The Ampersand Review December Reading Series

This December we are wrapping up the fall Reading Series with Canadian authors Canisia Lubrin and Anuja Varghese in a moderated panel about literary awards and novel-writing!

The December Reading Series is happening on Thursday, December 10th, from 6:00-8:00pm in the Creative Campus Gallery (room B234) at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion campus. Come meet the writers, enjoy some treats, and engage in discussion with your literary community peers! Guests will also have the chance to purchase copies of Lubrin and Varghese's recent works, as well as sign up for our open mic at the end of the evening.

Canisia Lubrin is the author of five books, Voodoo Hypothesis, The Dyzgraphxst, The World After Rain (2025), Code Noirand Bright Machine (2026). Her honours include a 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Griffin Poetry Prize, Derek Walcott Prize, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. She has been twice a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. The World After Rain earned Lubrin her second OCM Bocas Prize for poetry. She is associate professor and coordinator of the University of Guelph’s Creative Writing MFA and the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. Code Noir, Lubrin’s fiction debut and winner of the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, has 59 drawings by celebrated visual artist Torkwase Dyson. Born in St. Lucia, Lubrin lives in Whitby.

Anuja Varghese (she/her) is an award-winning writer of literary fiction, fantasy, and erotica/romance where women of color get leading roles! In 2023, her short story collection, titled Chrysalis, won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and in 2024, was longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, among others. Her debut novel, A Kiss Of Crimson Ash, the first in a medieval India-inspired romantasy trilogy, was released in spring 2026, with book two scheduled for release in summer 2027.  Anuja lives in Hamilton with her partner, two kids, and two cats.