It’s coming up so soon and I can’t wait!! The Ignited by Books Author Event is happening at the Delta Hotel on the Airport Strip in Toronto (Dixon Road) on Saturday, September 13th, 2025.

When I attended this event last year, it was my first big author signing as a reader and I had such a blast talking to all of the authors, collecting some new books and some new insights into the writing and publishing process. And this year, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with several authors I’ve met a couple of times now. Among them, Renee Gendron, Pebbles Lacasse, C.A, King, Willa Drew (they are actually two authors who work together!), and the organizers, Crystal St. Clair, J.C. Hannigan, and Erin Cristofoli.

Watch this space for more information on the event…I believe there are tickets still available. Hope to see you there!

UPDATE

It’s been a busy few weeks since that bookish day in September, but here’s how the day went. I started out visiting the Mississauga Literary Festival at the Hazel McCallion Library in downtown Mississauga. This event is put on by the Mississauga Library and it’s such an eclectic mix of different authors – everything from children’s and young adult book authors to sci-fi, non-fiction, romance (spicy and not so spicy, paranormal, romantasy, and everything in between!), poetry, art, etc. I got to meet and chat with lots of different authors about their processes and their books. Here are some of the highlights:

The first table I came to had a very interesting sci-fi author by the name of Hugh A.D. Spencer. He seemed quiet until I got him talking about his books and he sold me on “Extreme Dentistry” when he told me that it had been compared to Douglas Adams, one of my all-time favourite authors! Have not cracked into that one yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Right next to him was a one of a duo of authors I’d met before – Willa Drew. We had a nice long chat about their spicy romance books and about writing as part of a duo. It’s not something I’d ever thought to do before, but it seems to work well for them.

I had a wonderful time chatting with Wanda Taylor, who writes both YA and adult fiction. We chatted about…everything! She has such a wide range of talents (writing, film making) and publishing experience, it was great to learn from her experience.

Another really interesting author was Dr. Mustahid Husain. As an academic currently with the University of Toronto/Mississauga, he is well versed in Global economics and development and uses his knowledge in his debut novel, “Double Truths.” I’m looking forward to giving this a read.

I chatted with Angie Littlefield about her first novel, “Walking with Oma: A Memoir.” Her main claim to fame has been writing art books about Tom Thomson (Group of Seven), but after discovering some surprising information about her own family, she decided to write this memoir detailing the life of her grandmother, a German Jew who survived her stay in the Nazi concentrations camps. Angie said that she had no idea her grandmother was Jewish until she started looking into her family history. This is definitely a passion project for her and I look forward to reading it.

Catherine Fitzsimmons is a jack of all trades and we spoke about the editing services she provides. I took her information and look forward to chatting with her further once I’m ready to publish my next novel.

Then I was off to Ignited by Books. They always support a charity and this year was no different. Their charity was Fred Victor, a charity dedicated to helping unhomed people find homes.

Last year’s event knocked my socks off! I met so many wonderful authors who were so very helpful that I came away on a high.

This year, I didn’t find it quite as inspiring, but I still came away with lots of new ideas and got to meet lots of new (to me!) authors.

I spent quite a bit of time chatting with Niccoyan Zheng, whose romances include diverse characters. I really loved her joyful energy and enthusiasm!

Darie McCoy writes EVERYTHING! Comtemporary, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Romantic Suspense. As this seems to be my wheelhouse as well, we chatted for a while about how to successfully market such a diverse line-up of books. I picked up her book, “The Glassmaker’s Helper” and I’m looking forward to giving it a read.

I also connected briefly with a couple of authors I’d spoken to at the Rose City Romance Conference back in June: Renee Gendron and Lauren O’Brien. AND enjoyed their ‘scavenger’ hunt of getting all of the Hockey Romance authors autographs for a chance to win a prize. Didn’t win, though, but it was fun to talk to all of these authors as my current WIP is a hockey romance.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and I look forward to participating in the Mississauga Literary Festival in 2026. See you all there!