Can*Con

tonia laird is a Michif writer from Treaty 6 territory. Her work is included in multiple publications including literary magazines, fantasy and comic book anthologies, and video games Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, mobile game, Everlove: Rose, and the interactive novel, Poster Girl. Her first novel, Seventhblade, is due to be released in June, 2025 by ECW Press. tonia’s most recent stint in video games was as a Lorekeeper and Worldbuilder at Thought Pennies Entertainment.

Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, The Book of Accidents, Wayward, Black River Orchard, and more than two dozen other books for adults and young adults. A finalist for the Astounding Award and an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, he has also written for comics, games, film, and television. He’s known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and books about writing such as Damn Fine Story. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family. His agent is Stacia Decker, with Dunow, Carlson and Lerner.

Jen Albert is an acquiring editor at ECW Press in Toronto, where she specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. She was co-editor-in-chief of PodCastle, an award-winning fantasy fiction podcast, and has been nominated for the Hugo, the Ignyte, and the World Fantasy Award, and has won the British Fantasy Award for her editorial work.

Hana El Niwairi is the Rights Manager at CookeMcDermid. She leads the rights team in representing the works of agency authors outside of North America: in Asia, Europe, the UK, and more. Since 2017, Hana and her team have placed agency books into over 50 territories around the globe. Prior to joining the publishing industry, she worked in the non-profit, arts, and culture sectors with organizations such as the Book and Periodical Council, Culture Days, and Paprika Festival. Outside of her role at the agency, Hana is also one of the co-founders of BIPOC of Publishing in Canada.