Leanne Toshiko Simpson is an award-winning writer, educator and mental health advocate from Toronto. She writes joyful, messy, laugh-out-loud stories about living with mental illness and the moments of hope that help us get out of bed day after day. Leanne lives in Toronto with her husband, son and small fluffy dog, and spends as much time as possible in her garden.
Leanne teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College and spent the last year serving as Writer-in-Residence for Fountain House NYC, the world’s largest mental health clubhouse. She received an MFA from the University of Guelph and is currently completely a Doctor of Education candidate at OISE, researching her family history and the intergenerational impact of Japanese Canadian internment.
At Trinity College, Leanne is the Director of Literary Programming, leading an exciting new campaign around literature and sustainability called Trinity Reads.
She also runs a creative writing circle for racialized students at the University of Toronto and is a graduate research fellow at the Centre for Global Disability Studies. In her spare time, she supports emerging romance writers and memoirists through the Flying Books mentorship program and creates mental health greeting cards through Pebbles and Company.
Leanne’s debut novel Never Been Better is inspired by the community she has found through her mental health advocacy work. A decade after her hospitalization, Leanne is excited to have published Never Been Better with HarperCollins Canada and Putnam Books with translations in Germany, Brazil, and the Netherlands. She feels lucky that some of the hardest times in her life have inspired such beautiful connections with readers around the world.
