23. SCHOOL GROUPS: COMPLICATED FAMILIES
Virtual Event
Families are messy — which makes them perfect subject matter for great stories and story-telling. In this panel discussion designed for school groups and readers and writers of young adult fiction, three authors discuss the family dynamics in their most recent novels and the process for creating and cultivating believable relatives and relationships.
Date: May 3, 2023
Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm ET
The 2023 festival will run from April 30 – May 7. Dedicated virtual programming on our innovative, online platform will run April 30 – May 3, while in-person events — many of which will also be live-streamed and available on-demand for virtual audiences — will run May 4-7.
A Virtual Festival Pass gives guests access to more than 20 virtual events which can be viewed from the website or through our festival app designed for mobile devices. In addition to festival events, virtual passes provide users with direct access to more than a dozen vendors in our festival exhibitor hall. Guests who purchase a virtual pass can also participate in trivia times, roundtable discussions and our new festival after-parties, which will follow all of our evening events.
An In-Person Festival Pass gives users access to all of our virtual events as well as our standard in-person events in Brampton, Ontario on Saturday, May 6.
This year, the festival includes three in-person Specialty Events – the Dine N’ Draw on May 4, the Literary Cabaret on May 5 and our Historical Fiction High Tea on May 7. Tickets for these events are not covered with our passes and are only available until April 30.
On a Budget? Check out our Patron Pass program.
Daniel Aleman is the award-winning author of Indivisible. He was born and raised in Mexico City. A graduate of McGill University, he is passionate about books, coffee, and dogs. After spending time in Montreal and the New York City area, he now lives in Toronto, where he is on a never-ending search for the best tacos in the city. His second novel, Brighter Than the Sun, was published this past March.
Jen Ferguson (she/her) is Métis and white, an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD. She believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. Her debut YA novel, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, is out now from Heartdrum / HarperCollins and won the 2022 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. Her latest novel, Those Pink Mountain Nights, is forthcoming in September 2023.
Talia Hibbert is a New York Times bestselling romance author who lives in a bedroom full of books. Supposedly there is a world beyond that room, but she has yet to drum up enough interest to investigate. Talia writes diverse and indulgent love stories because marginalised people deserve honest and joyous representation. She enjoys tea and biscuits, the colour pink, and unnecessary sarcasm.
Yeli Cruz (she/her) is a voracious reader, a writer, and a publishing professional. In her free time she loves playing video games and wearing cozy sweaters.