Open Book Takes in TIFA 2025 at Victoria College in the University of Toronto

From October 29th to November 2nd, the Toronto International Festival of Authors took place with an adjusted format and a brand new location at University of Toronto's majestic Victoria College. Long held at Harbourfront Centre before that, TIFA was centered around the storied Old Vic building, where authors, festival guests, and student volunteers congregated and buzzed around for five days of carefully curated programming. 

THe result was a literary festival with robust attendance and a welcoming, fitting collection of event venues that saw celebrated big press authors like Eimear McBride, Joy Fielding, and Kiran Desai sharing conversations with many Canadian literary stars from both the multinational and independent publishing scene.

There were also a raft of international publishing professionals brought in as part of the International Visitors (IV) Programme, which engaged many Canadian agents, editors, and publishers throughout the fest. Attending the IV Programme at TIFA feels a bit like stepping into the beating heart of global publishing. Since it began in 2008, the IV Programme has quietly built a reputation as the place where international connections turn into real-world collaborations—and sometimes even books. It’s part networking event, part cultural exchange, and part rights fair, all wrapped in the buzz of possibility. More than 300 visiting fellows have come through over the years.

For Open Book, the aim has always been to cover the broader CanLit and OnLit scene with a direct focus on OBPO (Ontario Book Publisher's Organization) publishers and authors. This year, there seemed to be a carefully and succinctly selected offering of such writers, and we were there at a number of their events to celebrate their latest works. Here are just some recaps of those incredible talks!

A highlight of our Saturday at TIFA 2025 was the “Literature in Translation” panel, which offered an illuminating glimpse into the invisible art that makes global storytelling possible. Author/Translators Ryad Assani-Razaki (The Hand of Iman, House of Anansi Press), Lin King, and Jeremy Tiang took the stage to unpack the delicate act of carrying a writer’s voice across languages and cultures.

Moderated by Sarah Dowling, the discussion moved fluidly between philosophy and craft: how does one preserve rhythm and tone while allowing a work to breathe anew in another tongue? When does faithful translation give way to creative interpretation? With humour, honesty, and deep respect for their source texts, the panelists revealed the balancing act behind their practice—one part empathy, one part precision, and all art. For readers and writers alike, the session was a vivid reminder that translation doesn’t merely transport stories; it transforms them, expanding the reach of literature itself.

Earlier that day, a compelling Diaspora Dialogues conversation unfolded between two writers exploring the lingering echoes of war through strikingly different lenses. Sanita Fejzić, author of Blissful State of Surrender (Playwrights Canada Press), and Jumoke Verissimo, author of Circumtrauma (Coach House Books), came together to discuss how conflict reshapes not only nations but the inner landscapes of those who live through it.

Fejzić’s novel approaches the subject through intimate, character-driven fiction, tracing how memory and displacement reverberate through generations, while Verissimo’s poetry confronts trauma head-on, transforming it into language that both bears witness and resists silence. The panel offered a rare dialogue between forms—prose and poetry, narrative and lyric—revealing how stories of war, though born of specific places, speak to shared human resilience. It was a conversation that lingered well after the applause, reminding listeners that the work of understanding conflict is never finished, only transformed through art.

We also had to check out fabled Coach House Books author André Alexis, in a packed house at the sizable Isabel Bader Theatre for a featured TIFA panel aptly titled Fiction Across Worlds. In this event two acclaimed storytellers—Alexis and Susan Choi—came together for a rare and deeply reflective conversation on fiction, memory, and the unseen forces that shape our lives. Moderated by Ryan B. Patrick, the discussion marked the 10th anniversary of Alexis’s modern classic Fifteen Dogs, a fable of consciousness and community that still resonates for its sharp insight into what it means to be human (and not).

Alongside it, Choi’s newest novel Flashlight offered a piercingly intimate portrait of a young girl confronting loss and the weight of unspoken family histories. Moving between myth and realism, divine experiment and human ache, the two authors traced how storytelling helps us face what memory conceals and time refuses to heal. It was an exchange of intellect and empathy—one that reminded audiences just how powerfully fiction can illuminate the mysteries of being alive.

Before getting into the remaining events featuring some of our favourite OBPO authors, we also wanted to share a highlight from the early nights of the festival, which took place in the form of a very special conversation between Susan Aglukark and David A. Robertson. As part of TIFA’s Festival of Indigenous Stories, Healing & Reconciliation brought together two of Canada’s most inspiring voices for a heartfelt conversation on healing, storytelling, and the ongoing work of reconciliation. Moderated by Jennifer Alicia Murrin, the discussion delved into the personal and collective power of words and art to mend what has been broken.

Aglukark, the celebrated Inuk artist, shared from her memoir Kihiani: A Memoir of Healing, reflecting on how music became both a refuge and a path toward recovery after trauma. Robertson, best known for his Misewa Saga series, spoke about his new work 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing, a compassionate and practical guide for all Canadians seeking to turn intention into action. Together, their dialogue offered an intimate and hopeful vision of how storytelling can lead to understanding—and understanding, to real change.

On the closing day of TIFA, we were in attendance at a number of panel discussions, which kicked off with CanLit superstars Ian Williams and Souvankham Thammavongsa, who won the 2019 and 2020 Giller Prize, respectively. Changing Colours brought both brilliant authors together for a thoughtful, resonant discussion moderated by I. Augustus Durham.

Thammavongsa spoke about her bestselling debut novel, Pick a Colour, set in a nail salon where a former boxer wrestles with invisibility, labour, and class, while Williams reflected on his latest novel, You’ve Changed, which explores intimacy, identity, and transformation within relationships. Together, they examined that complicated ways that love, work, and selfhood intersect in the lives of ordinary people, offering a rapt audience of readers and writers alike a discussion full of empathy, humour, and insight into the quiet power of change.

We also attended a fascinating event which focused on The Intimacies of Chosen Families. The panel brought together writers Kate Cayley and Matthew J. Trafford for a tender and thought-provoking conversation moderated by Daniel Sarah Karasik. Drawing from Cayley’s Property and Trafford’s Runs in the Blood, the discussion explored how queer narratives reimagine family, belonging, and care beyond traditional structures.

Both authors reflected on the complexities of intimacy, vulnerability, and connection in chosen families, offering insights into how love and kinship can be acts of both resistance and renewal. Presented in partnership with Diaspora Dialogues, the event offered a moving testament to the creative and emotional power of queer storytelling.

There was so many more enthralling talks and writers at this year's TIFA, but that's just a sampling from what turned out to be a lively and close-knit festival with impressive boosts in attendance and enthusiasm, at least to our eyes and ears. With a beautiful new location at a historic hub of literary study and practice in Victoria College, the best energies of the literary movements that have taken place within that campus seemed to infuse the fest in a way that holds a great deal of promise for the future of TIFA, as it continues to evolve for new generations of readers. 

_________________________________________

The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) inspires and connects through the art of stories, offering book lovers a breadth of bold, ambitious and accessible literary experiences. The charitable organization provides engaging opportunities to meet, hear and learn from the world’s best authors and artists across the range of literary genres, and to celebrate the power of stories.

For over 40 years, TIFA has presented an annual fall festival celebration, bringing together readers and writers from all over the globe to explore and celebrate the joy of stories. TIFA also offers year-round events, activities and mini-festivals.