Los Angeles, 2031: The first spring after the collapse of the United States, peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city, the Jacaranda trees blossom, and the curfew is finally lifted. Ari Waker and her roommate pass the gauntlet of bomb-sniffing dogs, the shanty towns, and the Red Cross tents as they walk across Silverlake to a party. The mood is ecstatic inside the apartment, people drink and dance, a woman wears a silver dress, pleated like tinfoil. And then: A shift. A bewildered twin, an uncanny doppelganger stumbles through the crowd and out into the night, and Kareem, the party’s host, vanishes into thin air.

As Ari Waker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, the story takes readers on a journey from a future America splintered by civil war, to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon. An unforgettable literary feat, Exit Party is a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, a requiem for a world not unlike our own, and a breathtaking story of resilience in the face of cataclysmic change.

Available from Harper Collins

EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL is from British Columbia. She is the author of six previous novels, including Sea of Tranquility, The Glass Hotel, which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and was included in the New York Times Best 100 Books of the 21st Century list. Her work has been translated into thirty-seven languages and adapted for television. She lives in New York City and Los Angeles.

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Toronto has witnessed countless lives lived and lost as it grew from a muddy little frontier town into a booming metropolis of concrete and glass. The Toronto Book of the Dead tells the tale of the ever-changing city through the lives and deaths of those who made it their final resting place.

Available from Dundurn Press

Adam Bunch is the author of The Toronto Book of the Dead, creator of the Toronto Dreams Project, host and co-creator of Canadiana, and a contributor to Spacing. His work earned an honourable mention for a Governor General’s History Award in 2012. Adam lives in Toronto.

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Across Asia, LGBTQIA+ communities operate under widely differing conditions. Bangkok’s bid aims to provide a platform where communities can raise their voices, contribute to international discussions and strengthen cross-border cooperation.

“Bringing WorldPride to Asia for the first time would be more than a celebration. It would be a powerful moment for LGBTQ+ Asians to see ourselves represented on a global stage – and for the world to hear the diverse voices, stories and struggles of our communities,” said Raymond Phang, co-founder of ShanghaiPRIDE. “From Shanghai to Bangkok, from grassroots organizers to a new generation of LGBTQ+ Asians, our movement has always been about creating space for people to live openly, safely and with dignity. I hope Bangkok 2030 can be a WorldPride that celebrates how far Asia has come, while reminding us of the work still ahead for equality, acceptance and human rights.”

The bid includes practical measures to widen participation. The proposed Bangkok WorldPride Activist Fellowship would provide at least 150 fully funded places for frontline activists, with at least 70 percent allocated to participants from the Global South to reduce barriers in accommodation and accreditation.

Regional perspectives would also help shape a week-long Human Rights Forum, which would anchor Bangkok Action 2030 – a proposed framework for cooperation on legal and family recognition, bodily autonomy, protection for human-rights defenders, health equity and digital rights.

Furthermore, Bangkok WorldPride 2030 would establish a Pride City Network Asia community hub, building upon Thailand’s existing network of local organizers and authorities to create creating opportunities for Pride organizations across the region.

Building a legacy beyond 2030

Bangkok’s bid builds on Thailand’s continuing journey towards equality. Marriage equality took effect in January 2025, making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriage. By 2030, the country will mark five years since the law took effect – with the global landscape having since shifted.

​Ann Chumaporn, Core Team Lead of WorldPride 2030, Bangkok Candidate City, added: “At a time when gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights are facing severe pushback across the globe, holding our ground is no longer enough, and we must move forward with courage and solidarity. Thailand’s journey to marriage equality proved that transformative change is possible when community leadership remains at the core. Bringing WorldPride 2030 to Bangkok is about opening a vital gateway for Asia – a sanctuary where frontline activists can breathe, connect, and reclaim their narratives. This bid is our collective promise that Asia will not be silenced, but will rise as a powerful force of hope, resilience, and enduring progress for human rights worldwide.”

The bid proposes a legacy that extends beyond the event itself. A share of operational surpluses would establish a permanent Pride City Network Fund, providing micro-grants, capacity-building resources and emergency relocation support for human-rights defenders across Asia. It also proposes a Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Museum and Archive to preserve and increase the visibility of Asian queer histories.

Bangkok’s ambition is for communities across Asia to leave WorldPride 2030 with stronger partnerships, greater access to international support and resources for advancing equality in the years ahead. Click here to find out more and stay updated.

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Here are her poems, long out of print, that wear “burgundy velvet jezebel bras” to seduce “fatally hetero” men, detailing the cabaret of desire amidst social, cultural, and political change. “I am Beauty,” she writes, “and the world dissolves.”

The collection includes a series of interviews by August Bernadicou and a foreword by Brontez Purnell.

Available from Nightboat Books

Lake, Bambi at the premiere of Wigstock the movie, June 9, 1995

Bambi Lake (1950-2020) was an author and chanteuse performer based in San Francisco, known for work that spoke to her experience as a transgender woman, including her ballad “The Golden Age of Hustlers.” She is the author of Devour Me, Again (Nightboat, 2026), as well as a memoir The Unsinkable Bambi Lake (1996).

The post Devour Me, Again: Collected Poems from Bambi Lake, the beloved and bad-mouthed trans icon of San Francisco’s counterculture appeared first on PinkPlayMags.

The Festival offers the opporunity to meet many acclaimed writers, including Dave Eggers, Ann-Marie MacDonald, David Shribman, Canisia Lubrin, Carol Off, Jesse Wente, Andrew Sean Greer, David Szalay, Marie NDiaye, Patrick deWitt, and Philippe Sands, who are included among the more than 100 of Canada’s and the world’s most celebrated writers, thinkers, and storytellers. 

Alongside a lineup of literary fiction luminaries, with guests from 20 countries including Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, France, Italy, Australia, and UAE, this year’s festival delves into politics and history, with a strand of non-fiction programming curated by international human rights lawyer and award-winning author Philippe Sands. Throughout the festival, audiences will discover new perspectives on the world around us, explore the possibilities of adaptation and translation, and experience performances that bring music and the written word together.

Below is a list of select TIFA programme highlights and guests attending over the course of the Festival. For the full Festival programme and schedule, please visit FestivalofAuthors.ca.

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

TIFA welcomes leading writers from around the world:

• Rachel Maddow (host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC) and Rebecca Solnit (author of No Straight Road Takes You There) in conversation with Nahlah Ayad (CBC Ideas). Introduced by Margaret Atwood. This special conversation is the Festival’s opening event at Koerner Hall on Tuesday, October 28, 2025
• Kōtarō Isaka in his first North American appearance. His new novel, Hotel Lucky Seven, features the characters made famous in The Bullet Train, recently adapted for film starring Brad Pitt
• Kiran Desai: The 2006 Man Booker Prize Winner presents her new novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (Booker longlisted for 2025) in her only Canadian appearance
• André Aciman: author of Call Me By Your Name (which became a hit film), presents his new memoir, My Roman Year
• Richard Armitage: TV star of The Hobbit and many Harlan Coben adaptations on his new novel, The Cut
• Serhii Plokhy: one of the world’s foremost writers on Ukraine and Russia presents his new book The Nuclear Age; his book Chernobyl is a television hit
• Nathan Harris: his new novel Amity; his debut The Sweetness of Water was one of President Obama’s Favorite Books of 2021
• Cho-Nam Joo (Kim Ji-Young 1982), Chris Pavone (The Expats, The Doorman), Catherine Newman (Sandwich), Jonas Hassan Khemiri (The Sisters), Susan Choi (Flashlight), Eimear McBride (The City Changes its Face), Alka Joshi Six Days in Bombay) & more

CELEBRATING CANADIAN VOICES

A spotlight on Canada’s most acclaimed authors:

• Giller Prize winners Ian Williams, Michael Redhill, and Souvankham Thammavongsa launch their new novels
• Much loved Canadian authors Thomas King, Madeleine Thien, Emma Donoghue, and Guy Gavriel Kay present their new books
• Festival of Indigenous Stories, co-curated with Niigaan Sinclair: Brian Thomas Isaac, David A Robertson, Katherena Vermette, Kyle Edwards and Tracey Lindberg

ELBOWS UP CANADA!

Across non-fiction and fiction, capturing the state of our nation in 2025:

• Andrew Coyne, Globe & Mail columnist, on Canada’s democratic institutions
• Brian Stewart on his life as a foreign correspondent with CBC
• David Shribman on the future of history in the USA
• Susan Swan and Cathrin Bradbury on being a woman in the ‘troisieme age’
• The Hilary Weston Non-Fiction Prize: celebrate the shortlisted authors
• Kanata Classics: explore the CanLit canon with David Chariandy, David A Robertson and Claire Cameron
• Alex Neve: 2025 Massey Lecturer in conversation on Universality & Human Rights
• Rogers v Rogers, from Page to Stage: with director Chris Abraham, playwright Michael Healy and author Alexandra Posadzki, in partnership with Crow’s Theatre

WELCOME WORLD: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Offering access to global conversations and perspectives:

• Singapore: Jeremy Tiang (State of Emergency) and Jemimah Wei (The Original Daughter), acclaimed Singaporean writers and translators
• Taiwan: Lin King (Taiwan Travelogue) and Terao Tetsuya (Spent Bullets)
• Korea: Cho-Nam Joo (Kim Jiyoung Born 1982), Bo Young-Kim (I’m Waiting for You: And Other Stories) and Jinwoo Park (Oxford Soju Club)
• Arabic Voices: including Ziyad Saadi (Three Parties), Fadi Zaghmout (A Man of Middling Height) and Ibtisam Azem (The Book of Disappearance)
• Diverse US authors: Alejandro Heredia (Loca); David Wright Faladé (The New Internationals), Michel Nieva (Dengue Boy), Adam Haslett (Mothers and Sons), Samrat Upadhyay (Darkmotherland) and more

IDEAS IN ACTION

A nonfiction lineup exploring imagination as a force for change and creativity, including:

• Francesca Wade (Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife) on Gertrude Stein, the salonista and modernist literary legend
• Garth Risk Hallberg (The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant) on Mavis Gallant, iconic Canadian writer
• Susan Aglukark (Kihiani: A Memoir of Healing) and Natalie MacMaster (I Have a Love Story) on music, memory, and resilience
• Ira Wells (On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy) on censorship and book banning
• Victoria Hetherington (The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship) on AI & emotion

PARTNERSHIPS & PROGRAMMES

• Writers Collective of Canada workshops on writing and wellbeing
• Masterclasses in partnership with Humber School for Writers
• Yoga & Journalling sessions

Highlights from the expanded 2026 programme include:

• Festival of Indigenous Stories

• • Times: Daily events throughout the Festival
  • Venues: Emmanuel Chapel & Northrop Frye Hall Room 003
  • Bringing together nine Indigenous authors and artists from Canada and Australia for a slate of conversations and new commissions exploring Indigenous yearning and futurity, the programme features Alicia Elliot, Bebe Oliver, Jasmin McGaughey, Quill Christie-Peters, Nardi Simpson, Kirli Saunders, and Jesse Wente.
  • The Festival of Indigenous Stories is co-curated by award-winning Goorie and Koori poet Evelyn Araluen (The Rot; Dropbear), and bestselling author of Bad Cree, Jessica Johns, of Sucker Creek First Nation.
  • Produced in partnership with Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

• Rupture/Justice

• • Nonfiction programme created with Guest Curator Philippe Sands
  • Award-winning author and international human rights lawyer Philippe Sands joins TIFA as Guest Curator for Rupture / Justice, bringing together an extraordinary international line-up including Caroline Elkins, Adam Hochschild, Jane Mayer, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Gaël Faye, Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Jesse Wente, Mayo Moran, Rebecca Hogue and Robert Moor.
  • Across five conversations, they explore the fault lines fracturing our world: from the unfinished legacies of history and the forces driving political division, to literature as a means of survival and healing, Canada’s ongoing journey towards reconciliation, and our collective responsibility for a planet in crisis.
  • Opening with 5 Moments of Justice in Words and Music, Sands is joined by Gideon Zelermyer, Stephen Glass and Daniel Singer, before closing the series with the acclaimed theatrical performance East West Street: A Song of Good and Evil, featuring Natalie Dessay and Laurent Naouri.

• IV Programme Keynote Conversation with James Daunt

• • Time: Wednesday, October 28 at 2:30 PM
  • Venue: Isabel Bader Theatre
  • This year’s IV Programme Keynote welcomes James Daunt, the founder of Daunt Books, Managing Director of Waterstone’s and CEO of Barnes & Noble.

• In Conversation with Andrew Sean Greer on Villa Coco

• • Time: Wednesday, October 28 at 6:30 PM
  • Venue: Alumni Hall at Victoria University in the University of Toronto
  • What happens when a young American arrives in Tuscany expecting to catalogue art and instead finds himself swept into the eccentric world of an unforgettable Baronessa? Pulitzer Prize–winning author Andrew Sean Greer discusses Villa Coco, his new novel. Told with the signature wit, charm, and humanity that made Less an international phenomenon, Villa Coco is a dazzling, sun-soaked ode to life itself.

• In Conversation with Dave Eggers
• • Time: Thursday, October 29 at 7:00 PM
  • Venue: Alumni Hall at Victoria University in the University of Toronto
  • Dave Eggers — bestselling author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius — discusses his latest novel Contrapposto, a sweeping story of friendship, the lifelong pursuit of art, and the pain and exhilarations of the creative impulse. Named among the most anticipated books of the year by People, and Oprah Daily, the novel draws on Eggers’ own experiences attending art school and training as a classical figurative artist.
• The Politics of Patriotism: Omer Aziz & Carol Off
• • Time: Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 PM
  • Venue: Emmanuel College, Room 119
  • What does it mean to love a country—and what happens when patriotism becomes a tool for power? Join writer, lawyer and former foreign policy advisor Omer Aziz (Shadows of the Republic) and Carol Off (True Patriot Love) for a timely conversation about patriotism, democracy and identity. Drawing on the history of fascism in America, Aziz examines political movements that challenge democratic ideals, while Off explores the complexities of loving a country honestly. Together, they’ll consider nationalism, political extremism and whether challenging our countries can be an essential expression of patriotism.

• 10 years on: A Celebration of Leonard Cohen
• • • Time: Thursday, October 29 at 8:00 PM
    • Venue: Isabel Bader Theatre
    • Ten years after his passing, TIFA celebrates the extraordinary life, work and enduring influence of Leonard Cohen. In a very special evening, a cavalcade of musicians, writers and artists including Justin Rutledge, Luke Doucett, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Anne Michaels, Michael Christie and Britta B. come together to honour one of Canada’s – and the world’s – most iconic and beloved creative voices. Through music, readings and performance, the evening will journey through the rich landscape of Cohen’s poetry, novels and songs, and the creative life that continues to resonate with audiences around the world.
    • Presented in collaboration with McClelland & Stewart, with the support of the Leonard Cohen Estate.
• Birds of a Feather: Jackie Morris, Mark Peck, and Emily Rondel

• • • Time: Sunday, November 1 at 1:30 PM
    • Venue: Victoria Chapel
    • Calling all birdwatchers! Join us for a conversation celebrating the wonderful birdlife of Ontario and beyond. Jackie Morris’s artwork in The Book of Birds (written by Robert Macfarlane) offers an illustrated exploration of birds, their habitats, and their habits, while Mark Peck and Emily Rondel’s A Field Guide to Birds of Ontario provides an essential guide to identifying the province’s diverse species. Together, the authors will explore birdwatching, conservation, illustration, and the joy of paying closer attention to the skies above us

• In Conversation with David Shribman
  • Time: Sunday, November 1 at 3:30 PM
  • Venue: Victoria Chapel at Victoria University in the University of Toronto
  • As tariffs and trade tensions continue to reshape our relationship with our nearest neighbour, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Shribman joins Kyle Wyatt, editor of the Literary Review of Canada, to make sense of these unprecedented times and what may come next.

Passes & Tickets

Festival passes, which include over 110 events at the Isabel Bader Theatre, located within Victoria University on the grounds of the University of Toronto, can be purchased at tickets.festivalofauthors.ca/

Single tickets to events at the Winter Garden Theatre can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

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Miami Beach Pride will return for its 19th annual festival and parade, unveiling “Make Waves” as its new theme and welcoming Akeso Community Health as its presenting sponsor. The free, two-day celebration (April 10/11, 2027) will once again bring thousands of residents and visitors to Miami Beach for a weekend celebrating LGBTQ+ culture, visibility and community. Miami Pride Week officially begins on Apr 2 with a full week of events and activities, including Drag Me to Pride 2.0, April 9, and culminating with the Pride Parade along Ocean Drive beginning at noon on Sunday April 11.

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Like many, Storyteller and Paranormal Consultant  Margo MacDonald once believed that all hauntings were the work of restless spirits, but after two decades spent engaging with firsthand accounts of paranormal encounters — and having a few of her own — she has more questions than answers.

MacDonald asks: Why are we haunted by tragedy but not by joy? If a ghost lives in a house but no one experiences it, does it make a haunting? And what does our desire to believe in ghosts say about us?

With insight and humor, A Curious Presence explores the theories that have shaped MacDonald’s understanding of hauntings and the paranormal. Told through conversations with skeptics, sensitives, parapsychologists, investigators, and haunted-house dwellers — interwoven with vivid accounts of real experiences and visits to famously haunted locations — MacDonald proposes an unsettling idea: Perhaps it isn’t the places that are haunted, but the people who move through them. Perhaps we have more in common with ghosts than we think.

Available from ECW Press

Margo MacDonald is a storyteller and paranormal consultant for the Haunted Walk ghost tour company. She’s a co-creator and host of Alone in the Dark investigations and a frequent guest on paranormal podcasts. In addition, she’s a multi-award-winning performer and writes plays inspired by queer women’s history. Margo lives in Toronto, ON.

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The movement then exploded into the next decade with the popularity of bands that often crossed over into the riot grrrl scene, including Tribe 8, Team Dresch, Sister George, and Huggy Bear. Their revolution took the form of zine and cassette creation, which they distributed far and wide. Those documents became like guidebooks for queer punks in small towns throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

This book explores queercore as a genre that was never intended to be a genre, but instead an underground resistance movement centered around punk. It identifies the key players in the queercore lexicon, from musicians and filmmakers to record labels and zine-makers, and it documents their histories through original interviews and archival research. Ultimately, the book guides readers through the beginnings of queercore into the present, where the legacy of this unlikely genre looms loudly for LGBTQIA+ artists and all those marginalized by the mainstream.

Available from Bloomsbury

Audrey Golden is an arts and culture writer with a focus in music, cinema, and politics based in New York, USA. She is the author of I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women at Factory Records (2023) and Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats. 

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The story traces Johnson’s childhood growing up above one of East London’s most famous pubs, his early international success in music, followed by his sudden disappearance for decades. Then in 2017, The Inertia Variations project brought about an extraordinary creative rebirth, leading to THE THE’s return: The Comeback Special World Tour, live album and film, the release of Ensoulment – their first new album in 25 years – and the acclaimed Ensouled World Tour. Along the way, it illuminates Johnson’s evolution from the post-punk DIY scene to his many collaborations with producers, musicians, and cultural icons, as well as the influence of literature, art, and cinema that has always shaped his vision.

Through these conversations with Matt Johnson – a working-class auto-didact who achieved success and ultimately career control on his own terms – this book by extension is also a meditation on family, friendship, creativity, conservation, gentrification, geopolitics, love and loss.

Available from Omnibus Press

Matt Johnson is an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and only constant member of his band The The. He is also a film soundtrack composer, publisher, broadcaster, conservationist, and local activist. Matt is based in East London.

Jason Wood is Executive Director of Public Programmes and Audiences at BFI (British Film Institute). His other books include 100 American Independent Films, Nick Broomfield: Documenting Icons, The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema, 100 Road Movies and 100 American Independent Films.

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Drawing on Philip Monk’s extensive writing history, Genres High and Low includes essays from the mid-1990s to the present on Canadian and international artists; on the American avant-garde and underground culture of the 1960s and 1970s; on the origins of the downtown Toronto art scene in the late 1970s into the 1980s; and on new ways of thinking about history, archives, and curating.

During his career, Monk worked as a curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario and The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and was director of the Art Gallery of York University. But Monk is best known for leading with his writing. He was Toronto’s first independent art critic, an example others followed. He introduced French theory to English Canadian art writing and combined it with literary invention. His writing is both philosophical and performative: he extended his writing into atypical territory through his experiments with genre, rule-based writing, pseudonyms, and unusual subject matter. He uncovered and then mimicked the operational strategies of the artists he was considering, adopting an analytical style and a narrative form unique to the matter at hand.

Genres High and Low shows an understanding of art writing not as secondary or derivative but as an inventive practice in its own right.

Available from Goose Lane.

Philip Monk, former Director of the Art Gallery of York University in Toronto, has written fourteen books over his career, as well as scores of articles, reviews, and essays, plus dozens of catalogues on international and Canadian artists. Dedicated to setting in place the theoretical conditions for writing the history of contemporary Canadian Art, and of Toronto in particular, Monk’s writing set the terms of debate on art in Canada for decades. His most recent book, Is Toronto Burning? is a history of the conflicted creation of Toronto’s downtown art scene in the late 1970s.

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