{"id":20,"date":"2018-11-17T15:22:25","date_gmt":"2018-11-17T15:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/?page_id=20"},"modified":"2025-04-10T17:56:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T17:56:29","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Writers helping writers since 1921<\/i><\/b> is more than our motto.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian Authors \u2013 Toronto is a branch of the national <\/span>Canadian Authors Association<\/span><\/a> (CAA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022  providing opportunities for professional development
\u2022  promoting the fair and equitable treatment of writers
\u2022  increasing public awareness of Canada\u2019s writing and publishing environment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian Authors \u2013 Toronto is one part of the CAA, to learn more about the national organization, visit their main website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fulfill our commitment, we aim to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022  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.
\u2022  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.
\u2022  Work with partners in the publishing and writing community in order to achieve a diverse, equitable and inclusive space for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As writers we have a special responsibility to challenge racism and other forms of oppression to make our communities more equal and just.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Toronto Branch Social Media Accounts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the latest updates about Canadian Authors \u2013 Toronto news and general writing discussions, please visit our social media accounts.
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       Toronto Branch Executives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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The Canadian Authors Association\u2019s Toronto Branch is managed by a voluntary executive committee which collaborates with a voluntary advisory board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Executive Committee<\/h4>\n\n\n
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President <\/b>JF Garrard<\/strong> is an award-winning speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher. She is the President of Dark Helix Press<\/a>, host of the literary podcast The Artsy Raven<\/a><\/em> (70+ episodes!), and Deputy Editor for Ricepaper Magazine<\/em><\/a>. Her portfolio of books and short fiction is listed on jfgarrard.com<\/a> and you can find her on Twitter @jfgarrard. To download a free short story, My Girl<\/em>, about a mother using supernatural means to save her baby, click here.<\/a> For the latest Artsy Raven<\/em> podcast episodes featuring writers from award winning Catherine Graham to Lindsay Wong, visit this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Membership Coordinator Brandi A. Tanner<\/b> is a freelance writer and photographer based in Toronto, ON. Originally from Riverport, Nova Scotia, she\u2019s also the Sales Coordinator for Comairco Equipment, a position she\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Member-at-large<\/strong> Christopher Gorman<\/strong> 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 \u00ad first novel\u2014Dawn of Magic: Rise of the Guardians<\/em>\u2014 in which he explores what he identifies as the trilogy of powers in this world\u2014nature (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\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Treasurer & Programmer Phoebe An Lee<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary Adam Meridan<\/strong> is a writer, screenwriter, and game developer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He writes dark comedy, psychological thrillers, and about figure skating vampires. You can find him at\u00a0https:\/\/adammeridan.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Advisory Board<\/h4>\n\n\n
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Photograph by
Richard Picton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Gavin Barrett<\/strong> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gavin’s poetry has been published in Reasons For Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets, Penguin India<\/em> (ed. Ranjit Hoskote), The Toronto South Asian Review, the Pen India journal, Folio<\/em> \u2013 the literary monthly of The Hindu, The Independent,<\/em> and Poeisis<\/em> – the journal of the Bombay Poetry Circle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He co-curates The Tartan Turban Secret Readings, which promotes minority voices in Canadian literature, especially visible minority and indigenous writers.
\nHis 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hana Kim<\/strong> 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\u2019 Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards (Poetry). Apart from translating Love is the Pain of Feverish Flowers <\/em>(Seoul Selection), she has also contributed translations and original poems to various publications including Variety Crossing<\/em> and Han K\u016dt: Critical Art and Writing by Korean Canadian Women <\/em>(Inanna Publications). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writers helping writers since 1921 is more than our motto. Canadian Authors \u2013 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: \u2022  providing opportunities for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-20","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":60,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}