds an MFA from George Mason University, where he was assistant fiction editor for Phoebe Journal of Literature and Art. His fiction and poetry have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Prairie Fire, CV2, Arlington Literary Journal, The Northern Virginia Review, Parallel Prairies, and Expanded Horizons. His debut urban fantasy novel, City of Stars and Shadows, was published in 2025. Will has taught writing at the post-secondary level, and has led community fiction writing workshops. He is the recipient of a grant from the Winnipeg Arts Council, and a former Sheldon Oberman Mentorship program mentee. When he’s not writing, he can often be found playing video games or herding cats.
Vanessa Ricci-Thode
Vanessa is the first self-published author to win a Nebula Award. She’s a Halloween enthusiast and a bookish geek who loves dragons, astronomy, and travel. If she’s not hibernating, she can be found in her butterfly garden, achieving her final form as a garden witch. She lives in Waterloo (no, the other one) with her spouse, daughter and very good dogs. Her self-published books are available everywhere except Amazon, and her short story “Billionaire's Tears” appears in Escape Pod.
Chandra Fisher
Chandra writes novels and short stories for teens and adults. A two-time winner of Canada Council for the Arts grants, her works have been shortlisted for the Aurora Awards and the Times/Chickenhouse publishing contest. She also runs a writing collective called The Writing Folks (www.thewritingfolks.com), and you can find her online at www.chandrafisherwrites.com or on socials (TikTok or Instagram @thatchandrafisher).
Claris Lam
Claris Lam (she/her) is a Chinese Canadian author & poet writing to inspire readers with hope, perseverance, creativity, and happy endings. Claris’ short fiction and poetry has been published in several collections and projects. The first two books in her murder mystery series, the Harlow Mystery series, were nominated for several categories in the 2023 Indie Ink Awards and 2024 Queer Indie Awards. Her debut poetry chapbook, Refilling The Well, was published in February 2025 and her debut young adult (YA) short story collection, Stay Magical, was published in September 2025. Her debut children's fantasy chapter book, Sadie Rowe And The Missing Necklace, was published in February 2026.
HOSTED BY: Steve Hugh Westenra
Steve is a trans author of fantasy, science fiction, and horror (basically, if it’s weird he writes it). He's also a book reviewer, a SFINCS and SPFBO judge, and runs the Trans Reading Group discord. He grew up on the eldritch shores of Newfoundland, Canada, and currently lives and works in (the slightly less eldritch) Montreal. He holds advanced degrees in Russian Literature, Medieval Studies, and Religious Studies. His current academic work focuses on marginalized reclamations of monstrous figures. He has taught the History of Satan; Religion and its Monsters; and Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion. Steve is passionate about queerness, Late Antiquity, and spiders.
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