GritLIT Literary Festival

10/13/2026

Blue Pencil Writing Consults are back!

We are proud to once again partner with the Editors Hamilton-Halton, a chapter of Editors Canada, to bring professional editing advice for writers 18+.

Get professional advice on a writing project and get a taste of the editing process — supportive, honest, and effective. Submit a writing project of up to 2,500 words to be paired with a professional editor. The editor prepares a brief report on your project and provides feedback virtually through Zoom.

For full information, and to register, visit: https://loom.ly/2ebxXpk

Spots filled up quickly last year, so reserve yours now!

Get professional editing advice from the Editors Canada.

10/12/2026

We had so much fun reading our favourite Fall and Halloween stories and making mini books at Kid Crawl at on Friday night! What's your favourite seasonal story?

Here's a few local reads the kids enjoyed!

🍁 The Cow Says Boo by Lana Button
🍂 Spider in the Well by Jess Hannigan
🍁 Mother Boo by vikkivansickle & Jennica Lounsbury
🍂 Beverley, Bat Your Service by Kelly Collier

09/28/2026

Now that it’s officially Autumn, let us know in the comments what you’re looking forward to reading this season! 🍂 📚

09/22/2026

✨ gritLIT is thrilled to present Clara Hughes at the Playhouse Cinema in celebration of her new memoir, Learning to Breathe. ✨

Learning to Breathe is the latest release from Clara Hughes, the six-time Olympic medalist, celebrated humanitarian, and bestselling author of Open Heart, Open Mind: A story of healing and transformation in midlife.

As an elite athlete—the only person who has won multiple medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games—Clara Hughes thrived on powering through pain, with profound consequences for her body and mind. Following her retirement from sport, the mantra ‘‘movement as medicine’’ fueled her public advocacy for mental health and her personal healing journey. However, Clara’s attraction to extremes persisted: grueling months-long hikes and bike-packing trips began to take a toll. In 2021, a catastrophic knee injury coincided with menopausal hot flashes and dizzying mood swings, forcing her into stillness, and her depression, kept at bay for years, loomed larger than ever.

Clara will be in conversation with Robin Lacambra, a q***r Filipinx creative, speaker, and facilitator. Drawing from somatic relational psychotherapy, mindful movement, and conflict mediation, Robin’s work aims to demonstrate how interconnected we are, highlighting our shared responsibility to co-create a just and liberated world.

Get your tickets to this, and other gritLIT off-season events, visit: https://www.gritlit.ca/offseason-events

09/18/2026

🎟️ Tickets are selling quickly for Emily St. John Mandel at the Playhouse Cinema!

We're thrilled to welcome Emily in celebration of her new book, Exit Party. The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman—a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State—searches for answers.

Sunday, October 18, 2026
7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30)
Playhouse Cinema
177 Sherman Avenue North

Get your tickets to this and other gritLIT events at: https://www.gritlit.ca/offseason-events

09/15/2026

This fall semester, we're thrilled to welcome Sam, a gritLIT placement student joining us from Sheridan College! ✨

Sam is a fourth-year student pursuing an undergraduate degree of Creative Writing & Publishing. Sam is a writer of short fiction, the former President of Sheridan's Creative Writing Club, a team member of B222 Journal for its 2025-2026 term, and a volunteer slush reader for Augur Magazine and Tale and Feathers. Other, non-literary, passions of Sam's include TTRPGs and needlepoint.

Please join us as we extend a warm welcome to our small but mighty team!

09/13/2026

Spooky season is upon us! 🕷️ Heading to Supercrawl today? We have new pins by Tessa Presta! They're $5 in support of the festival. Find us across from the author tent on James and Colbourne!

09/09/2026

📸 Thank you to Nathan Laushway for joining us for the hometown launch of Tempted by Rick Campanelli, and sharing your photos with us! 📸

09/08/2026

Not only is it the first day of school, it's also International Literacy Day! There's no better time to tell you a little bit about our Authors in Schools Program, which welcomes Canadian authors into classrooms. Most recently, Westdale Secondary School's Writers Craft classes were joined by instant Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling author Sarah Mughal Rana.

Are you a teacher interested in hearing more about the program? Reach out to gritLIT's artistic director Jessica Rose at [email protected].