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Our Story
Stratford Arts & Lectures offers engaging programming with some of today's leading figures in the literary arts. Year round, Stratford Arts & Lectures hosts onstage conversations and carefully crafted events with incredible authors, critics, and cultural figures as we explore the creative process, ideas, and our relationship to the world around us. Stratford Arts & Lectures brings readers and writers together. This is where stories come to life.
Upcoming Events
PETE CRIGHTON has worked as a marketing executive in the arts for many years. He has also studied comedy at Second City, graduating from their Conservatory Program in improv, scene writing and performance and still sings (badly) in the Dolly Parton choir “the Tennessee Mountain Homos.” He lives in Toronto.
AUTHOR of The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy
ROZA NOZARI is a writer, artist and therapist based in Tkaronto (“Toronto”) and known as YallaRoza on social media. Her work weaves together writing and visual art to share stories of wounding, healing and community. It invites radical reimaginings of our world, towards one more invested in collective healing and liberation. She is the illustrator of three children’s books: Little People, Big Dreams’ Mindy Kaling (2021), Fluffy and the Stars (2023) and The Anti-Racist Kitchen (2023). Her illustrations have been featured locally and internationally—from university campuses to sports arenas and pride festivals.
AUTHOR of All The Parts We Exile
Featured Event:
A Summer Soirée:
Food, Drinks, & Mystery
A garden party for book lovers.
Join us for a delightful summer afternoon on the grounds of The Bruce Hotel, a charming boutique hotel in Stratford, Ontario. Enjoy light refreshments as you mingle with five of today's leading authors. There will be two panel discussions throughout the afternoon.
Please note: this is an outdoor event.
Ticket options include a bagged paper lunch prepared by The Bruce Hotel.
Additional options on the day: themed cocktails.
Book signing to follow the panels. Books available to purchase at the event.
KATE HILTON is a bestselling Canadian writer. She is the co-author of the Quill and Packet mystery series; the most recent title, Widows and Orphans, was published in 2025. Her fiction includes the forthcoming City of the Muse (2026), as well as The Hole in the Middle, Just Like Family, and Better Luck Next Time. When not writing, Kate maintains an active psychotherapy practice, with a particular focus on personal reinvention and life transitions. She lives with her family in Toronto.
ELIZABETH RENZETTI is a bestselling Canadian author and journalist. She has worked for the Globe and Mail as a reporter, editor, and columnist. In 2020, she won the Landsberg Award for her reporting on gender equality. She is the author of the essay collection Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls and the novel Based on a True Story. Her book What She Said: Conversations about Equality will be published in 2024. She lives in Toronto with her family.
BIANCA MARAIS is the author of the bestselling The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, as well as the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh, and the Audible Original, The Prynne Viper. Her latest novel, A Most Puzzling Murder, was released on the 10th of June 2025. She taught at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies where she was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing. She is the co-host of the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers become published.
UZMA JALALUDDIN is a critically acclaimed and bestselling novelist, playwright, and teacher. She writes nuanced and entertaining stories about Muslims, South Asians, and Canadians and is the author of Much Ado About Nada, Three Holidays and a Wedding, Hana Khan Carries On, and Ayesha at Last. as well as her first play, The Rishta. Her novels have been optioned for film and television, including by Amazon Studios and Mindy Kaling. A high school English teacher, Jalaluddin is also a former contributor to the Toronto Star and the Atlantic. She lives near Toronto with her family.
AMY STUART'S fourth novel, A Death at the Party, emerged as a longstanding #1 bestseller. She is the author of three other bestselling novels—Still Mine, Still Water, and Still Here. Amy’s other love is hockey. She is one of only a handful of women head coaches in the GTHL, the world’s largest youth competitive hockey league. In 2024, she co-wrote Mats Sundin’s #1 bestselling memoir, Home and Away. She was born in Toronto, where she still lives with her husband and their three sons. They also spend much of their time on Prince Edward Island, where Amy’s family is originally from.
Past Events
Join us for our Spilling the Tea Series, our literary collaboration with The Bruce Hotel, a charming boutique hotel in Stratford, Ontario. Enjoy an afternoon tea with one of today's leading authors as we discuss their newest book.
Audience Q & A and book signing to follow the talk. Books available to purchase at the event, or bundled with your ticket.
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"A glorious read—oh, I’m so sad that this is the final instalment in the series, but what a gift Nita Prose has given readers with these books: this has intrigue, heart, and humanity by the bucketload. A stunning achievement."
—Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment and The Guest List
“Full of danger, heartbreak, and redemption and set to the backdrop of war, The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club celebrates the magic of books, family, and truth as several women—bound by blood and friendship—discover their destinies on the scenic island just off the Massachusetts coast.”
—Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter