Meghan Rose Allen writes stories for young readers and adults, and has had her work published in numerous literary journals across Canada. Born in Peterborough, Ontario, she has lived in Calgary, Ottawa, and Halifax, and currently lives in Sackville, New Brunswick. Enid Strange is her debut novel.

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Meghan’s Books: Enid Strange

Kate Blair is a native of Hayling Island, UK, and is now a Canadian citizen living in Toronto. Her first novel, Transferral, was a finalist for the Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award and the Saskatchewan Young Readers Choice Snow Willow Award, and was a Starred Selection of the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens. 

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Kate’s Books: The Magpie’s Library | A Mist of Memories | Tangled Planet | Transferral

Ali Bryan is an award-winning writer. Her debut YA novel, The Hill, was longlisted for the 2021 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. She is also a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Emerging Artist recipient. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she currently lives on Treaty 7 Territory, in Calgary, Alberta, where she has a wrestling room in her garage and regularly gets choked out by her family. For more about Ali Bryan, please visit alibryan.com

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Ali's Book: Takedown

Kern Carter was born in Trinidad and raised in Toronto, Canada. He is a full-time writer and founder of CRY Creative Group, whose mission is to build and inspire a community of emerging writers connected by the power of vulnerability and creativity. Kern is the author of Boys and Girls Screaming, the forthcoming novel, Is There A Boy Like Me, and the novel And Then There Was Us. He has previously self-published two titles.

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Kern’s Book: Boys and Girls Screaming

Judith Clark is a former librarian with a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Texas and a Master of Arts from the University of Arkansas. Clark was born in Arkansas and moved to Alberta in 1997.  Under the Radar is her first young adult novel.

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Judith’s Books: Under the Radar

Sara de Waard is an author and screenwriter of Métis descent and is currently in the process of exploring her family’s heritage. She is an elementary school teacher and freelance social media manager with a love for film and a soft spot for rap and hip-hop music thanks to her two teenagers. Her writing is often inspired by her compassion for the trials and tribulations of today’s youth. After completing her BA in Radio and Television from Ryerson University and a stint in London, ON, de Waard returned to her hometown of Port Colborne, ON where she currently lives with her kids.

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Sara’s Books: Defy | White Lies

Brian Deines has illustrated numerous books for children, including Skysisters (written by Jan Bourdeau Waboose), Dragonfly Kites (written by Thomson Highway), and One Hockey Night (written by David Ward). He has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Literature Award, the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award. A native of Red Deer, Alberta, Brian lives in Toronto, Ontario.

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Brian’s Book: The Circle Game

Cherie Dimaline is a Métis author and editor whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. Her first book, Red Rooms, was published in 2007, and her novel The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy was released in 2013. In 2014, she was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and became the first Aboriginal Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library. Her young adult novel, The Marrow Thieves, has won the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Kirkus Prize; it was a finalist for the White Pine Award, was named to the Globe and Mail Top 100 and was selected for CBC’s Canada Reads.

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Cherie’s Book: The Marrow Thieves

Holly Dobbie is a former high school teacher with a heart for the underdog. Her teaching experiences and volunteer work with at-risk youth through the Red Cross Child Abuse Prevention Program have taught her that change is needed at almost every level of the middle and high school environments. She lives with her family in Langley, BC.

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Holly’s Book: Fifteen Point Nine

Philippa Dowding’s most recent book, Firefly, won the 2021 Governor General’s Award for Young People’s Literature, and her previous book, Oculum, was a finalist for the Diamond Willow Award and the Forest of Reading Silver Birch Award. She lived on a glacier for one summer in university, and was inspired to write environmental dystopia/cli-fi when she visited it thirty years later and was shocked by how much it had melted. Dowding lives in Toronto, ON.

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Philippa’s books: Firefly | Oculum | Oculum Echo

Eugenie Fernandes is a prolific author-illustrator with over 120 picture books to her name. Born on Long Island, Eugenie graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her paintings from the books Earth Magic and One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference are on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. Earth Magic was also shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award for Illustration. She currently lives in southern Ontario.

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Eugenie's Book: Good Boy Timmy

Caroline Fernandez is the Canadian author of more than twelve books for children. She is an award-winning author of The Adventures of Grandmasaurus series, the Asha and Baz series, and more. Caroline lives, writes and bakes in Toronto, ON.

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Caroline's Book: Plague Thieves

Joan Marie Galat is an award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and adults, with translations in seven languages. She is best known for her science books for children, specifically her astronomy titles and interest in everything outer space. Her books have won and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Moonbeam Children's Book, Crystal Kite, Skipping Stones, Rocky Mountain Book, Red Cedar Book, and Hackmatack awards, among others. She is the 2018 recipient of the Martha Weston Grant, awarded annually to one member (worldwide) of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Galat lives near Edmonton, Alberta.

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Joan’s Book: Mortimer

Leslie Gentile’s debut novel Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer (2021) won the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize, the Jean Little First-Novel Award, and was short-listed for nine other awards. Leslie is also a singer/songwriter and performs with two of her adult children in The Leslie Gentile Band. Of Settler and Indigenous heritage, she lives on Vancouver Island on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people with her husband and a German Shepherd who is convinced that he’s a lapdog.

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Leslie’s Books: Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer | Elvis, Me, and the Postcard Winter | Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I.

Lisa Harrington’s work has appeared in A Maritime Christmas; her first novel, Rattled, was published to critical acclaim in 2010. She holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Acadia, and has worked as a childcare worker and a teacher. A lifelong resident of Nova Scotia, Harrington currently resides in Halifax.

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Lisa’s Books: Live to Tell | Twisted

Alison Hughes is the award-winning author of twenty books for children and young adults. Her YA novel Hit the Ground Running was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Hughes’ works have also won the R. Ross Annett Award and the Writers’ Union of Canada Writing for Children Award, and have been nominated for numerous provincial children’s choice awards. Hughes is a university writing advisor and gives workshops and presentations at schools, libraries, conferences and festivals. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

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Alison’s Books: Life Expectancy

Natalie Hyde is the author of both fiction and non-fiction for middle-grade and young adult readers. Her works include Saving Armpit, I Owe You One, and Cryptic Canada, and her books have received award nominations in both Canada and the U.S. Hyde is her family’s genealogist — the “keeper of the bones” — and has traced her father’s family back to the 1700s in Canada. She currently lives in Flamborough, Ontario.

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Natalie’s Books: More than Words | Swept Away

David Jardine is an illustrator and YouTuber whose video series “Coffee Doodles” has been showcased on major news sites like Yahoo News and MSN. Jardine’s work has been nominated for the Forest of Reading Blue Spruce Award and Saskatchewan’s Willow Award. His has been exhibited at the Harbour Front Gallery, Rodman Hall Gallery, and the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre Gallery. He lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick. For more information on David, please visit davidjardineart.com

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David’s Book: More than Words

Mere Joyce has a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Western Ontario. She currently works as a librarian and when she’s not recommending great books to people, she’s writing them. Her work include Shadow, Getting the Brush Off, and Blank Canvas. Joyce lives in Kitchener, Ontario.

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Mere’s Book: Things That Fall

Christina Kilbourne is an award-winning author of adult, young adult, and middle-grade fiction. Her books have won the Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award, a Snow Willow Award, and a Red Cedar Award and have been nominated for numerous others. She was born in Southwestern Ontario but spent her school years in Muskoka where she attended a two-room country school. In her spare time, Kilbourne enjoys travelling, skiing, hiking, kayaking, and anything else that keeps her moving. She lives in Bracebridge, Ontario.

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Christina’s Book: 40 Days in Hicksville

Shortly after the publication of her 2003 poetry collection, The Brevity of Red (2003), Jill MacLean wrote The Nine Lives of Travis Keating (2008) which won the 2009 Ann Connor Brimer Award, was shortlisted for a number of awards, and was a KIND Children’s Honorable Mention Book for the Humane Society of the United States. Its 2009 sequel, The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy, won the 2010 Ann Connor Brimer Award. Both books are set in Newfoundland, where Jill’s family lived for eighteen years. Jill now makes her home in Nova Scotia, which is the setting for her third novel. Always an avid reader, she is delighted to rediscover the world of children’s literature. In her free time she gardens, canoes, and hikes.

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Jill’s Book: Home Truths

Meagan Mahoney is an author who balances her love of writing with her work as a pediatric intensive care doctor. Her debut novel, Meranda and the Legend of the Lake, was nominated for the 2023 Forest of Reading Silver Birch Fiction Award, IODE Violet Downey Book Award, and R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature. She lives in Calgary, Alberta, where she loves to explore the mountains with her husband, three children, and a very nervous rescue dog.

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Meagan's Book: The Time Keeper

C.K. Kelly Martin is the author of several acclaimed novels for young people. In 2019 she published Shantallow under the name Cara Martin. A graduate of the Film Studies program at York University, Martin has lived in the Greater Toronto Area and Dublin, Ireland. Within the space of 3500 miles she’s worked a collection of quirky jobs at multiple pubs and video stores, an electricity company, a division of the Irish post office, a London toy-shop, and an advertising analytics company. Cara currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario with her husband and is still afraid of the Child Catcher from the film adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

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C.K. Kelly’s Books: Delicate | Shantallow | Stricken | The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing

Sylvia McNicoll is the author of dozens of middle grade and young adult novels, such as Crush, Candy, Corpse, Body Swap, and The Great Mistake Mystery series. She has won numerous awards for her books including Forest of Reading’s Silver Birch Award, a MYRCA award, Creative Burlington’s inaugural Arts Recognition Award, and six Hamilton Arts Awards. She currently lives in Burlington, Ontario. For more about McNicoll, visit sylviamcnicoll.com

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Sylvia’s Book: Blue to the Sky

Angela Misri is an author and journalist of Indian descent. She was born in London, U.K., and briefly lived in Buenos Aires before moving to Canada in 1982. Angela is the author of the Portia Adams Adventures series and several essays on Sherlock Holmes. She earned her BA in English Literature from the University of Calgary and her MA in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario. As a former CBC Radio digital manager and the Digital Director at The Walrus, Angela is never offline (although she prefers to write long form in notebooks). Angela plays MMORPGs, speaks several web languages, and owns too many comic books. She currently lives in Toronto, ON.

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Angela’s Books: Pickles vs. the Zombies | Trip of the Dead | ValHamster

Joni Mitchell was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, and began her career singing in coffeehouses of Saskatoon and busking on the streets in Toronto. Her albums Song to a Seagull, Clouds, and Ladies of the Canyon helped her to become a folk music icon, and in 1997 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was appointed a Companion to the Order of Canada in 2002.

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Joni’s Book: The Circle Game

Michelle Mulder is an award-winning author of many books for children, including The Vegetable Museum, Home Sweet Neighborhood, and Every Last Drop. When not writing, Michelle loves hanging out in the woods and is currently training to be a forest school mentor. They live in Victoria, British Columbia. For more information about Michelle and their books, please visit michellemulder.com

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Michelle’s Book: Up for Grabs

Mahtab Narsimhan is the author of a young adult trilogy, four middle-grade novels, and two picture books. Her first novel, The Third Eye, won the Silver Birch Award. Its sequels, The Silver Anklet and The Deadly Conch, have received critical acclaim, and Narsimhan’s standalone novel The Tiffin, was nominated for the Red Maple Fiction Award, the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and the SYRCA Snow Willow Award. A native of Mumbai (Bombay), Narsimhan now lives in British Columbia.

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Mahtab’s Books: The Tiffin | Valley of the Rats

Charles Pachter is one of Canada’s leading contemporary artists. He is an award-winning painter, printmaker, sculptor, designer, historian, and lecturer. His canvases hang in public and private collections around the world, and in the McMichael Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. He is the author of two children’s books, M is for Moose: A Charles Pachter Alphabet (winner of the I.O.D.E. Book Award, nominated for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Illustrated Book Award and the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Libris Award) and Canada Counts: A Charles Pachter Counting Book. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada. He lives in Toronto.

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Charles’ Books: Canada Counts | M is for Moose

Shane Peacock is an author, playwright, journalist and screenwriter, published in twenty languages in eighteen countries. He is a seven-time winner of the Junior Library Guild of America Selection, twice winner of the Arthur Ellis Award, and has been short-listed for the Governor General’s Award, three times for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. His young adult novels include the acclaimed Boy Sherlock Holmes series, the Dylan Maples Adventures, and The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim trilogy. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario with his wife, journalist Sophie Kneisel.

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Shane’s Book: The Book of Us

Before transitioning to writing, Barbara Radecki was an established actor with many film and television roles and hundreds of commercials to her credit. In recent years, several of her screenplays have been optioned or sold. As a screenwriter, her most recent film, Modern Persuasion, came out in 2020. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and now based in Toronto, Ontario Radecki was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writers’ Prize for her first YA novel, The Darkhouse.

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Barbara’s Books: The Darkhouse | Messenger 93

Born in Chatham, New Brunswick, M.E. Reid has lived in Cold Lake, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta; Petawawa, Ontario; and West Germany. She currently lives in Kitchener, Ontario, and is the mother of two children with autism (one with Asperger's). The Turing Machinists is her first book for young adults.

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M.E.’s Book: The Turing Machinists

Karen Rivers has written novels for adult, middle-grade, and young adult audiences. Her books have been nominated for a wide range of literary awards, including the Silver Birch Award, the Stellar Book Award, the White Pine Award, and the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. When she's not writing, reading, or visiting schools, she can usually be found hiking in the forest that flourishes behind her tiny old house in Victoria, British Columbia, where she lives with her two kids, two dogs, two birds, and two fish.

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Karen’s Books: The Girl in the Well Is Me | Love, Ish

Bev Katz Rosenbaum is the author of the I Was a Teenage Popsicle series, Who is Tanksy?, and most recently, I’m Good and Other Lies. She has taught creative writing at Centennial College and is an award-winning publishing industry veteran. Rosenbaum, a devoted coffee-drinker and chocoholic, spends her downtime reading, baking, and watching movies. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

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Bev’s Book: I’m Good and Other Lies

Richard Scarsbrook's short stories and poems have been published widely in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies, and he has won a number of prizes and awards. His first book, Cheeseburger Subversive, is a funny, moving must-read young adult novel.  Featherless Bipeds, the exciting rock ’n’ roll sequel to Cheeseburger Subversive, was shortlisted for the 2007 Young Adult Book Award by the Canadian Library Association, and was a 2008/2009 Stellar Book Award nominee. Richard’s third young adult novel, the White Pine Award-winning The Monkeyface Chronicles, was published in April 2010. Richard lives in Toronto, Ontario.

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Richard’s Book: Nothing Man and the Purple Zero

Valerie Sherrard is the author of more than 30 books for children and teens, including the multi-award-nominated Birdspell and the novel-in-verse Standing on Neptune. Her work has won or been shortlisted for the TD, GG, Geoffrey Bilson, Ann Connor Brimer, and CLA Awards, and numerous readers’ choice programs including the Forest of Reading, MYRCA, Red Cedar, RMBA, Willows, and Hackmatack Awards. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she now lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick.

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Valerie’s Books: A Bend in the Breeze | Birdspell | More than Words | The Rise and Fall of Derek Cowell | Standing on Neptune | An Unbalanced Force

David Skuy is the author of award-winning books for young readers. His books focus on the issues young people face, and he uses sports as the vehicle to tell their stories. His work has included the Rocket Blues and Undergrounders series of hockey-themed novels, and the Striker series, which focuses on soccer. Skuy lives in Toronto, Ontario.

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David’s Books: The Band of Merry Kids | Run

Eric Walters began writing in 1993 as a way to entice his grade five students into becoming more interested in reading and writing. Walters has now published over 120 novels and picture books. His novels have become bestsellers, been translated into sixteen languages, and won over one hundred awards, including ten Forest of Reading awards and the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. He conceived of the I Read Canadian Day and is a tireless presenter, speaking to over 100,000 students per year across North America. In 2014, Walters was named a Member of The Order of Canada. He lives in Guelph, Ontario, with his wife, Anita, and they have three grown children – Christina, Nicholas, and Julia – and six grandchildren.

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Eric’s Books: The Club | Good Boy Timmy | Made 4 You

Lori Weber is the author of several books for children, middle-grade readers, and young adults, including Klepto, If You Live Like Me, My Granny Loves Hockey, Strange Beauty, and Tattoo Heaven. A native of Montreal, Quebec, Weber lives in Pointe-Claire and teaches English and Creative Writing at John Abbott College.

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Lori’s Book: Deep Girls