2023 Authors & Speakers

Angie Thomas was born and raised in Mississippi, but now calls Atlanta her home. A former teen rapper, she holds a BFA in creative writing from Belhaven University. Her award-winning, acclaimed debut novel, The Hate U Give, is a #1 New York Times bestseller and major motion picture from Fox 2000, starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by George Tillman, Jr. Her first middle grade novel, Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy, is on sale now.

David Suzuki is a father, grandfather, scientist, activist, and Professor Emeritus at UBC. He is familiar to television audiences for his 44 years as host the CBC science and natural history television series The Nature of Things. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and has received UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for Science, the Right Livelihood Award, and has received 32 honorary degrees from Canada, the US and Australia. Dr. Suzuki has been honoured with adoption and names from eight Indigenous First Nations in Canada and Australia. He is also the author of Bompa’s Insect Expedition.

Louise Flaherty is an Inuk author who grew up in Central Baffin Island when there were great storytellers around. She’s passionate about keeping the Inuit language alive and will keeping trying her best to do her part in the retention and promotion of it for their future generations. As an indigenous person, if she can share our culture and stories with the world, they will learn more about it appreciate the authenticity of their identity.

Joanna Cacao is a Canadian-Filipino author, and illustrator that lives in Winnipeg with her two dogs; Danny and Arya. Growing up in front of a TV, Joanna immediately became obsessed with any show or film that had a great story and set of characters. Her favourite shows consist of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Downton Abbey, The Last Kingdom and Gravity Falls. Her biggest influences come from various manga, and animated films Joanna is the artist for The Tryout and The Squad by Christina Soontornvat. The Secret of the Ravens, Joanna’s graphic novel debut, is releasing November 7, 2023.

Nadia L. Hohn, B.A. (Hon.), B.Ed., M.Ed., M.F.A. is an award-winning educator, artivist, and author of several books for children including A Likkle Miss Lou and the Malaika series. Malaika’s Costume (2016) was the 2021 TD Grade One Book Giveaway. Her books Malaika, Carnival Queen (Groundwood Books) and The Antiracist Kitchen: 21 Stories (and Recipes) (Orca) will be released in 2023. Nadia teaches elementary school and writing for children courses at post-secondary institutions.

Keet Geniza is an illustrator, cartoonist, graphic designer and youth arts facilitator born and raised in Manila. They have self-published over seventy zines and have conducted workshops on zine and comic-making at the Toronto Public Library, Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, and the Art Gallery of Burlington. Their work has been featured in the Brooklyn Museum, Toronto International Festival of Authors, Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and published in Broken Pencil, Exclaim!, just femme & dandy and Lamda Nordica. Keet illustrated Kimiko Does Cancer (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020) and they are currently living, working and walking their dog in Scarborough.

Sara Truuvert is a Canadian writer of Japanese-Estonian descent. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in publications like Ploughshares, the Chicago Quarterly Review, Witness, and PRISM international. Her debut picture book, Mira and Baku, is published by Annick Press. She lives in Ottawa.

Deidre Havrelock is a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation. She grew up in Edmonton, AB, Canada with a ghost in her house, a feminist for a grandma, and wishing she had a buffalo for a pet! Over the years, she has lived in various wonderful places both in Canada and the USA. Currently, she resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan—Treaty 6 Territory and Homeland of the Métis. Deidre is the author of Buffalo Wild! And yes, as a child, she had a stuffed animal that looked like a buffalo.

Marty Chan writes books for kids, plays for adults, and social media posts for fun. He wrote the bestseller, Haunted Hospital, and currently works and lives in Edmonton with his wife and their two cats.

Khodi Dill is a Bahamian-Canadian writer, anti-racism educator, public speaker, and spoken word artist from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Dill’s captivating picture books, Welcome to the Cypher and Little Black Lives Matter, are available now and can be ordered anywhere you buy books. Khodi Dill’s powerful young adult nonfiction work stay up: racism, resistance, and reclaiming Black freedom releases September 26th. Author Karina Vernon calls the book “A brilliant piece of scholarship and an energizing call to action.” For more information, visit thegreygriot.com.

Dr. Emi Pinto is a Canadian author who loves to write about cute ghosts, awkward witches, and food from her mixed South Asian and Franco-Ontarian heritage (masala poutine anyone?). Her favorite thing, aside from chocolate, is getting lost on forest trails with her family, searching for fairy doors. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario. Bee Bakshi and the Gingerbread Sisters is her first book.

Ann Yu-Kyung Choi is a Toronto-based author and educator. Her novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. Her children’s picture book, Once Upon An Hour, was a FOLD Kids Book-of-the-Month. Ann currently sits on the program advisory committee for gritLIT, Hamilton’s literary festival, and manages The Authors Book Club, an online initiative she co-founded to connect authors with readers across Canada.

Jamesie Fournier enjoys exploring his culture through writing. His work has appeared in Inuit Art Quarterly, Red Rising magazine, Northern Public Affairs, Kaakuluk magazine, and the anthologies Coming Home: Stories from the Northwest Territories & Ndè Sı̀ı̀ Wet’aɂà: Northern Indigenous Voices on Land, Life & Art. His debut fiction, The Other Ones, was published in 2022 with Inhabit Media. A recurrent speaker at the Northwords Writers Festival, Jamesie was also runner-up for Up Here’s 2018 Sally Manning Award for Indigenous Creative Non-Fiction.

Mark is an entrepreneur, an author and a Daddy. He hopes you enjoy his second book, Shizue’s Path.

Lara Jean Okihiro is a writer, researcher, and educator of mixed Japanese Canadian heritage. Intrigued by the power and magic of stories, she earned a Master’s (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK) and Doctorate (University of Toronto) in English. Living abroad inspired her to learn about her family’s internment experience, and she’s lectured and published on literature, the Japanese Canadian internment, racism, social justice, memory, trauma, education, and carrying the lessons of the past into the future. She is the author of Obaasan’s Boots, a children’s novel based on her grandmother’s life and co-written with Janis Bridger (Second Story Press).

Gaitrie Persaud, a Torontian, lives and breathes acting and that is reflected in her amazing identity. She has been breaking down barriers to have AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION provided at music concerts. She has won Air Canada Center’s and CBC entertainment’s attention. Gaitrie is a firm believer in creating opportunities for the Deaf Community and young deaf children. Her creation strives to increase the overall impact to provide the excitement of adventure to the deaf/hard hearing Community with the musical by ASL interpretations. In her free time, Gaitrie likes to write, do dance and acting, listen to music with lyrics and of course, she is currently in development on the script with her partner.

Michelle Theodore is an illustrator born and raised under the prairie skies in Edmonton, Alberta. As a landlocked yonsei, she is often reminiscing about coastal summers with family, inspired by her times on beaches collecting sand dollars and eating homemade salmon jerky. Her work often concentrates on the mundane details found in everyday life, primarily exploring elements of nostalgia, and identity reflected in deep washes of colour.