BOLD AND CREATIVE
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Discover BOLD & CREATIVE, a bold and innovative initiative by Blue Metropolis, celebrating the creativity of Quebec’s anglophone authors and artists. This project, blending literature and society, features a dynamic program including podcasts, workshops, contests, thematic evenings, and professional showcases. Designed to inspire, empower, and highlight local voices, it connects them to international perspectives within a unique multilingual framework.
The Podcasts
How are literary lives changing in 2026?
Our third and final series of Bold and Creative podcasts ventured into hitherto unexplored territory: that of Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
Host Rachel McCrum strides out into a strange and magical world, encountering wiser and more experienced heads along the way. Over the course of these conversations with author Raquel Rivera; poet Gillan Sze and illustrator Sue Todd; bookseller Kennedy Rooke; Kanien’kehá:ka educator Curran Katsi’tsohrónkwas Jacobs; and aspiring young poet Aisha Nyerere, we begin to appreciate the joy and the subtleties of creating literature for children and young people. How do authors, publishers, booksellers and adults learn what stories will engage children at every age? What are the challenges for bookstores when their clientele is in school during the week? What is the power of storytelling for education, for knowledge, for relationships, and for representation – or simply to put a toddler to sleep? What are the books that we remember reading over and over again as children, and how have we carried them with us throughout our lives? How can stories bring us home?
Come find out with the Bold & Creative podcasts: Children’s & Young Adult Literature. We hope that you enjoy.
Rachel McCrum – The Host
Rachel McCrum is a poet, performer, editor, and curator. Originally from Northern Ireland, she lived in Edinburgh, Scotland between 2010 and 2016, where she was the first BBC Scotland Poet in Residence and recipient of a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her debut collection The First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate was translated by Jonathan Lamy and published in a bilingual edition with Mémoire d’encrier in Fall 2020, and was a finalist for the Le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole from the Quebec Writers’ Federation in 2022. In Sept 2024, she premiered the new spoken word show, La Belle-mère // The Stepmother, with co-writer and co-performer Amélie Prévost, published by L’Hexagone. Rachel was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize in 2025. She is the vocalist for noise-poetry group Pigs & Wolves: their debut EP The Unfortunate Waggle is now available on Bandcamp.
The Educator: Curran Katsi’tsohrónkwas Jacobs
Curran Katsi’tsohrónkwas Jacobs is an educator from the community of Kahnawà:ke. She is invested in the reclaiming of identity, culture and language within her community…
The Poet: Aisha Nyerere
Aisha Nyerere is a nineteen-year-old Tanzanian-Canadian aspiring poet. Although she has always enjoyed writing, her poetry journey began in 2024 as a personal project of preparing her first poetry collection…
The Author: Raquel Rivera
Raquel Rivera is the author of fiction and creative non-fiction books for children and young adults. Her books have won the QWF Prize for Children’s and YA Literature, twice…
The manager of Librairie Drawn & Quarterly: Kennedy Rooke
Kennedy Rooke is the manager of Librairie Drawn & Quarterly and has been a bookseller for over fifteen years.
The Author: Gillian Sze
The illustrator: Sue Todd
Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry books and picture books. Her work An Orange, A Syllable won the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry in 2025…
Sue Todd is an award-winning illustrator with more than 20 years of experience creating art for children’s and adult publishing, editorial, packaging, public art, festival posters and tarot game cards..
PODCASTS: BOLD & CREATIVE – THE TALKS
As part of the 2025 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, we presented Bold & Creative: The Talks.
On stage, seven game-changers shared their insights on the causes that drive them, what fuels their passion, and how they’re making a difference in their communities.
Hear their voices. Be inspired.
Miranda Castravelli
Sivan Slapak
Niigaan Sinclair
Sylvia Martin-Laforge
Anwar Alhjooj
Jonathan Egan
Curtis McRae
The Blogs
Carol-Ann Hoyte
Quebec Celebrates Canadian Children’s Book Week with Multiple Touring Book Creators
Canadian Children’s Book Week will next take place from Sunday, April 26 to Saturday, May 2.
During this national celebration of books and reading, Canadian children’s book authors and illustrators tour the country giving talks and workshops to youth audiences primarily in schools and libraries.
CONVERSATIONS WITH ISABEL COUT
Isabel Cout is Coordinator of Audience Development, Special Projects and Internal Translator at Blue Metropolis.
Project manager for Bold & Creative, Isabel had the chance to speak with five individuals from different contexts who each bring a unique passion and perspective to their work.
These interviews are a window into different worlds (healthcare, music, literature, community work), and an opportunity to learn about the particular joys and challenges of each one.
Licia Canton
Licia Canton has published short fiction, nonfiction and poetry in English, French, Mandarin, Italian and a Venetian dialect… (read more)
Carol-Ann Hoyte
Carol-Ann Hoyte is the Events and Program Manager at The Canadian Children’s Book Centre… (read more)
Garrett Johnson
Garrett Johnson is a nurse and artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal whose work is concerned with homelessness, addiction, and harm reduction.
Bells Larsen
How can we forge new forms of coming home to ourselves? On his sophomore album Blurring Time (2025), Bells Larsen collapses time into a series of patient ceremonies… (read more)
Arwa Nofal
Arwa Younis is a community organizer, educator, and outreach coordinator based in Montreal. She has been part of Montreal City Mission since 2019, where she works closely with refugees, newcomers, and women to create spaces for connection, learning, and belonging… (read more)
PLANET, MY LOVE – THE CONTEST
Planet, My Love… is an English-language writing contest that gives to budding writers s in Montreal and Greater Montreal the opportunity to write a work of literary fiction inspired by today’s climate issues.
This contest, returning in 2026 for its second edition, showcased emerging, socially engaged literary talents in 2025.
