Poster design by James Mejia
Illustration by Fabienne de Cartier
The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) presents
The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) presents the ELECTRIC CABARET, where poetry leaves the page and takes centre stage for an electric evening of readings, spoken word and performance, showcasing emerging writers from Toronto’s universities and creative writing programmes. At the heart of the night is the inaugural Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry, celebrating a young Ontario poet whose creativity, compassion and commitment to social justice inspired its creation. Finalists perform live before the award is presented. The night is a celebration of artistic courage, experimentation and new voices, as a new generation of poets play with language, form and performance.
Learn about the 2026 Laureates, Finalists, Jurors and more below, or read the official press release here.
ELECTRIC CABARET
New Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry Announces Winner
Julia Pelitis Named Inaugural Laureate
TIFA’s Electric Cabaret Shines Spotlight on Young and Emerging Ontario Poets
L-R: Shauna de Cartier, Caitlin Veitch, Julia Pelitis, Rollie Pemberton, Ian Keteku
The next generation of Ontario’s poets took to the stage at TIFA’s Electric Cabaret last night, where the inaugural winner of the new Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry was announced following readings by all ten finalists. University of Toronto undergraduate student Julia Pelitis was named the first laureate of the new legacy award, the only prize of its kind for young and emerging poets in Ontario.
Pelitis’ winning poem, titled “John Keats Is Stuck in Purgatory,” folds Romantic poetry traditions into contemporary timelines, exploring imposter syndrome while reminding young writers that “the historical people we idolize are just as human as we are.” Funny and sharp, the self-deprecating yet encouraging piece is a standout example of the talent this new award seeks to celebrate and amplify. Honourable mentions were also given to Toronto’s Evan D'Alleva for his poem “Holding Hands While Falling” and Mississauga’s Tahira Rajwani for “I Met Eve on the ED Unit.”
“I am so incredibly honoured to receive this award in a pool of such talented finalists!” says Pelitis. “I am very inspired by Fabienne and her legacy, and hope that this award continues to create spaces to share and celebrate such fantastic work! Thank you to all the finalists, the jury, TIFA, and Fabienne’s family for an incredible opportunity!”
In its first year, the Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry, which includes a $2500 prize, was juried by award-winning author and former Poet Laureate of Edmonton, Cadence Weapon (Rollie Pemberton), World Slam Poetry champion Ian Keteku and multi-disciplinary music industry creative Caitlin Veitch. Patrick de Belen, an acclaimed Toronto-based Filipino spoken word poet, performer, speaker, host and educator, hosted the celebration.
The Electric Cabaret, a new addition to TIFA’s annual programming, is a fitting showcase for the Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry, as de Cartier was a former U of T student, reporter for The Varsity, and active in the city’s spoken word youth poetry scene (BAM! Youth Poetry Slam).
About the Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry
Established in 2025, the Fabienne de Cartier Award for Poetry is an annual literary award recognizing a young and emerging Ontario poet whose work demonstrates exceptional promise, artistic courage, and a deep commitment to the craft of poetry.
The award celebrates a young poet who embraces experimentation, explores new forms of expression, and is developing a distinctive literary voice through written and/or live performance. It honours the legacy of Fabienne de Cartier, a young Toronto poet and activist whose creativity, compassion, and commitment continue to inspire emerging writers.
By supporting the next generation of poets, the award seeks to encourage artistic development, offer new opportunities for artists to access audiences, while strengthening Ontario's vibrant literary and spoken word communities.
The Ontario Arts Foundation manages the endowment that funds the award. Donations can be made here.
About the Finalists
Evan D'Alleva (Toronto)
Evan D'Alleva is a Toronto-based poet and multi-disciplinary artist whose writing has appeared in local galleries and national publications like Room and Poetry in Voice. Their debut collection of poems "Rock Music" released independently May 2026.
Harmony Chen (Waterloo)
Harmony Chen is a Chinese-Canadian poet from Toronto. She champions youth artists across Canada as the founder of Aporia Literary Journal, and her work can be found in Estuaire, League of Canadian Poets, and VOICES/VOIX. She likes crunchy apples and acoustic guitar karaoke.
Julia Pelitis (Toronto)
Julia Pelitis is a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto pursuing a specialist in English with a double minor in creative writing and creativity and society. When she isn’t writing, Julia spends the remainder of her time either writing about books, reading books, thinking about books, or talking about books. She is absolutely honoured to have her work featured and hopes you enjoy her piece!
Juno Lowrie (Toronto)
Juno Lowrie is a 20 year old non binary poet who loves using absurdism and historical references to explore themes of sexuality, gender, identity, mental illness, and greater world philosophy.
Leilia Ho (Toronto)
Leilia Ho is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto with a penchant for writing the weird and the wondrous, and she is particularly inspired to incorporate Malaysian history into her works. Outside of writing, Leilia enjoys coding video games, listening to the World’s Beyond Number podcast, and hanging off the cave walls of a climbing gym.
Lii Wong (North York)
Lii Wong is a 22 year old full-time student in her final year of the Creative Writing program at OCAD University. Previously, some of her short stories have been published unofficially through fandom curated zines; she has also worked for city-wide literary events. Mainly, she is a queer Singaporean-Malaysian that is intent on bringing genres and conventions from her mix of cultures into the global Western market.
Max Friedman-Cole (Toronto)
Max Friedman-Cole is in the first year of the University of Toronto's MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing. He is a writer of fiction and poetry, and he has recently completed his first novel. Max is the co-founder of U of T's Toronto Poetry Society.
Noah G. Holub (Toronto)
Noah G. Holub is a multidisciplinary artist depicting intimacy, gender, sexuality, and belonging through acrylic/digital paintings and varied writings. Academia has him on a chokehold still, and, as a result, Noah is pursuing an MFA at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. There, he continues to explore the intermingling of verse and visuals in relation to diaristic creation. Outside of school, Noah’s most recent publications include queer poetry (Common House 2025), opinion writing (OCADFA 2026) and fan culture commentary (Substack 2026). In their rare free time, Noah likes to listen to video essays and hold their roommate’s cats.
Tahira Rajwani (Mississauga)
Tahira Rajwani is Mississauga’s 5th Youth Poet Laureate and the Director of open mic series, Sauga Poetry. As a South Asian Canadian spoken word artist, her work is rooted in themes of diaspora and women’s empowerment. Tahira was recently the recipient of the 2026 Emerging Poetry Award presented by the Mississauga Arts Council and ranked second at the 2025 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam where she represented the city of Toronto. You can currently find her work featured on the TTC with community arts organization Poems in Passage.
V. Wang (Toronto)
V. Wang is a student at the University of Toronto studying English, Creative Writing, and Philosophy, with the dream of one day being a published author. V. somewhat enjoys being alive.
About the Jurors
Cadence Weapon (Rollie Pemberton)
Rollie Pemberton is an Edmonton-born, Hamilton-based writer, musician, producer, poet and cultural commentator who makes music as Cadence Weapon. He was poet laureate of Edmonton from 2009 to 2011 and his poem “The Garden” was incorporated into a bronze sculpture at the Alberta Legislature Grounds in Edmonton in 2018. He won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize for his album Parallel World. He is the author of Bedroom Rapper and Ways of Listening and his writing. His writing has been published in Pitchfork, The Guardian, Wired, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus and Hazlitt.
Ian Keteku
Nana Ian Budu Keteku is a writer, filmmaker, and educator based in Toronto. A former World Poetry Slam Champion (2010) and the 2024 inaugural Spoken Word Poet award winner from the League of Canadian Poets, Keteku’s work has reached audiences worldwide and been translated into multiple languages. His debut poetry collection, Black Abacus (Write Bloody North, 2019), and spoken word albums Lessons From Planet Earth and Love and Lumumba explore themes of memory, resilience, and imagination.
As a filmmaker, he's created visually arresting and poetically powerful projects for the NFB, CBC, TVO, PBS, Hot Docs, and Sesame Street. Keteku also teaches creative writing at OCAD University, and is a royal chief in Ghana, West Africa.
Caitlin Veitch
In her life and 22-year career in music, Caitlin Veitch has cultivated deep relationships in, with and to the arts. From organizing song camps to adjudicating songwriting competitions to her own artistic pursuits, her participation, immersion and passion for independent artist expression and development has been a throughline. Her eclectic ear has led her to work on original projects with groundbreaking artists like Amon Tobin, Colin Stetson and Tanya Tagaq. Caitlin Veitch is currently the Senior Creative in Sync + Publishing with Six Shooter Records and High Priestess.
About TIFA
The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) is a vibrant celebration of the stories that shape our world. As Toronto’s premier literary organization, TIFA offers a breadth of immersive, one-of-a-kind events that connect readers and authors alike.
TIFA gratefully acknowledges our Season Supporter, The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation; our Presenting Donor, The Marilyn and Charles Baillie Family Foundation; our Global Authors Club, for providing additional philanthropic support; the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario, the Toronto Arts Council, the Centre for Creativity at Victoria University, and TIFA's generous donors and supporters who recognize that great literature is worth investing in.
