In my presentations, when I ask my young audiences to define a carnival, often, they talk about the rides, costumes and music.  Carnival is also the celebration in which rich foods are eaten before the start of Lent, the ... Read More  

After I finished writing my first book, Trash Revolution, I found myself continuing to research the broken cycle of production-consumption-waste. It made me think about some of the reasons we become consumers, and why we support the companies we ... Read More  

Picture books can be a safe place to have a difficult conversation. A picture book can sometimes tell a hard story in a manner that lands safely for a young reader, and hopefully leaves them feeling inspired. That was ... Read More  

As I write this, it is less than a week before my first book, The Beekeepers, is released.* I am thrilled, ecstatic, and excited! But to be honest, I am also a bit scared. Will readers like it? Will ... Read More  

February 17th - next Wednesday - is the second annual I Read Canadian Day! Help me celebrate it by spending 15 minutes reading a book - any book! - by a Canadian author. Read More  

I’d been working really hard on my first-ever children’s book and was so excited for it’s spring 2020 release. Called Proud to Play, it’s about the experience of Canadian LGBTQ athletes in professional sports. The topic was so important ... Read More  

I love writing science fiction. My very first four books were science fiction: time travel dystopian novels about climate change, corporations taking over the world, false prophets and utopias. Hmm. That was 33 years ago! Seems like I was either ... Read More  

Now and then illustrators get projects that aren’t straightforward, and not only challenge our technical skills but also our ability to research. I was thrilled when I signed my first illustration contract for a children’s poetry book titled “Recess ... Read More  

It's almost Remembrance Day in Canada, so it's high time for a special edition of Cantastic Authorpalooza. Today, I'm welcoming my not-so-evil stepmother, Jaqueline Carmichael, who is celebrating the release of her newest book, Heard Amid the Guns: True ... Read More  

It all began at the Vancouver Aquarium where the instant I first saw sea otters, I was smitten! Cuteness overload! Especially when they linked paws! But it got even better. I was amazed to learn that in the wild, ... Read More  

Once upon a time, I had a dream: I wanted to write nonfiction. Keep in mind, this was many years ago, and I came from a poetry and fiction background. I had been writing poetry since I was six, ... Read More  

Ghost. That one word has a strange power. All I have to do is announce that I’m going to tell a ghost story and children sharpen to attention. Grownups too. It seems that we are all touched by ghosts, ... Read More  

“Where do your ideas come from?” That’s the question I get asked most from children and adults alike. The simplest answer is, from my life. Don’t misunderstand, I don’t have a wild and crazy life full of intrigue and adventure. ... Read More  

The idea for my teen novel, HE MUST LIKE YOU, which comes out on July 14, arrived in a kind of backwards manner. Let me explain: about a year before the #metoo movement took off, there was a high ... Read More  

I was born in Georgia, USSR and immigrated to Canada when I was four years old. I lived in Toronto, Ontario for the most part of my life. I’ve been married to my husband Esfandiar for over 28 years ... Read More  

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children's writers! Today's guest: Farida Mizra. Take it away, Farida! My memories of growing up in pre-digital South East Asia are rich with images of living in extended families, ... Read More  

This world appeared to me as I stood looking out across an inlet of the Red Sea. It was night and the dark spread out in front of me like a void.  There was a far-off shore, contoured with ... Read More  

I remember the first time I heard about the use of pathetic fallacy in literature. You know: ascribing human emotions to nature in order to give the reader a sense of mood or a hint of what is to ... Read More