Catherine Hernandez (I Promise),  Adnan Khan (There Has to Be a Knife), Tea Mutonji (Shut Up You're Pretty), Casey Plett (Little Fish) and Kai Cheng Thom (I Hope We Choose Love) appear on Toronto's Word on the Street book fair and festival on Sunday, September 22.

Catherine Hernandez reads from her new children's picture book I Promise, about the many shapes, sizes, and colours that families come in. Catherine will be at the TD Children's Literature Tent at 2:40 PM - 3:00 PM.

Catherine also moderates the discussion/reading "Pretty as a Knife" featuring two debut Arsenal authors, Tea Mutonji and Adnan Khan. It takes place at the Great Books Marquee at 11:15 AM - 11:45 AM.

Amazon First Novel and Lambda Literary Award winner Casey Plett moderates a discussion on "Queer Writing in Canada: Past, Present, Future" that features writers including Nancy Jo Cullen, Farzana Doctor, Zoe Whittall, and Kai Cheng Thom, whose latest book I Hope We Choose Love has just been released. The panel takes place at Amazon.ca Bestsellers at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre at 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM.

Kai Cheng is in conversation with bestselling author Alicia Elliott about navigating a world wroght with injustices, from the past to the present, personal to political. Check it out at the Amazon.ca Bestsellers at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre at 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM.

Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme, editors of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers' Poetry, launch their book in Los Angeles as part of Lambda LitFest on September 25 at Skylight Books.

Lambda LitFest, Los Angeles’ first and only LGBTQ literary festival, brings over 1,500 people together at dozens of literary events across Los Angeles between September 21 and 28.

Also featured at the Skylight Books event are contributors Milcah Halili and Garuda Love.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019
7:30pm
Skylight Books, 1818 North Vermont Ave., Los Angeles
Co-presented by Lambda LitFest and Skylight Books
A FREE EVENT
Books available for purchase and signing by the editors and authors

For more information, see the Skylight Books website.

C.E. Gatchalian, playwright and the author of the memoir Double Melancholy: Art, Beauty, and the Making of a Brown Queer Man, appears at the LiterASIAN Festival in Vancouver on Friday, September 27. Founded by the late poet and activist Jim Wong-Chu, LiterASIAN is a festival dedicated to Asian Canadian writing.

C.E. appears on a panel presentation entitled "The Writing of Asian Canadian" along with writers Philip Huynh, Sally Ito, Fred Wah, May Q. Wong, and Rita Wong, as part of the festival's opening reception. He also leads a writing workshop on Saturday, September 28, entitled "Feeling the First Vague Stirrings."

Friday, September 27, 2019
6:00-9:00pm
LiterASIAN Festival, "The Writing of Asian Canadian"
Chinatown House, 188 East Pender Street, Vancouver
$25 festival pass (includes entry to opening and closing receptions and all workshops)

For more information, see LiterASIAN's website. To purchase tickets, check out the Eventbrite page.

C.E. Gatchalian, playwright and the author of the memoir Double Melancholy: Art, Beauty, and the Making of a Brown Queer Man, leads a writing workshop at the LiterASIAN Festival in Vancouver on Saturday, September 28. Founded by the late poet and activist Jim Wong-Chu, LiterASIAN is a festival dedicated to Asian Canadian writing.

Creating literary works about identity can be challenging. As a queer-identifying, racialized artist, C.E. Gatchalian grapples with questions relating to writing and identity on a daily basis. C.E. will lead this workshop on writing about one's identity. Participants will be free to share and receive feedback on works-in-progress, if they choose.

Saturday, September 28, 2019
11:00-12:00pm
"Feeling the First Vague Stirrings": a workshop with C.E. Gatchalian
Sun Wah Centre, 268 Keefer St., Vancouver
Tickets: $10 (or free with a $25 festival pass)

For more information, see LiterASIAN's website. To purchase tickets, check out the Eventbrite page.

Another Story Bookshop and Arsenal Pulp Press present the Toronto launch of Kai Cheng Thom's essay collection I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World at the Bloor/Gladstone Library on Saturday, September 28.

The launch includes a reading by Kai Cheng and special appearances by Anthony Oliveira and Gwen Benaway.

Of Kai Cheng's new book, Alicia Elliot (author of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground) writes: "Many writers talk about wanting to change the world or open eyes with their work, but it takes a special writer to actually do that. Kai Cheng Thom is that writer. With I Hope We Choose Love, Thom utilizes her seemingly bottomless empathy and mesmerizing intellect to both examine and excavate the ways we deal with trauma, abuse, activism, transphobia, and racism. This book will both change the way you look at our damaged world and inspire you to imagine new ways to nurse that world back to health. We are so damn lucky to have this book, to have Kai Cheng Thom."

Saturday, September 28, 2019
5:00pm
Bloor/Gladstone Library, 1101 Bloor St West, Toronto
A FREE EVENT - EVERYONE WELCOME
Books available for purchase by Another Story
Fully wheelchair accessible

For more information, see the Facebook event page or Another Story's website.

Adnan Khan launches his debut novel There Has to Be a Knife in his hometown of Toronto on October 2 - a Toronto Lit up event co-presented by the Toronto International Festival of Authors.

Of the book, Jowita Bydlowska, author of Drunk Mom and Guy, writes: "This is a book that's alive, moving through the streets of Toronto, wiping sweat off of its electric body that hopes for resolution, that doesn't sleep, that presses against women's bodies, that longs for some kind of peace that never comes. Adnan Khan's poetic, sexy, and raw novel showcases one of the most intense and original new works on the CanLit scene. A new, brilliant, and bold literary voice."

The event will include host/DJ Krish Dineshkumar and Khalida Venus Hassan as a guest reader.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019
8:00pm
A Toronto Lit Up event co-presented by the Toronto International Festival of Authors
Unlovable Bar,1415 B Dundas St West, Toronto
A FREE EVENT
Books available for purchase and signing by the author

For more information, see the TIFOA website and/or the Facebook event page.

CBC journalist Jeremy Allingham launches his book Major Misconduct: The Human Cost of Fighting in Hockey at the BC Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver on October 5.

Major Misconduct is a startling expose on the culture of fighting in hockey. It explores the lives of those who bare-knuckle boxed on ice for a living and investigates the human cost we're willing to tolerate in the name of hockey fighting.

Jeremy will be in conversation with acclaimed sports broadcaster Karin Larsen.

Vancouver indie bookseller Massy Books will be on hand to sell Jeremy's book.

Saturday, October 5, 2019
2:00-4:30pm
BC Sports Hall of Fame, Gate "A", BC Place Stadium, Vancouver
A FREE EVENT
Books available for purchase and signing by the author

For more information, see the Facebook event page.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts presents the Toronto launch of The Blue Road, the first graphic novel by award-winning writer Wayde Compton and artist April dela Noche Milne on October 6.

With millions of people displaced each year by conflict, violence and persecution, migration is undoubtedly one of the critical issues of our times. In The Blue Road: A Fable of Migration, acclaimed poet and prose writer Wayde Compton and illustrator April de la Noche Milne’s graphic novel debut, a young migrant girl embarks on a treacherous journey only to discover that leaving, arriving and returning are all just different words for the same thing: starting over. Lacuna is a girl without a family, a past, or a proper home. She lives alone in a swamp made of ink, but with the help of Polaris, a will-o’-the-wisp, she embarks for the fabled Northern Kingdom, where she might find people like her. A tender and timely graphic novel for readers of all ages, The Blue Road explores the world from a migrant’s perspective with dreamlike wonder.

This event is co-sponsored by Diaspora Dialogues.

Koffler Centre of the Arts’ Books & Ideas series spotlights provocative writers, artists and thinkers, celebrating literary excellence and fostering critical dialogue through compelling book launches, author talks and on-stage interviews.

Sunday, October 6, 2019
3:00pm
CSI Annex, 720 Bathurst St
Tickets: $10-$20
Books available for purchase and signing by the authors

For more information, see the Koffler Centre of the Arts' website.

Editors Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme bring their new anthology Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers' Poetry to New York on Saturday, October 12 at Bluestockings Bookstore on the Lower East Side.

In Hustling Verse, more than fifty self-identified sex workers from all walks of the industry (survival and trade, past and present) explore their lived experience through the expressive nuance and beauty of poetry.

Contributors reading in New York are Aimee Herman, Audacia Ray, Miss Sugar Mamasota, Tracy Quan and Lorelei Lee.

Saturday, October 12, 2019
7:00-9:30pm
Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen St, Lower East Side, New York
A FREE EVENT
Book sales available for purchase and signing by the editors/contributors

For more information, see Bluestockings' website.

Editors Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme launch their groundbreaking new anthology Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers' Poetry at Toronto's Lula Lounge on Wednesday, October 16, co-presented by Another Story Bookshop and Arsenal Pulp Press. The event is co-sponsored by the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies (University of Toronto).

In Hustling Verse, more than fifty self-identified sex workers from all walks of the industry (survival and trade, past and present) explore their lived experience through the expressive nuance and beauty of poetry.

Contributors reading in Toronto include Jaene F. Castrillon, AK Saini, Naomi Sayers, Amber Dawn Pullin, Alec Butler, Jasbina Justice, and Irene Wilder.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019
7:00-9:00pm
Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St West, Toronto
A FREE EVENT
Book sales by Another Story Bookshop
Fully wheelchair accessible

Dinner reservations guarantee seating; call 416-588-0307, or lula.ca.

For more information, see the Facebook event page or Another Story Bookshop's website.