Tessa Barbosa is a Filipina-Canadian author who writes fantasy novels by night, and software help by day. She is the author of ISLE OF TEETH and THE MOONLIGHT BLADE. Tessa lives in Vancouver, Canada, with her children, an anxious cat, and a growing plant collection. When she’s not at the keyboard, you’re likely to find her in the garden, or making things.
Tessa always wanted to live in a storybook. As a child, she read so much that after too many late nights burried in a book and eating distractedly at the table, her parents banned her from reading. It didn’t work. Tessa stuffed books under her blankets, hid them in her sweaters, and a few poor paperbacks met their ruin in a hot bath.
But Tessa also loved school. She spent an extra long time in university, where she majored in computer science, minored in the fine arts, and completed several academic side quests (that she might tell you about if you meet her). Eventually she graduated and began a career in technical writing, because words were always her first love. Now she writes software help by day, and fantasy novels by night. Her newest book for young adults, ISLE OF TEETH, will be published in Sept 2026. THE MOONLIGHT BLADE is out now.
What better way to live in stories than to write them?
Tessa is a regular contributor at Writer Unboxed and attended Viable Paradise 16. She is a member of the SFWA and TWUC. She is grateful to live and work on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
AI Statement: Every misplaced comma, typo, and weird em-dash in my books was added by me. I do not use LLMs as part of my creative writing process and prefer that my art remains imperfectly human.
