Join us for The Ampersand Review March Writing Series!

Room B222 @ Sheridan College HMC Campus.

Cassidy McFadzean will lead us in a two-hour poetry workshop titled Lists and Litanies. From anaphora and incantations to unconventional gratitude lists, grocery lists, bucket lists, and more, this workshop will uncover inventive methods of writing poetry using rhythm and anaphora, as well as personal memories and the material of daily life inspired by Joe Brainard's long poem "I Remember.” We’ll have time for 2-3 in-class exercises stemming from the readings, as well as additional prompts to take home.  Participants should bring a notebook and something to write with. 

Cassidy McFadzean is the author of three books of poetry: Crying Dress (House of Anansi, 2024), Drolleries (McClelland & Stewart 2019), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award, and Hacker Packer (M&S 2015), winner of two Saskatchewan Book Awards and finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Joyland, The Walrus, Hazlitt, and Dead Writers (Invisible Publishing, 2024). Her chapbook Third State of Being (Gaspereau Press, 2022) was a finalist for the bpNichol Chapbook Award. Cassidy was born in Regina, and currently lives in Toronto.

Spots are limited so reserve your seat early!*

*Please note that anyone registered for a student ticket will need to show their Sheridan Student ID at the door.

This March we’re joined by authors Michael Lapointe and Sam Shelstad at Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus. Our lineup of talented writers will share their work in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Come sip on some coffee, meet fellow book lovers, and immerse yourself in a world of words. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to support local artists and indulge in the magic of storytelling. More information coming soon!

Michael LaPointe is the author of The Creep (2021), a novel published by Random House Canada. He has written for The New Yorker and The Atlantic, and he was a columnist with The Paris Review. He lives in Toronto.

Sam Shelstad’s second novel, The Cobra and the Key, was longlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He is the author of the novel Citizens of Light, which won the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Best Crime First Novel Award, and short story collection Cop House. He lives in Toronto.

DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR MARCH 4, 2025

This February we’re joined by authors Phoebe Wang and Kate Gies at Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus! Our lineup of talented writers will share their work in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Come sip on some coffee, meet fellow book lovers, and immerse yourself in a world of words. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to support local artists and indulge in the magic of storytelling. More information coming soon.

Phoebe Wang is a writer and educator based in Toronto, Canada and a first-generation Chinese-Canadian. Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft and Community is her most recent book, a collection of essays released by Assembly Press in October 2024. She is also the author of two poetry collections, Admission Requirements (McClelland and Stewart, 2017) nominated for the Trillium Book Award, and Waking Occupations (McClelland and Stewart, 2022). She has been a poetry editor with Fiddlehead Magazine, Baseline Press, and Brick Books, a mentor with Diaspora Dialogues and the University of Toronto MA in Creative Writing program, and currently works as a Writing and Learning Consultant at OCAD University.

Kate Gies is a writer and educator living in Toronto. She teaches creative nonfiction and expressive arts at George Brown College. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published in The Malahat Review, The Humber Literary Review, Hobart, Minola Review, and the Best Canadian Essays 2024 Anthology.

Her memoir, It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished, about her childhood medical experiences related to a missing ear is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster Canada in February.

Join us for The Ampersand Review February Writing Series!

Author Sydney Hegele will lead us in a two-hour workshop titled The Great Unsaid: Subtext, Distance, & Implication in Fiction Writing. Employing subtext in our work is a delicate task. Too little, and we have “on the nose” dialogue, our characters’ traumas sensationalized for shock-value. Too much, and "reading between the lines” becomes more work than our story is worth—our plot lacks stakes, our setting has nothing to anchor it, and our characters have no lives beyond the page. Through a series of generative writing exercises, participants will learn how to effectively use what is left unsaid to create evocative descriptions, realistic dialogue, higher stakes, and better plot pacing, inviting readers to become active participants in the world of their work. Participants are encouraged to use an on-going (fiction) work-in-progress of their own as a reference point through the exercises (a novel or short story), though everyone will receive a copy of the exercises and workshop notes to take home and use for future work as well. 

Sydney Hegele is the author of Bird Suit (Invisible Publishing 2024) and The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021), winner of the 2022 ReLit Literary Award for Short Fiction and a finalist for the 2022 Trillium Book Award. Their essays have appeared in Catapult, Electric Literature, and EVENT, and have been featured by Lithub, The Poetry Foundation, and Psychology Today. Their essay collection Bad Kids: A Polyphony is forthcoming with Invisible in Spring 2026. Sydney is on faculty at both the Lighthouse Writer's Workshop in Denver, CO, and WritingWorkshops.com, where they teach craft workshops for both the Adult and Youth programs. They live with their husband and French Bulldog in Toronto.

Spots are limited so reserve your seat early!*

*Please note that anyone registered for a student ticket will need to show their Sheridan Student ID at the door. Writing Series take place in Room B222 @ Sheridan College HMC Campus.

Join us for The Ampersand Review January Writing Series!*

Room B222 @ Sheridan College HMC Campus.

Paige Maylott will lead us in a two-hour workshop titled Reliving the Moment. Touching on Mary Karr’s techniques in The Art of Memoir, author Paige Maylott shows how to capture moments to create vivid and authentic scenes in works of creative non-fiction. Participants will learn how to stage a scene and start the process of transferring their own vibrant memories onto the page. Please come to the workshop with one or two moments in mind that you would like to explore.

Paige Maylott is a Hamilton, Ontario, author, gamer, and accessibility specialist. Her recent memoir, My Body is Distant (ECW Press, 2023), explores gender transition, critical illness, and digital identity. This work was awarded the 2024 Hamilton Literary Award for Non-Fiction, the Gold IPPY Award for LGBTQ+ Non-Fiction, was shortlisted for the Rakuten Kobo 2024 Emerging Writer Prize, and earned a spot on the Hamilton Review of Books’ “Best Books of 2023.” Paige’s writing has been celebrated by CBC Books, Publishers Weekly, Open Book, and the Whistler Writers Festival, among many others.

Spots are limited so reserve your seat early!*

*Please note that anyone registered for a student ticket will need to show their Sheridan Student ID at the door.

Celebrate the launch of The Ampersand Review Issue No. 7 with us on Wednesday, January 22, from 6:00–8:00 PM at Mississauga's Hazel McCallion Central Library! Meet us in Program Room 2B to enjoy readings, meet our contributors, and pick up your copy of Issue No. 7.!

In the seventh issue of The Ampersand Review, we are proud to present a variety of short stories, poems, and works of creative nonfiction that showcase innovative writing in the Canadian literary landscape. This issue features an exclusive interview with Cassidy McFadzean, poetry by Leah Bobet and Amber Dawn, fiction by Damian Tarnopolsky, and Kim Fahner's winning essay of The Ampersand Review Essay Contest 2024.

You can expect readings from Leah Bobet, Rami Schandall, Cassidy McFadzean, and Damian Tarnopolsky, with surprise virtual visits from Robert Priest, Johnathan Bessette, Marcia Walker and Lydia Kwa!

This January we’re joined by author Robert McGill and Lily Wang at Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus. Our lineup of talented writers will share their work in a warm and inviting atmosphere, followed by a moderated discussion with Sheridan College's Writer-in-Residence, Cassidy McFadzean. An open mic will follow.

Come sip on some coffee, meet fellow book lovers, and immerse yourself in a world of words. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to support local artists and indulge in the magic of storytelling.

Robert McGill is the author of three novels, two nonfiction books, and, most recently, a short fiction collection, Simple Creatures, published by Coach House Books. His stories have appeared in The Atlantic, The Dublin Review, and Hazlitt, among others. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where he is the Acting Chair of English.

Lily Wang was born in Shanghai, China, and immigrated to Canada at the age of six. They have an MA in English from the University of Toronto. Their debut novel, Silver Repetition, was published in February 2024.

The January Reading Series will be a fiction focused event joined by author Kate Gies! ! Join us for a cozy evening of literature and storytelling at Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus. Come sip on some coffee, meet fellow book lovers, and immerse yourself in a world of words. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to support local artists and indulge in the magic of storytelling. Stay tuned for more information!

Welcome to The Ampersand Review Reading Series! Join us in the Creative Campus Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening of readings and discussion. Readings will be followed by an open mic with the sign-up sheet available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Michelle Winters is a writer, painter, and translator born and raised in Saint John, NB. Her debut novel, I Am a Truck, was shortlisted for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is the translator of Kiss the Undertow and Daniil and Vanya by Marie-Hélène Larochelle. She lives in Toronto.

Rebecca Rosenblum is the author of the short-story collections Once and The Big Dream, the novel So Much Love, and the memoir These Days Are Numbered. Her work has been shortlisted for the Trillium Award and the Amazon First Novel Award, and nominated for the Toronto Heritage Book Award. Rebecca lives with her husband, author Mark Sampson, and their two cats in Toronto.

The Ampersand Review November Writing Series is joining hands with author Gary Barwin! Join us in room B222 at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for the chance to share your work with other writers and an established Canadian author. Slots are limited, so be to reserve your tickets early!

In this engaging and surprising workshop, Gary Barwin will lead participants on a series of writing exploits, exploring writing as both a destination and a means of getting there. He’ll introduce strategies and approaches for taking risks and breaking boundaries, ways of trampolining and trapdooring into new places with poetry and prose & points in between. Partipicants will explore new possibilities for creation as well as new ways of thinking about writing. They’ll road test a bunch of different approaches, write collaboratively, and try out an array of fun and generative writing activities.

Gary Barwin is a writer, musician and multimedia artist and the author of 31 books including Scandal at the Alphorn Factory: New and Selected Short Fiction 2024-1984 and, with Lillian Allen and Gregory Betts, Muttertongue. His national bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates which won the Leacock Medal and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and the Giller Prize and was longlisted for Canada Reads. His most recent novel, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and was the Hamilton Reads choice for 2023-2024.  His art and media works have been exhibited internationally. He lives in Hamilton. garybarwin.com

Welcome to The Ampersand Review Reading Series! Join us in the Creative Campus Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening of readings and discussion. Readings will be followed by an open mic with the sign-up sheet available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Liz Worth is a poet, novelist and nonfiction writer. She is a two-time nominee for the ReLit Award for Poetry for her books The Truth is Told Better This Way and No Work Finished Here: Rewriting Andy Warhol. Her first book, Treat Me Like Dirt, was the first of its kind to provide an in-depth history of southern Ontario’s first wave punk movement. Her new poetry book, Inside Every Dream, a Raging Sea, is published through Book*hug Press. 

Natasha Ramoutar is a writer of Indo-Guyanese descent from Toronto. Her debut collection of poetry, Bittersweet, published in 2020 by Mawenzi House, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She was the co-editor of Feel Ways, an anthology of Scarborough literature. She is a senior editor with Augur Magazine and serves on the editorial board at Wolsak and Wynn. Her second collection of poetry Baby Cerberus will be released October, 2024.

The Ampersand Review is proud to debut its Writing Series with author Stuart Ross! Join us in room B222 at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for the chance to share your work with other writers and an established Canadian author. Slots are limited, so be to reserve your tickets early!

AMPERSAND WRITING SERIES with STUART ROSS 

SELF-PORTRAIT: POEMS & PROSE OF OBSERVATION

THE WORKSHOP: Through a series of speedy, positive, pleasurable writing projects, we will explore the idea of writing a portrait of ourselves through that which we observe and prioritize. Poets and prose-ists both welcome!

THE WRITER: Stuart Ross is the author of over 20 books of fiction, poetry, and personal essays, as well as scores of chapbooks. His most recent books are the memoir The Book of Grief and Hamburgers, for which he won the 2023 Trillium Book Award, and the short story collection I Am Claude François and You Are a Bathtub. Stuart received the 2019 Harbourfront Festival Prize, the 2017 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry, and the 2010 Relit Award for Short Fiction. He has been writer in residence at Queen’s University and the University of Ottawa, and has taught at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies. Since 1979, Stuart has run a micropress called Proper Tales. In the 1980s, he sold over 7,000 of his chapbooks on the streets of Toronto, wearing signs such as “Writer Going To Hell: Buy My Books.” His poetry has been translated into Nynorsk, French, Spanish, Russian, Slovene, and Estonian. Stuart lives in the tiny town of Cobourg, on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

Welcome to The Ampersand Review Reading Series! Join us in the Creative Campus Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening of readings and discussion. Readings will be followed by an open mic with the sign-up sheet available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Jean Marc Ah-Sen is the author of Grand Menteur, In the Beggarly Style of Imitation, and Kilworthy Tanner. His work has appeared in Literary Hub, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Maclean’s, and elsewhere. The National Post has hailed his writing as an “inventive escape from the conventional.”

Faith Arkorful is the author of The Seventh Town of Ghosts, out now with McClelland & Stewart (an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada). Her work has appeared in GUTS Magazine, Peach Mag, PRISM International, Hobart Pulp, and Canthius Magazine, amongst other places. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize. Faith was born in Toronto, where she still resides.

The Ampersand Review is proud to debut its Writing Series with author Lindsay Zier-Vogel! Join us in room B222 at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for the chance to share your work with other writers and an established Canadian author. Slots are limited, so be to reserve your tickets early!

Lindsay Zier-Vogel is an author, grant writer, and the creator of the internationally acclaimed Love Lettering Project. After studying contemporary dance, she received her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. She is the author of the acclaimed debut novel Letters to Amelia, and her first picture book, Dear Street was a 2023 Junior Library Guild pick, a Canadian Children’s Book Centre book of the year, and was nominated for a Forest of Reading Blue Spruce Award. Her second novel, The Fun Times Brigade is out in 2025, and she is co-editing The Deep End: Reflections on Swimming with Andrea Bennett. Her hand-bound books of poetry are housed in the permanent collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library in Toronto, and she leads creative writing workshops in schools and community settings.

Join us at the launch of The Ampersand Review Issue No. 6 on September 14th, 2024 from 12:30pm-2:30pm at the Mississauga Hazel McCallion Library's Central Branch! Head over to Program Room 3B to hear readings, meet our contributors, and to pick up your copy of our newest issue!

In the sixth issue of The Ampersand Review, we are proud to present a variety of short stories, poems, and a work of creative nonfiction that showcase innovative writers in the Canadian literary landscape. This issue features an exclusive interview with Canisia Lubrin, poetry by Adam Wilson and Meghan Kemp-Gee, fiction by Annick MacAskill, and creative non-fiction by Mieke De Vries.

In partnership with Mississauga Library

The Ampersand Review Reading Series returns! Join us in the Creative Campus Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening of readings and discussion. Readings will be followed by an open mic with the sign-up sheet available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Danila Botha is the author of three critically acclaimed short story collections, GOT NO SECRETS and FOR ALL THE MEN (AND SOME OF THE WOMEN I’VE KNOWN) which was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award, The Vine Awards and the ReLit Award. Her new collection, THINGS THAT CAUSE INAPPROPRIATE HAPPINESS was published in April by Guernica Editions. The title story, Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. It was named by The Toronto Star as one of Twenty-One Books to Put At the Top Of Your Reading List. She is also the author of the award-winning novel TOO MUCH ON THE INSIDE which was optioned for film. Her new novel, A PLACE FOR PEOPLE LIKE US will be published by Guernica Editions in 2025. She teaches Creative Writing as part of the faculty at Humber School for Writers.

Damian Tarnopolsky is the author of Lanzmann and Other Stories, Goya’s Dog, and The Defence. His work has been nominated for many awards, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, and the Journey Prize, and he won the Voaden Prize for Playwriting in 2019. He teaches at the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab at the University of Toronto. 

We are so excited to invite you to The Ampersand Review Issue No. 5 Launch! Join us on April 2nd to celebrate this incredible issue and the talented contributors that filled its pages. It will be a celebratory evening filled with trivia, readings, prizes, a fun photobooth and more.

Nomad Customs will have a Digital Photo Booth set up from 6pm-8pm for everyone to capture fun memories and celebrate the launch.

Welcome to The Ampersand Review March Reading Series! Join us in the Creative Campus Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening of readings and discussion. The readings will be followed by an open mic with the sign-up sheet will be available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Kate Cayley is our host, and she is also this year's Writer-in-Residence at Sheridan College. Kate Cayley has published two short story collections and three collections of poetry, and her plays have been performed in Canada, the US and the UK. She has won the Trillium Book Award, an O. Henry Prize, and the Mitchell Prize for Poetry, and been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, the ReLit Award for both fiction and poetry, and the K. M. Hunter Award for Fiction. Her writing has appeared in Brick, Electric Literature, Joyland, Best Canadian Poetry and Best Canadian Stories, and she has been a writer in residence at McMaster University and the Toronto Public Library.

Johanna Skibsrud is the author of three previous collections of poetry, three novels—including the Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novel, The Sentimentalists—and three nonfiction titles, including The Nothing That Is: Essays on Art, Literature, and Being, and most recently, Fool: A Study in Literature and Practice. An Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Arizona, Johanna divides her time between Tucson, Arizona, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Cassidy McFadzean studied poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and fiction at Brooklyn College. She is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Crying Dress (House of Anansi 2024). Her poems have appeared in magazines across Canada and the US, and her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Joyland, Maisonneuve, Event, and Slate’s Future Tense Fiction series.

Welcome to The Ampersand Review February Reading Series! Join us in the B-Wing Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening readings and discussion. The readings will be followed by an open mic; the sign-up sheet will be available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Kate Cayley is our host, and she is also this year's Writer-in-Residence at Sheridan College. Kate Cayley has published two short story collections and three collections of poetry, and her plays have been performed in Canada, the US and the UK. She has won the Trillium Book Award, an O. Henry Prize, and the Mitchell Prize for Poetry, and been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, the ReLit Award for both fiction and poetry, and the K. M. Hunter Award for Fiction. Her writing has appeared in Brick, Electric Literature, Joyland, Best Canadian Poetry and Best Canadian Stories, and she has been a writer in residence at McMaster University and the Toronto Public Library.

Sydney Hegele is our headlining reader. Sydney is the author of The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021), winner of the 2022 ReLit Literary Award for Short Fiction and a finalist for the 2022 Trillium Book Award. Their novel Bird Suit is forthcoming with Invisible Publishing on May 07, 2024, and their essay collection Bad Kids is forthcoming with Invisible in Fall 2025. Their essays have appeared in Catapult, Electric Literature, EVENT, and others. They live with their husband and French Bulldog on Treaty 13 Land (Toronto, Canada).

Moez Surani's writing has been published internationally, including in Harper's, the Globe & Mail, and Best Canadian Poetry. His visual art has been exhibited at WhiteBox Arts Space in New York, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and Nuit Blanche Toronto. He is the author of 4 poetry books and, most recently, the novel The Legend of Baraffo, which Omar El-Akkad called, "a lucid dream of a novel, a fable fierce in its moral clarity and gorgeous at the line level."

Welcome to The Ampersand Review Reading Series! Join us in the B-Wing Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus for an immersive evening of listening to several authors read from their books. The readings will be followed by an open mic, and the sign-up sheet will be available at the event. Slots are limited, so be sure to arrive on time to reserve your time at the mic!

Kate Cayley is our host, and she is also this year's Writer-in-Residence at Sheridan College. Kate Cayley has published two short story collections and three collections of poetry, and her plays have been performed in Canada, the US and the UK. She has won the Trillium Book Award, an O. Henry Prize, and the Mitchell Prize for Poetry, and been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, the ReLit Award for both fiction and poetry, and the K. M. Hunter Award for Fiction. Her writing has appeared in Brick, Electric Literature, Joyland, Best Canadian Poetry and Best Canadian Stories, and she has been a writer in residence at McMaster University and the Toronto Public Library.

Our headliner is Stuart Ross. Stuart Ross is the author of over 20 books of fiction, poetry, and personal essays, as well as scores of chapbooks. His most recent books are the memoir The Book of Grief and Hamburgers, for which he won the 2023 Trillium Book Award, and the short story collection I Am Claude François and You Are a Bathtub. Stuart received the 2019 Harbourfront Festival Prize, the 2017 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry, and the 2010 Relit Award for Short Fiction. He has been writer in residence at Queen’s University and the University of Ottawa, and has taught at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies. Since 1979, Stuart has run a micropress called Proper Tales. In the 1980s, he sold over 7,000 of his chapbooks on the streets of Toronto, wearing signs such as “Writer Going To Hell: Buy My Books.” His poetry has been translated into Nynorsk, French, Spanish, Russian, Slovene, and Estonian. Stuart lives in the tiny town of Cobourg, on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

Bronwyn Fischer is the author of the novel, The Adult. She is a graduate of the University of Guelph’s MFA program in Creative Writing. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. She was born in Bahrain. She now lives in Toronto with her wife, Emma.

Location: The B-Wing Gallery room B234 of the Hazel McCallion Campus, Second Floor