Zalika Reid-Benta Book Club: Stories, Conversation, Community
Join us for a special Black History Month Book Club featuring acclaimed Canadian author Zalika Reid-Benta. This engaging session invites students, staff, and community members to explore Black storytelling, identity, and lived experience through literature, conversation, and collective reflection.
Event Details
Date: February 23, 2026
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: TSC, Event Space
Host: Trent Central Student Association
Format: In-person
Registration: Register here
About the Author
Zalika Reid-Benta is a Canadian author whose work has received national and international acclaim. Her debut novel, River Mumma, was shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award and named one of the best fiction books of 2023 by outlets including CBC Books, Kobo Books, and The Walrus. The novel received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist Magazine, and Foreword Reviews.
Her debut short story collection, Frying Plantain, won the 2020 Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the 2020 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction. The collection was also shortlisted for several major awards, including the Toronto Book Award, Trillium Book Award, White Pine Award, and Evergreen Award, and was longlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize.
Zalika Reid-Benta is also expanding into children’s literature, with her picture books The Twelve Days of Jamaican Christmas and Esme’s Favorite Place scheduled for publication in 2026 and 2027, respectively.