The Jean Little First-Novel Award Shortlist

Tziporah Cohen, Nadine Neema, Alisa Siegel and Kit Pearson

The Jean Little First-Novel Award Shortlist

Tziporah Cohen, Nadine Neema, Alisa Siegel and Kit Pearson

1:00pm

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Join first-time authors Tziporah Cohen, Nadine Neema and Alisa Siegel, the 2021 finalists for the inaugural Jean Little First-Novel Award, as they explore the stories that inspired them to put pen to paper, and the highs and lows of publishing their first novels for children. This conversation will be moderated by Kit Pearson, beloved children’s author and one of the founding creators of the Jean Little First-Novel Award. This year’s Jean Little First-Novel Award winner is Tziporah Cohen‘s No Vacancy (Groundwood Books).

This event is presented in partnership with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, a national, not‐for‐profit organization dedicated to encouraging, promoting and supporting the reading, writing and illustrating of Canadian books for young readers. For more information, visit bookcentre.ca.

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

TIFA Kids is generously supported by Gail and Mark Appel.

TIFA LogoCanadian Children’s Book Centre Awards

Panel Discussion

Join first-time authors Tziporah Cohen, Nadine Neema and Alisa Siegel, the 2021 finalists for the inaugural Jean Little First-Novel Award, as they explore the stories that inspired them to put pen to paper, and the highs and lows of publishing their first novels for children. This conversation will be moderated by Kit Pearson, beloved children’s author and one of the founding creators of the Jean Little First-Novel Award. This year’s Jean Little First-Novel Award winner is Tziporah Cohen‘s No Vacancy (Groundwood Books).

This event is presented in partnership with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, a national, not‐for‐profit organization dedicated to encouraging, promoting and supporting the reading, writing and illustrating of Canadian books for young readers. For more information, visit bookcentre.ca.

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

TIFA Kids is generously supported by Gail and Mark Appel.

TIFA LogoCanadian Children’s Book Centre Awards

Panel Discussion

Featured Authors

Tziporah (Tzippy) Cohen was born and raised in New York and spent eighteen years in Boston before landing in Toronto, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, two cats and one dog. Tzippy studied French and theater arts at Cornell University, where she was one of a handful of chimesmasters who performed concerts in the campus bell tower. Many years after graduating from Harvard Medical School, she received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She now splits her time between writing and working as an oncology/palliative care psychiatrist.

Read more about Tziporah Cohen

Nadine Neema, born in Montreal and of Egyptian and Lebanese descent, is a multi-disciplinary artist and workshop facilitator. As a recording artist she has released four albums, was mentored by Leonard Cohen and has opened for Elton John, Joe Cocker and Cyndi Lauper. Neema began working with the Tłı̨chǫ, first as a community manager of Wekweètì, a small isolated Tłı̨chǫ community in the Northwest Territories, then assisting with their land claims and self-government negotiations under Chief Negotiator John B. Zoe. Neema has returned to Wekweètì periodically to conduct creativity workshops for the youth and photograph many of their events. Journal of a Traveling Girl is her first book.

Read more about Nadine Neema

Alisa Siegel makes radio documentaries for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her work has been recognized with many international awards. Over the past 20 years, Alisa has produced stories on subjects as varied as the underground railroad for refugees in Fort Erie, daring women artists in 1920s Montreal, the return of the trumpeter swan, Canadian nurses in World War I and violence in elementary school classrooms. She lives in Toronto with her family.

Read more about Alisa Siegel

Kit Pearson was born in Edmonton, Alberta and worked for many years as a children’s librarian in Ontario and B.C. Since 1986 she has written twelve novels, a picture book and an anthology. She has won seventeen awards for her writing, including the B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence in 2014. In 2018, Kit was appointed a member of the Order of Canada. Her two latest books are Be My Love, a middle grade novel about a young teen in 1951 realizing she is a lesbian and The Magic Boat, a picture book written with her partner Katherine Farris. Kit and Katherine live in Victoria, B.C. with their two dogs.

Read more about Kit Pearson

1:00pm

Wednesday, October 27

What to read

No Vacancy by , My Name is Konisola by , Journal of a Travelling Girl by ,
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