Meet our PYI 2024 Speakers

Marcus Cutler is the author and illustrator of I Do Not Eat Children and the illustrator of The Three Canadian Pigs, The Monster’s Travel Guide Part Deux: A Canadian Adventure, Dear Polar Bears, and many others.

Shiva Delsooz is an Iranian-Canadian illustrator born and raised in Ontario. She graduated from college with a diploma in animation and has always had a passion for drawing – as her mother can confirm by all the little doodles underneath her dining room table.

Jillian Dobson is the author of Girl Takes Drastic Step! How Molly Lamb Bobak Became Canada’s First Official Woman War Artist, illustrated by Genevieve Simms. Jillian delights in discovering stories in the everyday and has collected tales through various official and unofficial roles. She’s lived in Alberta and Quebec and now lives in Ontario with her husband and inspiring children.

Melanie has written a bunch of books, including Missing Nimama and Stolen Words, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the 2018 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award respectively. In her spare time, Melanie plays guitar, collects vinyl, listens to really loud rock music and slightly quieter k-pop, gets tattoos and drinks too much coffee.

Rosena Fung is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Toronto. She is the creator of the graphic novels Living With Viola and Age 16. Her illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers, and public art murals. When she is not drawing, Rosena can be found teaching illustration, vending at zine fairs, and going to the library. She lives with her partner and the best cat in the world. 

Sahar Golshan is the author of the picture book So Loud! (Annick Press, 2024). She is a writer, a language learner, and the director of the short documentary KAR (2019). Sahar won the Marina Nemat Award for Creative Writing in Non-Fiction and the Air Canada Short Film Award. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph.

Sarah Howden is an editor at Orca Book Publishers, where her focus is board books, picture books, early chapter books, and middle grade fiction. She is also the author of several kids’ books, including Cone Dog and Cone Cat, The Tunnel, and Five-Minute Stories for Fearless Girls. Sarah lives in Toronto with her family and their two cats. 

Anna Humphrey is the author of the award-winning Megabat early chapter book series, the popular STEM-focused Bee & Flea series, the Fluffle Bunnies graphic novel series, and other books for young readers.

Andrew Katz is a bilingual children’s author based in Montreal. His first book, How to Catch a Bear Who Loves to Read, was nominated for a Forest of Reading Award. He is also the author of I Just Want to Be Super! and A Starlit Trip to the Library. His upcoming book is Little Hearts in the Snow (Fall 2024).

Christina Kilbourne is an award-winning author of young adult and middle-grade fiction. Her books have won a Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award, Snow Willow Award, and Red Cedar Award and have been nominated for many others, including a CCBC Arlene Barlin and Red Maple. In addition to writing, Christina enjoys travelling, skiing, hiking, paddling, and anything else that keeps her moving.

Karen Li is the publisher of Groundwood Books, home to boundary-pushing books and award-winning authors and illustrators, such as Deborah Ellis, Marie-Louise Gay, Sydney Smith, and Jillian Tamaki, among many others. Before coming to this position, Karen was the editorial director of Owlkids Books, where she helped debut exciting new voices in children’s literature, including Thao Lam, Naseem Hrab, Sophie Gilmore, Monica Arnaldo, and more. Karen lives with her family in Toronto. 

Priti Maheshwari’s debut picture book Chaiwala! was published in 2021 with OwlKids Books, won multiple awards and was selected as the TD Grade One Book Giveaway. The first four books of her chapter book series Queen Bee, with Lerner Publishing, will be available Fall 2024 and the following four books will be released in 2025.

Khary Mathurin is an editor at Annick Press, where he acquires books for children and young adults. Recent additions to his list include So Loud! (by Sahar Golshan and Shiva Delsooz), stay up (Khodi Dill with art by stylo starr) and Forest of Reading nominee Dragging Mason County (by Curtis Campbell). 

Ronnie Riley (they/them) is many things: fat, queer, trans, nonbinary, lesbian, neurodivergent, disabled, Canadian. They are the author of Jude Saves the World and Asking for a Friend, both published by Scholastic Press. Jude Saves the World is an Indies Introduce and an Indies Kids’ Next List pick. Ronnie can be found on social media @mxronnieriley or online at www.mxronnieriley.com. 

Kathy Stinson is best known for Red Is Best (Annick 1982). Also the author of novels, short stories, and nonfiction with a range of Canadian publishers, she has new picture books coming with Greystone, Nimbus, and Groundwood in 2025 and 2026. You can visit her website and read her blog at kathystinson.com. 

Samantha Swenson, Executive Editor at Tundra Books, loves funny books, heartwarming books, and books with tapirs in them. She started her career at Kids Can Press in 2003 after finishing her master’s degree in literature and publishing from NUI Galway. At Tundra, she acquires and edits books across all age ranges. Samantha divides her time between Pictou County and Toronto with her husband and two dogs. 

Wanda Taylor is an award winning author, screenwriter, journalist, and professor. She writes fiction and nonfiction across children’s and adult markets. The Grover School Pledge is winner of the Northern Lights MG Book of the Year Award. Birchtown and the Black Loyalists is listed as one of the top Black History books for youth by the CCBC. Her next two titles are set for release in late 2024.

Vikki VanSickle is the author of 11 acclaimed books for kids and teens, including the novels The Lightning Circle, P.S. Tell No One, Words That Start With B, and the Red Maple Award-winning The Winnowing. A former bookseller and publishing professional, she lives and writes in Toronto.

Jack Wong is the Halifax-based author/illustrator of When You Can Swim, which received the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and a Governor General’s Literary Award, and was a finalist for the Ezra Jack Keats Award; The Words We Share, a nominee for the Ontario Library Association’s Blue Spruce Award; and All That Grows.