By Lady Ping •  November 1, 2026 •  2 min read

Among the highlights is the festival's ability to increase visibility of often unsung voices, and frankly many unsung heroes. Authors from many diasporas are celebrated and given space to share their stories, including people who identify as Indigenous, racialized, queer, or disabled, as well as immigrants and those for whom English is not a first language.

Unsung heroes also include small press or indie publishers who do well to identify and champion unsung voices. Here are some examples of how such publishers stand out and foster originality: 

• VERVE Books includes queer books in their publishing; 

• Coach House Books publish many books about the city of Toronto; 

• Book*hug Press publish a lot of translated foreign language books as well as poetry; 

• House of Anansi's publishing includes the Massey Lectures each year (which is a series of lectures in Canada given by distinguished scholars, writers, and thinkers that delve into contemporary issues); 

• Gap Riot Press, with a mighty team of just two people, manage to publish uniquely creative books  that have a handmade element to the book with stories by women, femmes, and non-binary writers; and 

• Augur Magazine who, with a passionate team of a dozen editors and readers, give writers of speculative, surreal, or uncommon perspectives a platform to showcase their work.

At any other time of year, you can still support these amazing authors and publishers by looking for their books in stores or reading about and purchasing their work online.

• Here is a link to all the books featured at TIFA's Festival 2026: https://festivalofauthors.ca/festival-2026-books/ 

• Here is a link to a map (created by Kate Siklosi, Co-Founding Editor, Gap Riot Press) of small press publishers in Canada: https://festivalofauthors.ca/small-press-interactive-map/