2025 Presenters

Becca Syme (MATL) is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and has been coaching success alignment for more than a decade. She is the author of the Quitbooks for Writers series and the popular Write Better-Faster course. She also writes mystery novels in her spare time and lives on one of the thousand lakes in Minnesota.

Day Leitao is a Brazilian romantasy author who loves magic, romance, and banter and has published more than ten novels and had four successful Kickstarter campaigns. She has an MA in English Lit and more than ten years of experience as an ESL teacher. Currently, she lives in Montreal with her son.

Elayna R. Gallea is a whimsical weaver of words, creating tales of romantic fantasy. Nestled in the enchanting land of New Brunswick, Canada, she lives with her husband and two younglings. When she’s not writing fantastical stories, she eats copious amounts of chocolate and cheese, reads every day, and plays with her dogs and cats.

JF Garrard is an award winning speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher. She is the President of Dark Helix Press, host of The Artsy Raven podcast, serves as President for the Canadian Authors Association’s Toronto branch, and Deputy Editor for Ricepaper Magazine. Her portfolio of books and short fiction is listed on jfgarrard.com and you can find her on Twitter @jfgarrard, Instagram @jfgarrard, Facebook @JFGarrardauthor.

J.M. Frey is an author, voice actor, and lapsed academic. Her debut novel TRIPTYCH was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards, and garnered a place among the Best Books of 2011 from Publishers Weekly. Since then she’s published THE ACCIDENTAL TURN SERIES, a quadrilogy of meta-fantasy novels, and THE SKYLARK’S SAGA, a steampunk adventure duology currently being shopped by a production house for an animated series. Her queer regency historical fiction novel TIME AND TIDE was named one of the New York Times’ Best Romances of 2024.

Mark Leslie Lefebvre is a writer with over three decades of experience in the publishing and bookselling industry. He is the former Director of Self Publishing and Author Relations for Rakuten Kobo, the former president of the Canadian Booksellers Association, and a previous board member of BookNet Canada. Mark thrives on innovation, particularly in relation to digital publishing and new technologies he continues to mentor authors and publishers in writing and publishing opportunities under his Stark Publishing and Stark Reflections brands.

Rachel Rener is a #1 Bestselling contemporary fantasy author who loves blurring the line between science and magic. When she’s not engrossed in writing or reading, Rachel enjoys art of all kinds, riding her motorcycle, going to rock shows (both musical and mineralogical), Vulcanology (the lava kind as well as the pointy-eared variety), and playing D&D on the coolest podcast around, Of Dice and Friends.

Rachel Wharton left her hometown at seventeen to follow her love of literature to Toronto, where she obtained a BA in English Literature and a Graduate Certificate in Publishing. Rachel spent some time working odd jobs in both Manhattan and Sydney before returning to her true geographical love, Toronto, and working with the wonderful team at Kobo Writing Life. Rachel is a huge nerd, and will talk your ear off about Buffy the Vampire Slayer while also giving you advice on how to make the most of your promotions at Kobo.

Tao Wong is a Canadian author based in Toronto, with series in the LitRPG and xianxia science fiction and fantasy markets. He has over five different series spanning a wide range of worlds, with works in audio, paperback, hardcover and ebook formats and translations to German, Spanish, Portuguese and other languages.

Tara Cremin is the Director of Kobo Writing Life (KWL), Kobo’s independent publishing platform. With a decade of experience in indie publishing, she is dedicated to making KWL the most user-friendly self-publishing platform and leads a team of book lovers engaged in the indie community. She also hosts monthly live events with authors and industry experts and occasionally guest-hosts the Kobo Writing Life Podcast.