Genre fiction taps into our deepest fears, desires, and obsessions. In this dynamic virtual panel discussion, Jackie Khalilieh, Sahira Javaid, and Yiming Ma explore the creative freedoms and expectations of writing within their chosen genres. Discover what makes these stories so addictive, how genre shapes the reading experience, and why readers return again and again to worlds that thrill, comfort, and unsettle them.
Author
Yiming Ma (he/him) is the Toronto-based author of These Memories Do Not Belong to Us, longlisted for the Goodreads Choice Award and featured on Electric Literature’s Best Books of 2025 list.
Author
Jackie Khalilieh (she/her) is a Palestinian Canadian author who writes funny, hope filled young adult coming of age and romance novels featuring autistic heroines, like herself.
Author
Sahira Javaid (she/her) is a poetess and author from Ottawa. She writes fantasy steeped in adventure and fantastical worlds.When she’s not writing she can be found daydreaming about her next story.
Lindo Forbes (she/her) is a first gen Canadian which means she speaks enough French to not disgrace herself when she visits Montreal but not enough Spanish to please her abuela. She happily holds grudges against fictional people and celebrities she’s never met, and has fully embraced her role as Indulgent Wine Aunt.
Her contemporary romances featuring layered ladies are a love letter to her hometown of Toronto.
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