11:45 - 12:00 :: Toronto Poetry Project - Spoken Word Poetry 

Eytan Crouton's 1st Disciple has been writing and performing Hip Hop since July 2009. He was recently a finalist at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam in Vancouver representing Toronto Poetry Slam (TPS). He has also just become the 2011 Toronto Poetry Slam Grand Champion and is a current member of the 2011-2012 TPS team. He is a member of Toronto Sketch Comedy Troupe "The Boom" and in 2004 was a runner up in the Toronto Star Short Story Contest.

12:00 - 12:45 :: Mastering the Mystery - How to Keep Readers Guessing

How do mystery authors ensure that their book is a page-turner?  How do they keeping us guessing, without compromising the integrity of their characters and the depth of the plot?  What are the elements of a great mystery?  Join authors Norah McClintock, Evan Munday, and Shane Peacock for a discussion of these topics and more! 

12:45 - 1:45 :: Open Mic Hour with host Kelley Armstrong

The spotlight is ready, are you?  This year we are hosting our first ever Open Mic programming hour!  In May we began accepting submissions from writers aged 13-19 wanting to showcase their work at the festival.  From those submissions, we have selected seven bright new voices to perform short readings of their work.

Participating authors: Robert Adragna, age 13 (Short Story); Rebecca Carew, age 18 (Slam Poetry); Habiba Cooper Diallo, age 15 (Short Story); Alice Gauntley, age 17 (Poetry); Timothy Keslick, age 18 (Poetry); Claudia Oriano, age 17 (Slam Poetry); Osama Siddique, age 16 (Spoken Word).

1:45 - 2:00 :: Toronto Poetry Project - Spoken Word Poetry

David Silverberg is the host and artistic director of Toronto Poetry Slam. His most recent book of poetry is Bags of Wires (LyricalMyrical) and he edited Canada’s first spoken word anthology, Mic Check (Quattro Press). He has performed across Canada, including Calgary, Halifax, Vancouver, Ottawa, London and Montreal. His mom is particularly proud of his gig at a TEDx event in Toronto. He likes egg nog and funk music and John Irving books. Find him at www.torontopoetryslam.com

2:00 - 2:30 :: Cast(ing) of Characters with horror fiction author, Holly Luhninig

Do you choose your characters or do your characters choose you? Holly Luhning discusses the often surprising process (that included wigs, outfits, field trips) of creating and getting to know the characters from her book Quiver, a novel inspired by the legend of sixteenth-century “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory.

In sixteenth-century Hungary, Countess Elizabeth Bathory tortured and killed over 600 servant girls in order to bathe in their blood. She believed this practice would keep her skin youthful and her beauty immortal.  Quiver is a decadent novel that explores this historical figure, and reimagines the story through the eyes of Danica, a young forensic psychologist.
Learn more about Holy Luhning

2:30 - 3:30 :: How To Create Your Own Comic

Kill Shakespeareco-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, as well as series artist Andy Belanger, demonstrate how a comic is put together from the earliest stages of writing (the beat sheet) through the art process (penciling, inking, colouring) to the final production elements (lettering).The three entrepreneurs will also give tips on how to launch your own entertainment project. 

3:30 - 4:30 :: That's What She Said

Four writers. One hour. Four great reads to tantalize teenage readers.

Something Wicked
Lesley Anne Cowan

In Lesley Anne Cowan’s Something Wicked, sixteen-year-old Melissa’s most recent troubles stem from a secret: her twenty-eight-year-old boyfriend, Michael, has just broken up with her. Even though the relationship is clearly over, Melissa clings to the past, riding a never-ending wave of hope and disappointment. Meaningless sexual escapades, drunken nights, and drug-induced blackouts help her deal with heartbreak, but her pain goes much deeper than her failed relationship. So when the cracks in her life threaten to tear her apart, Melissa has to decide whether to keep fighting—or to let go.
Learn more about Lesley Ann Cowan
 

Haunting Violet
Alyxandra Harvey

Violet Willoughby doesn't believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother's elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. Alyxandra Harvey escorts readers into Victorian spiritualist society, where ghosts wear corsets beneath their tea gowns, a forbidden romance breaks all the rules of etiquette, and a reluctant medium gets pulled into a murder mystery that threatens her own future.
Learn more about Alyxandra Harvey

Beyond Blonde
Teresa Toten

InBeyond Blonde,Teresa Toten’s third book in this acclaimed series, we discover that Sophie’s world has exploded. Papa has left to try and get sober, and her first love, Luke, has left to marry the mother of his baby. Mama is functioning on auto-pilot, and even Sophie’s refuge in basketball is threatened, since the new assistant coach, David Wayne, seems to hate the sight of her. Life is further complicated by her sixteen-year-old body betraying her at every turn. Into this confusing breach step Sophie’s brilliant Blondes and the ever-audacious Aunties, helping her to battle back with heart and humour.
Learn more about Teresa Toten

Roll With It
Heather J. Wood

Figure skater turned roller derby girl Neddy will bowl you over in Heather J. Wood’s uplifting new book about growing up and deciding for yourself.Neddy rejects the sacrifices necessary to succeed as a figure skater—early mornings, a diet of apples and celery, and the pressure to perform—in favour of the rough and tumble adventures and feisty camaraderie of the roller derby community. In Roll With It, Neddy embarks on her first year of university, considers her guilt about not following in her mother’s footsteps, navigates a new love, and discovers who she really is and what she really wants. 
Learn more about Heather J. Wood

4:30 - 4:45 :: Toronto Poetry Project - Spoken Word Poetry

Amanda Hiebert was a member of the Toronto Poetry Slam Team from 2003-2009. She has been featured in over 200 literary events throughout North America, most recently opening for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Amanda’s poetry has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, and is also a published playwright through the Playwrights Guild of Canada. The Toronto Star’s review describes; “Amanda reads like Goldie Hawn by way of Simone de Beauvoir out of Thelma and Louise.” Amanda is currently the slam master with Toronto Poetry Project.

4:45 - 5:15 :: Reading and Writing Dystopian Fiction with Catherine Austen

The Hunger Gamesmeets The Giver in Catherine Austen’s latest book All Good Children. Join the author for a presentation of this hot new title, and hear her thoughts on reading and writing dystopian fiction.

In All Good Children, Creativity is a crime Max commits every day.

It's the middle of the twenty-first century and the elite children of New Middletown are lined up to receive a treatment that turns them into obedient, well-mannered citizens. Maxwell Connors, a seventeen-year-old prankster, misfit and graffiti artist, observes the changes with growing concern, especially when his younger sister, Ally, is targeted. Max and his best friend, Dallas, escape the treatment, but must pretend to be "zombies" while they watch their freedoms and hopes decay. When Max's family decides to take Dallas with them into the unknown world beyond New Middletown's borders, Max's creativity becomes an unexpected bonus rather than a liability.

Catherine Austen was raised in Kingston, Ontario, the youngest of five children. While procrastinating in the face of deadlines, she began writing children's fiction. Catherine writes from her home in Quebec, which she shares with her husband, Geoff, and their children, Sawyer and Daimon.

5:15 - 5:45 :: When Fantasy meets Science Fiction - Author Chat

Join fantasy writer Lesley Livingston and science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer for readings from and a discussion about their new books, Once Every Never and Wonder. Lesley's time-travel fantasy novel involves a Druid curse, and Rob's science-fiction tale has a blind teenager girl exploring cyberspace.