Session Description
Friendship can be transformative — and complicated. They can fall apart without warning or evolve as we grow. In this thoughtful and engaging virtual panel discussion, young adult authors Farzana Doctor, Ahmad Saber, and Curtis Campbell discuss how their novels explore loyalty, conflict, identity, and repair. Designed for high school students, this conversation offers rich entry points for classroom discussion and meaningful school-wide engagement.
Sponsored by Simon & Schuster Canada.
Featured Speaker(s)
Curtis Campbell
Curtis Campbell (he/him) is an award-winning novelist and playwright. His book, Dragging Mason County, was a White Raven Award winner, an Ontario Library Association Best Bets Top Ten Title, a White Pine Award nominee, and shortlisted for the Jacqueline Woodson Award for LGBTQ+ Young Adult and Children’s Literature. He lives in Toronto.
Farzana Doctor
Farzana Doctor (she/her) is an author, activist and psychotherapist. She’s written five novels: Stealing Nasreen, Six Metres of Pavement, All Inclusive, Seven, and The Beauty of Us, a poetry collection, You Still Look The Same and a workbook for helpers and activists, 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life.
In 2023, Farzana received the Freedom To Read Award. In 2020, Seven was chosen as an Amnesty International Reader’s Choice Pick and was shortlisted for the Trillium and Evergreen awards. Six Metres of Pavement won the Lambda and Writers’ Trust Dayne Oglivie prizes and was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award in 2012.
Ahmad Saber
Ahmad Saber (he/him) grew up on an all-girls college campus next to a massive fort in Pakistan before his family moved to Canada when he was in high school. While the move totally sucked at the time, it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to him. He’s now a medical doctor specializing in rheumatology by day but his passion truly burns at night when he sits down to tell stories with heart. Ahmad loves Broadway (favorite show = Phantom) and travel (favorite place = tie between Paris and Melbourne). His debut novel is based in part on his lived experience.
Alyssa Gray-Tyghter
Alyssa Gray-Tyghter (she/her) is an educator, writer, and storyteller whose work explores the intersections of equity, identity, memory, and transformative learning. Her research and creative practice are grounded in Afro-Indigenous histories, counterstorytelling, and the power of narrative to reshape how we understand belonging. She is known for bringing together critical insight, thoughtful facilitation, and a deep commitment to community in ways that are both grounded and engaging. Across her work, Alyssa examines how story can function as method, resistance, and reimagination, offering audiences new ways to think about education, culture, leadership, and the narratives that shape our lives.