Barbara Reid is the bestselling author and illustrator of more than a dozen picture books, and the illustrator of over twenty five. She has won the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, The Governor General’s Award for Illustration and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award. In 2013 she became a member of the Order of Canada, and in 2015 she was named Honorary Chair of Family Literacy Day. Her book Picture the Sky won the 2018 CBC Fan Choice Award and was shortlisted for the 2018 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.
Emil Sher writes prose and plays for the young and the once-were-young. His first novel, Young Man with Camera, has received numerous awards and honours. Emil is a laureate of the 2014 K.M. Hunter Artist Award in Literature. Emil has written the stage play adaptations of Karen Levine’s Hana’s Suitcase and Ian Brown’s The Boy in the Moon, and the script and lyrics for Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater. He was also the writer for The Book of Ashes, inspired by the true story of an Iraqi librarian who saved tens of thousands of books in the midst of war.
Shakirah Bourne is a Bajan author and filmmaker born and based in Barbados. She once shot a movie scene in a cave with bats during an earthquake, but is too scared to watch horror movies. She enjoys exploring old graveyards, daydreaming and eating mangoes. Learn more at shakirahbourne.com.
Pablo Leon is an artist and designer whose clients include Warner Brothers Animation, OddBot Inc, Puny Entertainment, Bento Box Entertainment, and more. His original comic story The Journey, about the true accounts of people migrating from Latin America to the US, was a 2019 Eisner Award nominee. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Justin A. Reynolds has always wanted to be a writer. Opposite of Always, his debut novel, was a School Library Journal Best Book, has been translated in 17 languages, and is being developed for film with Paramount Players. Miles Morales: Shock Waves is his first graphic novel. He hangs out in northeast Ohio with his family. You can find him online at justinareynolds.com.
Brian Selznick‘s books have garnered countless accolades worldwide and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He is the Caldecott Medal-winning creator of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Invention of Hugo Cabret, adapted into Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning movie Hugo and Wonderstruck, adapted into the eponymous movie by celebrated filmmaker Todd Haynes, with a screenplay by Selznick, as well as the New York Times bestsellers The Marvels and Baby Monkey, Private Eye. Most recently, he illustrated the 20th anniversary paperback edition covers of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
Debbie Ridpath Ohi is the author of Where Are My Books?. Her illustrations also appear in Sea Monkey and Bob, written by Aaron Reynolds; I’m Bored (a New York Times Notable Book), Naked!, and I’m Sorry, written by Michael Ian Black; as well as in ten Judy Blume chapter books and middle grade titles. Visit her online at DebbieOhi.com or @InkyElbows on Twitter.
Elizabeth MacLeod is the author of more than 70 Canadian nonfiction titles, including the acclaimed Scholastic Canada Biography series, which highlights the lives of fascinating and influential people in Canada’s past and present. She’s won many awards for her work, including Children’s Choice awards across Canada, the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book. Liz lives in Toronto, Ontario, and enjoys reading, swimming, theatre and gardening.
Ruth Ohihas illustrated over sixty books, twenty-one of which she is also the author. Her books have been selected for NYC READ365, Kirkus Reviews Best Books, the Canadian Toy Testing Council’s Great Books, the Ontario Library Association’s Best Bets and the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books. Her recent books include Choose Kindness, No Help Wanted, Scribble and the Fox and Squirrel series. Ruth is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Kevin Sylvester is an award-winning writer, illustrator, reporter, radio sports host, producer, and documentary maker. He writes and illustrates everything from picture books to murder mysteries and science fiction to books on sports and financial literacy. His books include the bestselling Mucus Mayhem in the The Almost Epic Squad, and the MiNRS and Neil Flambé series. Kevin lives in Toronto, Ontario.