KULJINDER KAUR BRAR is an elementary teacher. She lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia. My Name Is Saajin Singh is her first book. She has a son named Saajin who inspired the story.

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RACHELLE DELANEY is the author of nine novels for young readers, including The Metro Dogs of Moscow, which was a CLA Book of the Year Honour Book, The Circus Dogs of Prague, a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Library Association’s Young Reader’s Choice Award, and Clara Voyant, a finalist for the Red Cedar Award and Joan Betty Stutchner Award for Funniest Children’s Book. Her most recent novel is The Big Sting. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Born in Edmonton, she now lives in Vancouver with her partner, her dog Sparrow, and her cat Poppy.

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PEGGY JANICKI is an award-winning Dakelh teacher from the Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation. She holds a master of education in Indigenous knowledges/Indigenous pedagogies from the University of British Columbia. Peggy has worked for decades to reveal the hidden stories and histories of Indigenous Peoples, as featured in UBC’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Reconciliation through Indigenous Education.” When her mother shared a secret story that changed all their lives and highlighted the impacts of colonization, Peggy also became a storyteller. She lives in Chilliwack, British Columbia.

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KATARINA JOVANOVIC was born in Belgrade, Serbia, where she worked as a journalist in radio broadcasting. She is the recipient of The Christie Harris Children’s Literature Award (The BC and Yukon Book Prizes) for The King Has Goat Ears (Tradewind Books), and the Chocolate Lily Award for The Blue Vase (Tradewind Books). Katarina teaches education at Vancouver Community College, and lives in Vancouver with her husband, Bojan.

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HANAKO MASUTANI writes fiction, poetry, nonfiction and literature for children. She was a contributor to the short story collection Henry Chow and Other Stories published by Tradewind Books. She lives in Vancouver with her three children.

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TASH MCADAM is a Welsh Canadian author of several books for young people, including The Psionics series, the bestselling Blood Sport and Sink or Swim in the Orca Soundings line, and The Ooze in the Orca Anchor line. Tash identifies as trans and queer and uses the neutral pronoun they. They teach high-school English and computer science and have a couple of black belts in karate. They live in Vancouver, British Columbia.

* Tash McAdam is the author of several Hi-Lo books, high-interest accessible novels written specifically for teens reading below a grade 2.0 level. We encourage teachers of students with learning difficulties to apply for this author event.

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HARRISON MOONEY is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of two nonfiction books. His critically-acclaimed debut memoir, Invisible Boy, was named among the best releases of 2022 by both The Globe & Mail and the CBC. Mooney’s writing has also appeared in the National Post, the Guardian, Yahoo and Maclean’s. He lives in East Vancouver with his partner, two children, and family dog, Bootsy.

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ROWENA RAE worked as a biologist in Canada and New Zealand before becoming a freelance writer and editor and a children’s author. She writes both fiction and nonfiction from her home in Victoria, British Columbia, which she shares with her two book-loving children.

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DANNY RAMADAN is an award-winning Syrian-Canadian author, activist, and public speaker. His work as an activist has helped provide a safe passage to dozens of Syrian LGBTQ+ refugees to Canada. He is the author of two novels for adults, The Clothesline Swing and The Foghorn Echoes, and a forthcoming memoir, Crooked Teeth. Danny lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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BILL RICHARDSON is a former radio/television presenter. He writes for children and adults.  His books include Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast, Waiting for Gertrude, The Alphabet Thief, and Last Week. Awards include the Leacock Medal for Humour, the Silver Birch Award, and a B.C. Book Award.

BILL PECHET is an artist and designer whose work explores the spaces between art, architecture, public space, and landscape. His illustration work includes Richardson’s Waiting for Gertrude (2001) and Barbara Nicol’s The Lady from Kent (2018).

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MONICA SILVIE practiced law for over fifteen years before returning to her earliest passion, writing for children. She lives with her family in Vancouver, on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Monica has an Advanced Study Certificate in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art + Design and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Writers’ Union of Canada. When she’s not writing or doing art, Monica is preoccupied with pollinators, native plant gardening, and cake.

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ELLIOTT SLINN was named New Westminster’s fifth (and youngest) Poet Laureate in June 2021. He was born and raised in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood of New Westminster and still resides in the Royal City today. He has performed at the 2015 Lululemon Leadership Conference, a LUSH product launch, and for both the Vancouver and New Westminster Arts Council. In addition to being a poet, Slinn is also a singer-songwriter whose first single, It’s You, was featured on Apple Music’s “Hot Tracks” list and in BeatRoute magazine. Slinn’s poetry and lyrics focus on the existential events of our day-to-day existence. His work has been described as immediate and accessible, as he aims to transform his personal tale into a shared experience. He is currently working on his first book of poetry. You can find excerpts of his work on his Instagram account: @elliott_slinn

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HART SNIDER is a writer and filmmaker living in Vancouver, British Columbia. He loves hanging out with his family, editing documentaries, reading comics and graphic novels, cheering for the Edmonton Oilers and staying up late.

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Kim Spencer graduated from the Writers Studio at Simon Fraser University, where she focused on creative nonfiction. An experimental short story of hers appeared in Filling Station magazine, which was shortlisted for the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Award. Kim was selected as a mentee by the Writers Union of Canada for BIPOC Writers Connect and ECW’s BIPOC Writers Mentorship Program. Kim is from the Ts’msyen Nation in northwest BC and lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Kim’s first novel, Weird Rules to Follow debuted on the BC Bestsellers list in October 2022, received a Kirkus Starred Review and was named a USBBY 2023 Outstanding International Book.

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C.A. Tanaka is a trans masculine multiracial writer of Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, and Scottish descent. A graduate of The Writer’s Studio program at Simon Fraser University, they have a BFA in intermedia from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design and, in 2017, were awarded a fully funded literary residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. C.A. is the executive director for the Storytelling with Drag Queens Foundation, a local non-profit organization with a mandate to promote diversity and inclusion in literacy for children, teens and adults. They live in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the unceded ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

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KARINA ZHOU is a Chinese Canadian writer and artist from Vancouver studying animation in San Francisco. Her debut children’s book, Kai’s Tea Eggs, was inspired by her own experiences growing up in Canada and learning to embrace her Chinese family heritage. She enjoys creating adventurous, meaningful stories for both children and adults, focusing on important topics such as Asian identity and culture. When Karina’s not scribbling in her sketchbooks or buried nose-deep in a book, she enjoys being involved in community-centred projects. From painting murals to tutoring public speaking, Karina loves learning new skills and discovering how they can help contribute to a greater good.

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