Author Readings: Literary Fiction 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
Margaret Sweatman
Margaret Sweatman has published seven novels, most recently Night Birds (Goose Lane Editions, 2026). She also writes stories, plays, song lyrics, poetry, libretti, essays, and is a musician and performer. Her novels have won the McNally Robinson and the Margaret Laurence Awards, as well as the Rogers Writers Trust Award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, the Carol Shields Award and a Genie. Her plays have been produced by Prairie Theatre Exchange, Popular Theatre Alliance, and the Guelph Spring Festival. She has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and the National Academy Orchestra, as well as with various ensembles and her own Broken Songs Band (vocals and harmonica). Her short stories are published by The Fiddlehead and Prairie Fire, with a story included in Best Canadian Stories 2026 (Biblioasis, 2025).
Sheila James
Sheila James is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist. Books include Outcaste, (Goose Lane Editions 2024) of which Brian Bethune of the Toronto Star called “a compelling debut novel” and a “defiant and beautiful act of memorialization. (Toronto Star, May 1, 2024) and In the Wake of Loss, (Ronsdale Press 2009), which won Honourable Mention, the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award and was a finalist for the Ottawa Book Awards. She is the creator of internationally screened videos including She’s a Diva (Western Front Performing Arts Lodge), Lakme Takes Flight (with Melina Young), Orphan Dyke (with Da Choong), Breathless, and Unmapping Desire which was a co-winner of the Akua Award at the Inside Out Toronto International Festival in 2000, and was translated into French and German and broadcast in Europe by ZDF. Stage plays include Canadian Monsoon (1996) and All Whispers/No Words (1995) Company of Sirens. Music recordings include kids album Radio K.I.D.S with Dave Newfeld.
Jeff Cottrill
Jeff Cottrill is an award-winning fiction writer, performance poet, and journalist based in Toronto. He has read and performed his work throughout Canada, the U.K., the U.S., Ireland, France, and Australia. His debut novel, Hate Story (2022), was a unique blend of satire and mystery about online public shaming, and his most recent book, Performance Reviews (Alien Buddha Press, 2025), is a dark comedy about workplace toxicity. Jeff’s short story “The Madness East of St. George” won first place in last year’s MoonLit Getaway short-fiction contest; another entry, “CanLit Book Club”, was shortlisted in the same contest. Jeff holds a Master’s degree in English from the University of Toronto and a certificate in creative writing from Humber College. He likes movies, travel, and puppies.
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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