Susan was bitten by the writing bug in grade five, when she won the prize for English composition. She now works for the premier of Ontario, helping with his speeches. At night, she writes stories about mitten hunters, the true story of the cow jumping over the moon, or the story of a boy whose brother disappears under the bed. She lives in a teeny house in Toronto with her family: husband, Richard, daughter, Jessica, and cat, Merry.
One of Susan’s favorite books was Gidget by Frederick Kohner.
Anne left Don Mills, when she was seventeen, to travel and work in other countries. She returned to Canada to become a teacher and has taught in Northern Quebec and Southern Ontario. While horses often find a way into her stories (Under a Prairie Sky, My Home Bay, Last Chance Bay), she’s still hoping to learn how to ride bareback in the circus ring.
One of Anne’s favorite books was Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise McGraw.
Gillian was born in England. Because her father was an officer with the Royal Air Force, the family moved every two years. This led to Gillian being a good observer, a useful characteristic in a writer. Gillian taught high school before becoming a full-time author. She has written short stories for adults as well as for kids, and several children’s novels, including the prize-winning The Carved Box and A Foreign Field, and, most recently, The Turning. She lives with her husband and her son.
One of Gillian’s favorite books was The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
Anne was born in Mobile, Alabama, the youngest of four siblings. Between chores, her mother says Anne always had her nose in a book. She has had other stories published in magazines, but Uncle Cory’s Smile is the first one in a book. Now she is married and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where she’s completing her first fantasy novel for teenagers.
One of Anne’s favorite books was Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune.
Nancy is the author of two picture books: Hold On, McGinty! and Jocelyn and the Ballerina. She is always stealing story ideas from her kids, her family, and complete strangers in restaurants. She wears mirrored sunglasses and carries a notebook wherever she goes. When she is not writing stories, she works as a lawyer. During her breaks, she spies on the people in the park and makes up stories about them. Watch out. You could be next.
One of Nancy’s favorite books was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
Marthe grew up in the east end of Toronto, known as The Beaches. With her sister and two brothers, she often put on plays or circuses in the backyard. She loved to read and organized a lending library, using her own books, each with a hand-printed library card. As she got older, Marthe had many different jobs, including waitress, sailor, and toy designer before finally publishing her first book, The Invisible Day, when she was forty. Since then, she has written eleven books, some of which she also illustrated. Marthe’s husband, Tom Slaughter, is an artist too. They have two daughters, Hannah and Nell, and a cat named Moe, who thinks she’s a dog.
One of Marthe’s favorite books was The Borrowers by Mary Norton.
Julie was born in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Since high school, she has been writing short stories, magazine articles, plays, and novels. Her work, including The Only Outcast and In Spite of Killer Bees, has won many awards. Her most recent book, Susanna’s Quill, was published in the fall of 2004. She now writes full-time, both in Peterborough, where she lives with her husband, and at their cottage on Big Rideau Lake, where she spends her summers. Julie and her husband have four daughters and seven grandchildren.
One of Julie’s favorite books was Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Dayal Kaur Khalsa was born in Queens, New York. She traveled for many years before settling in Canada, where she wrote and illustrated stories about her childhood: her love for her gambling grandmother; her desire for a pet dog; the wonderful day she discovered pizza. Dayal Kaur Khalsa wrote and illustrated eight books in the three years before her death (in 1989), each life-affirming work created while she was seriously ill. Her legacy – Tales of a Gambling Grandma, I Want a Dog, How Pizza Came to Our Town, Sleepers, My Family Vacation, Cowboy Dreams, Julian, and The Snow Cat – is an outstanding testament to a brave and talented artist.
While creating her most recent book of verse, Zigzag: Zoems for Zindergarten, Loris Lesynski had to spend so many hours in rambunctious kindergartens that writing for old people in middle school makes a welcome change. Loris is also the author and illustrator of many picture books and poetry collections, starting with the curiously popular Boy Soup and including Dirty Dog Boogie, Nothing Beats a Pizza, and Cabbagehead. She’s currently at work on a middle-grade novel called The Nevers.
One of Loris’s favorite books was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
Martha grew up in Pennsylvania with two sisters and two dogs. In the eighth grade, she wrote a play called Symmetry, which her classmates performed at the end of the year. She is now the publisher of a literary magazine called Gumbo. She has three children – Sam, Joe, and Willa – and a pesky dog named Lizzy. Although she has written dozens of stories for adults, Road Trip is her first one for children.
One of Martha’s favorite books was The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather.
Like most kids, Teresa grew up in a house bursting with secrets. Unfortunately, they usually burst out of Teresa too, along with a lot of extra bits to make them “even more interesting.” Apparently, this was a bad thing. Teresa kept getting into trouble over spilt secrets until someone explained that if you write them down and call them a story, you’re considered a writer. Apparently, this was a good thing. Her first two books of secrets are The Onlyhouse and The Game. Teresa’s first picture book is called Bright Red Kisses and it’s full of kisses, not secrets.
One of Teresa’s favorite books was The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White.
Elizabeth Winthrop is the author of over fifty books for children and adults, including Island of Justice, The Castle in the Attic, Dumpy LaRue, and Dog Show. Her short stories have been collected in various anthologies including Best American Short Stories and have twice won the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. Among her many honors, she has won a number of state book awards for her middle-grade fiction.
One of Elizabeth’s favorite books was The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers.