Writers helping writers since 1921 is more than our motto.

Canadian Authors – Toronto is a branch of the national Canadian Authors Association (CAA).

Our Mission

CAA is an organization dedicated to promoting a flourishing community of writers across Canada and encouraging works of literary and artistic merit. We do this by:

•  providing opportunities for professional development
•  promoting the fair and equitable treatment of writers
•  increasing public awareness of Canada’s writing and publishing environment

The Canadian Authors – Toronto is one part of the CAA, to learn more about the national organization, visit their main website here.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement

Canadian Authors Association, Toronto Branch, recognizes that a public commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is crucial to our growth as part of the wider Canadian arts and culture ecosystem.

To fulfill our commitment, we aim to:

•  Welcome and include in our organizational structure and programs all writers who are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, those who represent all sexual orientations and gender expressions, ages, linguistic backgrounds, economic status, religious expressions and abilities.
•  Build and maintain an executive board that reflects these diverse groups and encourage all to volunteer, apply for leadership positions, and participate in programming for our organization.
•  Work with partners in the publishing and writing community in order to achieve a diverse, equitable and inclusive space for all. 

As writers we have a special responsibility to challenge racism and other forms of oppression to make our communities more equal and just.

Toronto Branch Social Media Accounts

For the latest updates about Canadian Authors – Toronto news and general writing discussions, please visit our social media accounts.

       Toronto Branch Executives

The Canadian Authors Association’s Toronto Branch is managed by a voluntary executive committee which collaborates with a voluntary advisory board.

Executive Committee

Co-President Lee Parpart has been writing since she was a kid, and began publishing poetry in 2015 with a little Los Angeles indie outfit called Silver Birch Press. Lee has published short fiction in The Nancy Drew Anthology and in Open Book: Ontario’s 2016 What’s Your Story Contest anthology, after her short story won an emerging writer prize. She won an honourable mention in Negative Capability Press’s Spring 2020 poetry contest, and was the first person to receive Arc Poetry Magazine’s Award of Awesomeness in Spring 2020. Lee’s columns on visual art and cinema have appeared in The Globe and Mail’s Broadcast Week magazine and in The Kingston Whig-Standard, C Magazine, POV magazine, and elsewhere. A former film studies lecturer at York University and the University of Toronto, Lee’s scholarly essays on Canadian, U.S. and Irish cinema and television have appeared in nine books and journals. She works full-time as an editor and marketing specialist for Iguana Books in Toronto, and is a former programs chair of Editors Toronto.

Co-President JF Garrard is an award-winning speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher. She is the President of Dark Helix Press, host of the literary podcast The Artsy Raven, and Deputy Editor for Ricepaper Magazine. Her portfolio of books and short fiction is listed on jfgarrard.com and you can find her on Twitter @jfgarrard. To download a free short story, My Girl, about a mother using supernatural means to save her baby, click here. For the latest Artsy Raven podcast episodes featuring writers from award winning Catherine Graham to Lindsay Wong, visit this page.

Membership Coordinator Brandi A. Tanner is a freelance writer and photographer based in Toronto, ON. Originally from Riverport, Nova Scotia, she’s also the Sales Coordinator for Comairco Equipment, a position she’s held for the last nine years. She looks forward to applying her multitasking and administrative skills from that job to the role of Membership Coordinator with the newly revamped Toronto branch of the Canadian Authors Association. Brandi is working on her first novel, in science fiction, along with a multitude of short stories and poems.

Member-at-large Christopher Gorman has had a love for reading, writing, and science since childhood. As an adult, his fascination for fantasy and magic blossomed, and he began making notes and drafts for his ­ first novel—Dawn of Magic: Rise of the Guardians— in which he explores what he identifies as the trilogy of powers in this world—nature (magic), faith, and science. He had several careers from suits to cars to airplanes before rediscovering the story bubbling within. Embracing his passion, he joined the Canadian Author’s Association and their events helped galvanize him into completing his novel. Traveling throughout Canada and the world, he has participated in pagan rituals in the mountains and explored sites of ancient wisdom in England, Wales, and Ireland. 

Member-at-Large Pamela Yuen lives in Toronto’s downtown east end with her cat, twenty houseplants, and many boxes of notebooks. She writes and performs (really long) narrative prose poems to compensate for being a quiet Virgo. That said, she is always happy to talk about tarot, space operas, and bad goth music. You can listen to her work through Brick Book’s Brickyard.

Secretary Vale Zalecki is a writer and publisher based in Toronto, ON. They run Paradox Ghost Press, an indie horror press, and write poetry and fiction in the genres of thrillers, horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy. They also enjoy making silly little videogames and the occasional polymer clay sculpture.

Treasurer & Programmer Phoebe An Lee is a middle grade / young adult fantasy writer based in Toronto. She has written and edited for various mediums, such as newspapers, marketing collateral, project proposals and other corporate communications materials. But her main love is writing fiction, where she can create new worlds and kooky characters. As a third culture kid growing up Filipino-Chinese-Canadian and living in various countries in her young adult life, she is inspired by her cultural upbringing and committed to advancing diversity in literature. She looks forward to bringing together Toronto’s writing community through fun, educational and inspiring events.

Advisory Board

Gavin Barrett is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Toronto advertising agency Barrett and Welsh. He has also been employed as a door-to-door market researcher, poet, pharmaceutical sales manager (not a euphemism) and musical production manager.

Gavin’s poetry has been published in Reasons For Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets, Penguin India (ed. Ranjit Hoskote), The Toronto South Asian Review, the Pen India journal, Folio – the literary monthly of The Hindu, The Independent, and Poeisis – the journal of the Bombay Poetry Circle.

He co-curates The Tartan Turban Secret Readings, which promotes minority voices in Canadian literature, especially visible minority and indigenous writers.
His work has appeared in 35 countries, provoked the the ire of the lawyers for Dolly the cloned sheep, drawn angry crowds in Lagos and attracted criticism from a fictional character in a John Irving novel.

He has been trained by several notable feminists including his mother, his wife and his two daughters. If asked they will confirm that his education, at this time, is incomplete.

Hana Kim is the director of the East Asian Library at the University of Toronto. She is the author of multiple book chapters and journal articles in library and information science. Her research interests include Asian Canadian heritage and various areas in East Asian libraries. In her time away from work, she enjoys translating poetry. She won the Sunshik Min Prize of the Min Chapbook Competition. She is also a recipient of the Korea Times’ Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards (Poetry). Apart from translating Love is the Pain of Feverish Flowers (Seoul Selection), she has also contributed translations and original poems to various publications including Variety Crossing and Han Kŭt: Critical Art and Writing by Korean Canadian Women (Inanna Publications).