Indian Canadian filmmaker Rahul Chaturvedi creates stories that find humor and heart in the spaces between cultures. A graduate of the prestigious Canadian Film Centre, he’s been nominated for five Canadian Screen Awards and two Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards for his television work. His television credits include Late Bloomer, 18 to 35, Bollywed and the children’s series Skillsville. Rahul’s breakout short film Forbidden Tikka Masala has secured distribution on the TIFF Digital platform, CBC Gem and Air Canada. His middle-grade graphic novel Namaste, Santa is his debut book.
Analene Go
Analene Go is a Filipino Canadian author whose humorous and heartfelt stories celebrate culture and family, uplifting Asian representation and diversity in children’s books. She is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and lives in Guelph, Ontario.
Sarah Van Goethem
Sarah Van Goethem is a Canadian author of short stories and novels. Her children’s novels have been longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award and shortlisted for CANSCAIP’s Writing for Children competition. Three of her short stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and one was a finalist for the CBC Nonfiction Prize. Along with her family, Sarah resides in a century farmhouse in southwestern Ontario.
Lauren Soloy
Lauren Soloy’s picture books include The Hidden World of Gnomes, When Emily Was Small and Tove and the Island with No Address. She currently lives in a house that is exactly 100 years older than she is, in rural Nova Scotia, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. She shares her home with her librarian husband, two curious children, an ever-expanding collection of books, two hives of bees and one cat. She has a Visual Arts BFA with Honours from the University of Victoria, and a certificate of Fine Furniture from Camosun College. Along the way, she has learned to make a Queen Anne highboy, a pottery mug, a hand-knit pair of socks, a headstand and a mess.
Myriam Dahman
Myriam Dahman was born and raised in Morocco and moved to France at age eighteen to study. She now lives in Paris, where she works as a climate change expert while also writing children’s books. Her published works include The Owl Witch and The Wolf’s Secret, co-written with Nicolas Digard, as well as several children’s books published in France.