Prepare to feel goosebumps with these tales of hauntings and mysteries from two bestselling writers. Joel A. Sutherland’s Haunted Canada series is a cult classic and a highlight of book fairs across the country. In the twelfth edition, more chilling than ever, Joel shares stories of black cat visits, mischievous spirits, and unusual sobs in strange places. Meanwhile, the kid detectives in Natasha Deen’s Spooky Sleuths series are asking themselves: is it science, or is it ghostly? In each tale, Deen spins a story based on Guyanese folklore. Tickle kids’ imaginations with these pre-Halloween series. Grades 4–7. Moderated by Shannon Ozirny.

Event Participants:

Natasha Deen

Guyanese-Canadian NATASHA DEEN is a best-selling author, with novels for kids, teens, and adults, and she’s a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. Her novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, won the Amy Mather Teen Book Award and her most recent YA title, The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad was a Globe & Mail’s Top 100 Books for 2022. When she’s not writing, she teaches Introduction to Children’s Writing with the University of Toronto’s SCS and spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. She is the author of the Spooky Sleuths chapter book series.

Shannon Ozirny

SHANNON OZIRNY is the Head of Youth Services at the West Vancouver Memorial Library. She has taught a children’s materials course as an adjunct at the UBC iSchool, reviewed young adult books for The Globe and Mail, and contributes regularly to Quill & Quire as a feature reviewer of picture books.

Joel A. Sutherland

JOEL A. SUTHERLAND is the Silver Birch and Hackmatack Award-winning author of numerous Haunted Canada books and the Red Maple Award Honour Book Summer’s End. His middle-grade fiction series, Haunted, has been praised by Goosebumps author R.L. Stine. Joel lives with his family in southeastern Ontario, where he works as a library manager and is always on the lookout for ghosts.