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PEN Canada, a non-partisan organization helping persecuted writers across the world, announced the establishment of the Joan Leishman Memorial Fund. Elamin Abdelmahmoud hosted the launch event on Oct. 1 at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio.
“The fund will provide urgent assistance and critical needs related to resettlement in Canada, professional and academic fees related to writing programs and projects, and occasional awards of merit,” said Margo Kelly, an award-winning journalist and one of Leishman’s friends. Both worked at CBC and supported exiled writers and refugees through their volunteer work with Romero House and PEN Canada.
According to Kelly, Joan Leishman, a TMU journalism alumna, left a legacy of support for writers in exile living in Canada and advocating for refugees. She was involved with Romero House, a community of welcome and accompaniment for newly arrived refugee claimants in Toronto, and offered her home to refugee writers from Afghanistan, Ukraine.
Award-winning Canadian author Margaret Atwood and Charles Foran, CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), are Honorary Chairs of Joan’s Memorial Fund. Leishman worked as a reporter for 30 years at the CBC, a co-sponsor of the event.
Kelly said the event was a success, with over 200 tickets sold at $125 apiece. “With the amount that we’ve raised, we should be able to do some distribution from the fund for five or six years,” she said.
“Joan was a steadfast advocate of journalists and writers and thinkers, and ensured that their voices are always heard, even when facing persecution, intimidation, jail, emotional, and/or physical harm,” said Brodie Fenlon, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News at the event.
Fleeing the war in her home country, Ukrainian journalist Lidiia Karpenko arrived in Toronto in 2022, where she met Leishman. Later, Leishman became Karpenko’s mentor and advisor. Karpenko serves as a chair of the Writer in Exile group, and describes her friendship with Leishman as “someone you could trust with your pain and doubts.”
“The bread she baked for our last meeting just a few days before she passed away was the most delicious I’ve ever had,” said Karpenko in her speech. “She cooked it with love, and I will remember it for the rest of my life.”
Karpenko wasn’t the only exiled writer Leishman has supported. Shams Erfan, an Afghani writer who survived a direct attack by the Taliban, escaped to Indonesia and spent a few years in a detention camp before Romero House helped him come to Toronto in 2022 where she hosted him in her own home before her death. “Leishman believed that Writers in Exile teaches us resilience,” said Erfman. “Last year, I was sleeping on the couch of my sister’s apartment because I couldn’t afford a place of my own,” said Erfan “Joan opened her home to me, and I moved into her basement. Leishman believed that Writers in Exile teaches us resilience,” Although Janice Neil, an associate professor in TMU’s Journalism School, hasn’t seen Leishman for nearly ten years, she was keen to attend the fundraiser. The two were friends when they worked for CBC in the national radio newsroom.
“Leishman had a sharp eye and sharp observational skills as a journalist and storyteller. She was able to tell stories about difficult geopolitical situations, but make the humans the center of them,” said Neil.
Kelly said she was pleased Leishman was honoured at the event paying respect to her legacy.
“Joan would have been happy to see awareness raised of Writers in Exile and freedom of expression,” she said.
According to her Globe and Mail obituary, Leishman died on Aug. 3, 2025, in Toronto after falling down the stairs while gardening at her home. She was 67.
Reporter, OTR, F2026.
Reporter, OTR, F2026.
