JUNE 22: Marsha Lederman is the Western Arts Correspondent for the Globe and Mail. Before joining the Globe, Marsha worked for CBC Radio, mostly in Toronto, where she held a variety of positions, including National Arts Reporter.

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JULY 18: Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist and the author of twenty-three books of poetry, fiction and books for children. His recent national bestselling novel, Yiddish for Pirates, won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour as well as the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and the Hamilton Literary Award. It was also a finalist for both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction. For It Is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe: New and Selected Poems was also recently published to much acclaim. A PhD in music composition, Barwin has taught creative writing at a number of colleges and universities. His prose and poetry has been published in hundreds of magazine and journals internationally--from Reader's Digest to Granta and the Walrus. Born in Northern Ireland to South African parents of Ashkenazi descent, Barwin lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Gary's book, Nothing The Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy is the winner of the 2021 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for fiction.

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MAY 25: USA Today and #1 nationally bestselling author of WOMAN ON THE EDGE, Samantha M. Bailey grew up in Thornhill and was an active member of Temple Har Zion, where her father, Michael Stroh, was the founding rabbi. At sixteen, she moved with her family to Jerusalem for six months, where she attended Masorti High School. Samantha was also a teacher in the Har Zion religious school for many years, before moving to Montreal to attend McGill University, where she received a Bachelor of Education, with a minor in religious philosophy.  

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