5 LGBTQ Authors At The 2019 Word On The Street Festival

Here are 5 five LGBTQ authors participating in Word On The Street this weekend (plus, their must-read new releases to add to your fall reading list)…
 
For 30 years, The Word on the Street Toronto has been bringing together writers, publishers, and bookovers to celebrate the world of Canadian literature. This weekend, the annual festival returns with a lineup full of talks, readings, workshops, and more featuring both emerging and critically-acclaimed voices.
 
To get you ready for the festival (Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22), here is a run-down of five participating LGBTQ authors with must-read new releases to add to your fall reading list.
 
Casey Plett
Casey Platt’s Little Fish won not one award but two: the Amazon Canada First Novel Ward and the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. The impressive debut tells the story of a 30-year-old trans woman from Winnipeg who discovers that her grandfather may have also been transgender.
 
* Buy Little Fish on Amazon here and catch her at Amazon.ca Bestsellers from 3:15pm-4:15pm.
 
Nick Green
Nick Green is an award-winning playwright whose work has graced stages across Canada and New York. His new release is a historical drama that brings to life the story of Phillip, a journalist and founding member of Toronto-based gay-liberation newspaper The Body Politic.
 
* Buy Body Politic on Amazon here and catch him at Vibrant Voices of Ontario from 2:30pm-3:00pm.
 
Kai Cheng Thom
Kai Cheng Thom, a social worker and author of four books (including this adorable gender-bending picture book for children) has released a new collection of essays and prose poems. I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World explores questions of violence, vengeance, complicity, family, and forgiveness.
 
* Buy I Hope We Choose Love on Amazon here and catch her at Amazon.ca Bestsellers at 2:30pm-3:00pm and again at 3:15pm-4:15pm.
 
Brian Francis
Toronto-based award-winning writer Brian Francis is back with a new YA novel. Break In Case of Emergency opens when a teenage girl loses her mother to suicide. She then sets out to meet her estranged father, who she discovers is gay, a famous female impersonator, and someone who is not mature enough to take on his new fatherly responsibilities. The story follows her path navigating new relationships and her quest to move forward.
 
* Buy Break In Case of Emergency on Amazon here and catch him at the Great Books Marquee from 2:15pm-2:24pm.
 
Sienna Tristen
Fantasy novelist Sienna Tristen is known for her award-winning The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming and for her involvement in a multimedia project called The Shale Project, which publishes healing and innovative fiction. Her novel tells the story of a man’s journey across continents looking to fulfil his spiritual identity.
 
* Buy The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming on Amazon here and catch her at Across the Universe from 11:45am-12:45pm.
 
For more information on the 2019 Word On The Street Festival, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca.