Laura Farina grew up surrounded by stories – the ones read to her, the ones told to her and the ones she wrote for family and friends. She created her first publications in elementary school. She illustrated them, stuck shiny gold award stickers to their covers and sent them to readers by mail. Sometimes, when family members are cleaning out their cupboards they will return to Laura one of these publications – a diamond heist perpetuated by cats, a blatant rip-off of the Wizard of Oz, a piece of biting satire about the 1993 federal election. They serve as reminders that she has always been happiest when she’s making and sharing stories.#In her early teens, Laura fell in love with poetry. Her first two not-published-by-her books were collections of poetry for adults. She returned to writing picture books when her father turned sixty and she needed to get him a present. Laura’s father spent her childhood telling her wild stories – magicians, pirates and bubblegum trees – and she believed every one. For her present, she decided to sit down and make a story of all these stories, then turn it into a book like she used to do when she was a kid. She had so much fun writing it and began seeing new ideas for picture books everywhere.#This is the Path the Wolf Took is inspired by a young visual artist named Ida. When Ida was much younger than she is today, she created a wonderful scribbly piece of art and showed it to Laura saying, “This is the path the wolf took through the woods.” The line stuck in Laura’s head and she kept coming back to it until slowly, over time, it turned into a story.#Laura lives in Vancouver with her husband, who is an actor and puppeteer, and her son, who is really into cement trucks. She helps other writers find their stories as the coordinator of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University.~Instagram: @lauraeafarina

Kathy Stinson has loved reading books since before she started school. Her parents had to take her to the public library often.#Kathy sorted mail, taught elementary school, and worked as a waitress before it occurred to her that she might like writing books, too. An argument with her then three-year-old daughter led to the writing of her first book, Red Is Best. It quickly became a classic and was soon followed by Big or Little?, which was inspired by her son. They were two of the first picture books for toddlers published in Canada.#Kathy has since written a wide range of books: picture books, nonfiction, young adult fiction, historical fiction, horror, biography, series books, and stories in anthologies and magazines. Her book The Man with the Violin won the prestigious TD Children’s Literature Award.#Kathy has enjoyed the privilege of meeting with readers in every province and territory of Canada, in the United States, Britain, Liberia and Korea. She has worked as a freelance editor for a number of writers and publishers, and has served as a Writer-in-Residence for several library systems in Ontario. She has led writing workshops all across Canada and even in Africa.#An avid amateur photographer and a volunteer reader and technician at the CNIB Recording Studio, Kathy is the mother of two grown children, stepmother of two more and the grandmother of six. She currently lives in Rockwood, Ontario, with her partner, Peter, and their dog, Georgia.#A longtime believer in IBBY’s philosophy of “international understanding through children’s books,” Kathy is donating a portion of her earnings from The Lady with the Books to IBBY’s Children in Crisis Fund.~Instagram: @thekathystinson~Twitter: @thekathystinson

Espen Dekko has worked as a puppeteer and instructor and has directed a number of theatrical performances. Espen also studied at the Norwegian Institute for Children’s Books and is the author of several children’s books. He lives in Norway.

Rona is a passionate advocate for women and girls around the world who has led the global movement to create the International Day of the Girl at the United Nations. She believes that if we teach girls their rights at a young age they will be more likely to exercise them as they grow up. This belief motivated her to co-author The International Day of the Girl book.#Rona has spent her life passionately fighting for disadvantaged women and girls. She was recently recognized for her efforts by being chosen as 1 of 100 global women leaders featured in the She Innovates “Impossible to Ignore” campaign, organized by UN Women. She was one of the champions responsible for ensuring that Indigenous women in Canada were finally granted equal matrimonial property rights. Working alongside Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad, Rona successfully fought for the creation of a Canadian refugee program to bring Yazidi women and girls who have been sexually enslaved by ISIS to safety in Canada. Rona continues to press the Canadian government to ensure her legislation, the JUST Act (mandatory sexual assault law training for judges), becomes law in Canada.#Rona believes we need more women in corporate and public life. She recently launched SheLeads, an organization focused on encouraging women to run for office and participate in public life. She also created and co-chairs the Women’s Economic Council of Alberta, a high-powered group of women corporate leaders who provide non-partisan economic advice to high-ranking government and political officials. As a federal minister, Rona created and chaired the federal advisory council for women on boards.#As a key member of the Canadian cabinet for a decade, Rona served as a minister across nine departments and agencies. At the time of her appointment, Rona was the youngest female cabinet minister in Canadian history. During her tenure as Leader of Canada’s Official Opposition, she gained the respect of parliamentarians of all political stripes. Today Rona is involved in US/Canada bilateral trade and competitiveness issues, serves on corporate boards and continues her work advancing the rights of women and girls.#When she’s not working (which is rare), Rona is usually found in the Rockies, horseback riding, hiking or skiing with her husband, JP, and their three kids.

Barry Lyga is the New York Times bestselling author of the I Hunt Killers trilogy as well as such critically acclaimed novels as Boy Toy and Bang. He’s also a comic book nerd who geeks out by writing superhero novels, including the Flash series and Thanos: Titan Consumed. He lives outside New York City, in a house bursting with books.