Saad T. Farooqi holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Kingston University London and a BA in English Literature from the American University of Sharjah. His short stories and poems have appeared in various international magazines. His shining moment on stage was accidentally setting his poem on fire by standing too close to a candle. When not writing, Saad enjoys boxing, experimenting in the kitchen to varying levels of success, and devouring anything film noir.
Saad spent the majority of his life as a Pakistani expat in Dubai. He immigrated to Canada in 2015 and currently resides in London, Ontario.
Provocative and haunting, Not That Kind of Place is a literary anti-mystery, a
compelling exploration of our obsession with true-crime stories and the
devastating effects of systemic violence on our most vulnerable populations.
MICHAEL MELGAARD is the author of the short story collection Pallbearing.
His writing has appeared in Best Canadian Stories anthology, as well as Joyland,
Lithub, and elsewhere. He is a former book columnist for the National Post.
Originally from Vancouver Island, he currently lives in Toronto. “Much more than just an absorbing mystery, Not That Kind of Place shines its light beyond the standard coverage of true crime to the depths of deep-rooted societal injustice. A page-turning exploration of what actually goes into making a town what it is.” — Iain Reid, author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Linzey Corridon is a mixed-race (Afro-Euro-Indo Caribbean) educator, and a Vincentian-Canadian poet and critic. He is the 2021 recipient of Canada’s Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and is currently completing doctoral work on the nuances of the Queeribbean quotidian at McMaster University. His writing has been published in The Puritan, Kola, SX Salon, Hamilton Arts and Letters, Montreal Writes and more. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
Daniel Maluka is a Toronto-based artist and writer hailing from South Africa. His work takes an Afrocentric approach while incorporating surrealist elements to bring what lurks in the deep recesses of the mind into the forefront of his work.
Daniel Allen Cox is the author of four novels and I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah’s Witness, shortlisted for the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal and named one of the Best Books of 2023 by Publishers Weekly. Daniel’s essays have appeared in The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Maisonneuve, and The Malahat Review, and have been named Notable in The Best American Essays and reprinted in Best Canadian Essays. He is a reviewer for The Brooklyn Rail.
JULES DELORME is a neurodivergent Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) author of Kanien’kehá:ka and French heritage who grew up on the Akwesasne Reserve near Cornwall, Ontario. When Delorme was 12, his abusive parents moved the family to Toronto, where he continued to suffer bullying and violence at home and at school. He is also the author of faller and Ahshiá:ton (You Should Write It), a collection of stories based on Kanien’kehá:ka oral traditions and teachings. i heard a crow before i was born is Delorme’s third book. He lives in Toronto.
Leslie Shimotakahara’s third novel, Sisters of the Spruce, was highlighted on CBC’s The Next Chapter, featured on Quill & Quire‘s “2024 Spring Preview: Fiction” and named in 49th Shelf‘s “Most Anticipated: Our 2024 Spring Fiction Preview.” Her memoir, The Reading List, won the Canada-Japan Literary Prize and has been translated into Japanese, and her fiction has been shortlisted for the KM Hunter Artist Award. She has written two other critically acclaimed novels, After the Bloom and Red Oblivion.
After the Bloom received a starred review from Booklist and is Bustle’s number one choice in “50 Books To Read With Your Book Club,” while Kirkus Reviews praised Red Oblivion for displaying “virtuosity in this subtle deconstruction of one family’s tainted origins.” Her writing has appeared in the National Post, World Literature Today, and Changing the Face of Canadian Literature, among other anthologies and periodicals. She completed a PhD in English at Brown University, after which she returned to her hometown of Toronto, where she now resides with her husband.
Jade Wallace (they/them) is a writer, editor, and critic, as well as a cofounder of the collaborative writing entity MA|DE. Wallace’s books include two poetry collections, Love Is A Place But You Cannot Live There and The Work Is Done When We Are Dead (Guernica Editions, 2023 and 2026); the collaborative collection ZZOO (Palimpsest Press, 2025); and a novel, ANOMIA (Palimpsest Press, 2024). More: jadewallace.ca + ma-de.ca
Renée D. Bondy taught in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Windsor, where she facilitated courses on queer activism, women and religion, and the history of women’s movements. Her writing has appeared in Herizons, Bitch, Bearings Online, and the Humber Literary Review. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers. Renée lives in Chatham, Ontario. [non]disclosure is her first novel.
Born in Montreal to Egyptian parents, ÉRIC CHACOUR has shared his life
between France and Quebec. A graduate in applied economics and inter-
national relations, he now works in the financial sector in Montreal.
What I Know About You is his first novel.
What I Know About You
a novel by Éric Chacour
translated from French by Pablo Strauss
A heartbreaking tale of a family and an impossible love, torn apart by secrets and traditions in late-twentieth-century Cairo.
SUSAN OURIOU is an award-winning literary translator (French and Spanish to English) and fiction writer. She has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation on seven occasions, winning for her translation of Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras. She also translated Catherine Leroux’s The Future, winner of 2024 CBC Canada Reads. Ouriou is also the author of two novels, Damselfish, and the critically acclaimed Nathan, and the editor of two anthologies, the trilingual Beyond Words: Translating the World and the bilingual Languages of Our Land: Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec. She lives in Calgary.
FANNY BRITT is a playwright, writer, and translator. She is the winner of multiple Governor General’s Literary Awards, a Libris Award, a Joe Shuster Award, and was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature. Sugaring Off won the Governor General’s Literary Award for French language Fiction in 2021. Britt has written a dozen plays and translated more than fifteen works by many American, Canadian, British, and Irish playwrights. Born in northern Quebec, Britt lives in Montreal.
Grant Munroe is the publisher of Woodbridge Farm Books, a small press based in Kingsville, Ontario. He also serves as collections manager for the Essex County Library. His essays, profiles, and book reviews have appeared in U.S. and Canadian outlets, including The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Review of Books, National Post, Literary Hub, Literary Review of Canada, and more.
Peter Hrastovec
Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Peter Hrastovec is the author of three books of poetry, In Lieu of Flowers, Sidelines and There Will Be Fish. He has contributed to several anthologies, most recently, Where the Map Begins. Peter also practices law, advocates for his community and embraces the joys of grandparenthood with his wife, Denise, in their hometown. He is the current Poet Laureate for the City of Windsor.