This program is part of:

Bring your writing into focus this fall!

Register for intimate master classes with top authors.

About the TIFA x School for Writers Partnership

The TIFA/Humber Creative Writing Master Class Series is a partnership between the Humber School for Writers and The Toronto International Festival of Authors. Launched in the Fall of 2020 as part of the festival's digital slate, the series will provide an exclusive array of writing master classes for the festival's audience. Classes will be led by renowned Humber School for Writers mentors.

Each master class will be 90-minutes long and address a specific aspect of writing craft and life. Classes will be held in person at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, with a group of up to 40 students. The master classes are open to all levels of writers and will take place daily during TIFA.

About TIFA

The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA), Canada’s largest and longest-running festival of words and ideas, returns from October 29 to November 2, 2025, at a new venue with a new format! Expect readings, conversations, book signings and master classes featuring authors from Canada and around the world. Highlights include Writer’s Craft events, featuring workshops and behind-the-scenes panels with industry experts; POP Fiction, a spotlight on the best in genre fiction including fantasy, science fiction and graphic novels; Bite the Book, a look in to the connection between food and community with authors, chefs and food critics; and music, film, poetry slams, performances and free activities.

Master Class Series

Reimagining the Edit,
with Harriet Alida Lye

The first draft of a book is the clay, and in the edit, you sculpt your material into its final form. After your first draft is complete, you will need to figure out what questions your book is asking, and read to assess how, and whether, those questions are being answered. Freeing yourself of dead weight is exhilarating, but sometimes the editing process involves a somewhat terrifying openness to changing structure, characters, and plot in order to transform the book you wrote into the book you wanted to write. In this workshop, we will explore the art of rewriting.

Date: October 29, 2025
Time: 2:30 p.m.

Find Your Horror Story,
with Craig Davidson

Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King—all great writers who know that the stories that have the biggest impact are often the scariest. In this master class, we will look at techniques to elicit fright on the page, dissecting a few famous passages to see what makes them so effective. From there participants can use those same techniques in a writing exercise.

Date: October 29, 2025
Time: 5:00 p.m.

Building a Sustainable Writing Practice,
with Amy Stuart

We tend to think that a meaningful writing practice must include hours set aside every day, with ambitious word counts and project deadlines propelling us to completion on a set timeline. But for many writers, both aspiring and established, this isn’t possible, let alone sustainable. In this talk, we will examine how one builds a truly sustainable writing practice. We will consider how to meld personal reality factors with writing dreams, how to open realistic but regular writing windows, and how to both protect and maximize the time we do have.

Date: October 30, 2025
Time: 2:30 p.m.

Tackling the Hardest Form of Literature: The Picture Book,
with David A. Robertson

Picture books have hardly any words, so writing one must be easy, right? Not at all. In fact, they are one of the most difficult forms to tackle. In this masterclass with the bestselling author of The Misewa Saga, On the Trapline, and the recent memoir All the Little Monsters, you will explore the process of creating a picture book, discuss the general rules of form and content, and then try your hand at writing your own.

About the Instructor: David A. Robertson is the recipient of the Writers' Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award. His memoir, Black Water, won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction. His middle-grade fantasy series, The Misewa Saga, includes the #1 bestseller The Barren Grounds. He won the Governor General's Literary Award for On the Trapline and When We Were Alone. Robertson is also the writer and host of the award-winning podcast Kiwew. The Theory of Crows is his first novel for adults. David is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg.

Date: October 30, 2025
Time: 5:00 p.m.

The Art of Detail in Speculative Fiction,
with Shyam Selvadurai

A storytelling rule of thumb: the wilder and more otherworldly the setting, the more the writer has to do to make it feel real. This workshop looks at how we can bring imagined worlds to life by world-building through character and setting, so the reader feels they are truly living in a created world. We will explore the work of various fantasy and sci-fi masters, then work through a special writing exercise.

About the Instructor: Shyam Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He came to Canada with his family at the age of nineteen. Funny Boy, his first novel, was published to immediate acclaim in 1994. It was shortlisted for the prestigious Giller Prize, was a national bestseller, won the W. H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award, and was named a Notable Book by the American Library Association. In 2020, it was made into a feature film by director Deepa Mehta. His second novel, Cinnamon Gardens, was shortlisted for the Trillium Award. His third, The Hungry Ghosts, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Selvadurai is also the author of an acclaimed novel for young adults, Swimming in the Monsoon.

Date: October 31, 2025
Time: 5:00 p.m.