This November we're joined by Melanie Little, Léonicka Valcius, Hollay Ghadery, and Jack Illingworth for our first Industry Talks event! Join us as we sit down with four professionals from across the publishing industry to get all of your burning questions answered.
Please note that the Industry Talks event will be taking place in the C506 in the C-Wing at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus.
Melanie Little is an award-winning author and editor of fiction and non-fiction. She was the inaugural editor of Calgary’s Freehand Books, for which she was awarded the Book Publishers’ Association of Alberta’s Award for Editorial Excellence, and has been a senior editor of Canadian fiction for House of Anansi Press. Books she has edited have won the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and have twice been finalists for Canada Reads. She is now a freelance editor and writing mentor in Toronto whose regular clients include Coach House Books, Penguin Random House, and Diaspora Dialogues. She is currently completing a novel that draws on her experiences as an editor.
Léonicka Valcius is a Literary Agent at Transatlantic Agency who specializes in commercial and genre fiction for children and adults. As one of the founding organizers of The Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton, amplifying marginalized creatives is a core part of her ethos. As a lawyer licensed in Ontario, Léonicka also offers detailed contract reviews and contract negotiation services to protect the creative labour and intellectual property rights of writers who do not have or want literary agents. Léonicka draws on over 15 years of sales and marketing experience and her work at multinational publishers to help her clients build sustainable and intentional careers.
Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024 and is long listed for the Toronto Book Awards. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is a host on The New Books Network, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League’s BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com
Jack Illingworth is the executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers. He has previously held senior roles at the Ontario Arts Council and the Literary Press Group of Canada. He lives in Toronto and Neebing, Ontario.