Bio

Alison Isaac is a Caribbean-Canadian writer, editor, and educator based in Toronto whose work centers on identity, culture, and the layered nuances of lived experience. She holds an M.A. in Education and a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing, grounding her creative practice in both academic and artistic inquiry. Drawing on time spent living and working in Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia, she brings a global and deeply reflective perspective to her writing and teaching. She is currently working on a collection of short stories.

Her short story Legacy was longlisted for the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s Emergent Writers short story competition and later won Rewrite Reads’ inaugural issue. She is also the author of the children’s book Kookumbah (2020). Her narrative essay “Speech Patterns,” published in Living Hyphen (Issue 2.2: Healing Across Generations), further exemplifies her commitment to exploring language, identity, and intergenerational connection.

Beyond her own writing, Alison is dedicated to uplifting diverse voices, particularly within the African diaspora and Caribbean-Canadian literary communities. She is the founder of Global Narrative, a bookish lifestyle brand that celebrates writers of the African diaspora through curated content and meaningful literary goods. Her work in publishing includes editorial contributions to titles such as And the Walls Came Down by Denise Da Costa, Suite as Sugar by Camille Hernández Ramdwar, and Black Cake, Turtle Soup, and Other Dilemmas by Gloria Blizzard.

Alison’s engagement with the literary community extends to her role as a judge for the Ripple Foundation’s Kids Write 4 Kids Creative Challenge and as a host of the By the Lake Book Club, featuring authors Antonio Michael Downing and Amy Stuart in collaboration with the Toronto International Festival of Authors and Humber College. Her personal essay “Dad’s Bookshelf” was featured in The Globe and Mail, and her work has also been highlighted in audio form on Living Hyphen’s podcast.

Through writing, editing, and community-building, Alison Isaac continues to create and support spaces where underrepresented voices are not only heard but celebrated. Her work is grounded in a belief in storytelling as a powerful tool to connect and challenge.