TORONTO — The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) has unveiled the first wave of programming for its 2026 fall festival, bringing internationally recognized writers, Indigenous storytellers and cultural commentators to Toronto for five days of literary events from October 28 to November 1.
The festival, based at Victoria University in the University of Toronto with select events at other Toronto venues, will feature Barbara Kingsolver, Marie NDiaye, David Szalay, Patrick deWitt and Philippe Sands. TIFA will announce its complete programme on September 3, while full festival passes went on sale August 13.
TIFA 2026 Expands Literary Programming in Toronto
This year’s programme will extend beyond fiction into politics, history, the natural world, translation and adaptation. Organizers are also planning performances combining poetry and music, while October 31 will feature a dedicated series of horror-themed events.
TIFA also introduced new creative branding alongside its initial programme announcement, positioning the redesign as part of the literary organization’s evolving identity and its role in Toronto’s cultural sector.
“TIFA 2026 represents another new chapter for the Festival,” said Roland Gulliver, TIFA’s CEO and Artistic Director. “Our new identity reflects an organization that is ambitious, international, and deeply connected to Toronto–a city known for its exceptional storytelling. At a time when the world can feel increasingly fractured, we want the Festival to be a place for curiosity, conversation, and connection. Working with our guest curators, we are inviting exceptional writers and thinkers from Canada and around the world to bring their experiences, perspectives, and imaginations to some of the questions shaping our lives today. Through stories and ideas, we hope to create unexpected conversations, open up different ways of seeing the world and, above all, celebrate the extraordinary power and pleasure of literature.”
Barbara Kingsolver, David Szalay and Patrick deWitt Lead Author Events
The main festival opens October 28 with British-Canadian-Hungarian author David Szalay discussing Flesh at Victoria University. The Booker Prize-winning novel was named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times and Globe & Mail.
Canadian-born novelist Patrick deWitt follows on October 29 with Dodge City, a story centred on a student who flees the Vietnam War draft in 1967 and travels across the United States before escaping to Canada.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver will appear at Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre on October 30 to discuss Partita, her highly anticipated novel following the success of Demon Copperhead. Marie NDiaye will discuss The Witch, shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize, on October 31.
Philippe Sands Programme Explores Justice and Global Divisions
The festival will conclude November 1 with a one-night performance of East West Street: A Song of Good & Evil at the Winter Garden Theatre.
Based on Philippe Sands’ award-winning East West Street, the multimedia production combines narration with music by Bach, Rachmaninoff and Leonard Cohen, featuring Metropolitan Opera star Laurent Naouri and French soprano Natalie Dessay.
The production concludes Sands’ guest-curated Rupture / Justice programme, which brings together historians, academics, journalists, artists and authors to examine geopolitical divisions, justice and the ways societies respond to conflict and disruption.
Indigenous Writers From Canada and Australia Join Festival
TIFA is also partnering with Melbourne Writers Festival on The Festival of Indigenous Stories. Award-winning Goorie and Koori poet Evelyn Araluen and Canadian author Jessica Johns will co-curate the programme.
Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the initiative will bring together nine Indigenous authors and artists from Canada and Australia. Discussions and new commissions will examine Indigenous futurity, resistance beyond colonial structures and intergenerational archives of culture, memory and connection.
Pre-Festival Events Begin in October
For the first time, full festival passholders will receive exclusive early access to special events scheduled ahead of the main festival.
Bonnie Garmus, author of the global bestseller Lessons in Chemistry, will present her second novel, Peck & Peck, at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on October 15.
Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel will appear at the same venue on October 20 to discuss Exit Party with CBC Bookends host Mattea Roach. Bestselling crime writer Ann Cleeves will present The Dying Light, the latest instalment in her Two Rivers series, at Isabel Bader Theatre on October 26.
PEN Canada Talk Focuses on Writers and Geopolitical Pressures
The PEN Canada Graeme Gibson Talk will take place October 27 at the Winter Garden Theatre, featuring Evan Gershkovich, Carol Off and Philippe Sands in conversation with CBC Ideas host Nahlah Ayed and introduced by Margaret Atwood.
The discussion will examine challenges facing writers and reporters amid a changing geopolitical environment. Gershkovich’s 2026 memoir, This Cursed Beautiful Land, chronicles his arrest by Russian security agents in March 2023, his 500 days in detention and his eventual release.
Full TIFA 2026 Programme Coming September 3
TIFA’s full programme and additional ticketing options are scheduled to be released September 3. The festival’s expanded lineup underscores its continuing focus on international literature while providing a Toronto platform for discussions spanning fiction, politics, history, Indigenous storytelling and human rights.
With events running throughout October before the five-day main festival, TIFA is positioning its 2026 edition as both a celebration of literature and a forum for cultural conversations connecting Canadian audiences with writers and thinkers from around the world.