When Sangeeta Bhadra was two years old, her mom and dad found her with her teddy bear, Jeremy, under one arm, pen in hand, scribbling furiously over the pages of The Three Bears. She claimed to be writing.#Sangeeta “wrote” many books during that period, but it wasn’t until she was in grade three that she knew she wanted to be an author when she grew up. And that was that! Sangeeta has been writing ever since. She started with picture books, moved on to poetry in grade five and short stories when she got a little older … and came back to picture books while she was studying biology at the University of Toronto.~Sam’s Pet Temper is her first published book. The Nut That Fell from The Tree is her second.#When she is not hard at work writing, Sangeeta enjoys playing the piano, reading mysteries, baking cupcakes and knitting very long scarves.#Sangeeta lives in Brampton, Ontario.

Dan Bar-el is a children’s author, educator and storyteller. His writing includes both chapter books and picture books. Things Are Looking Grimm, Jill was the winner of the 2008 Silver Birch Express award. Alphabetter was chosen by the B.C. government for the Ready, Set, Learn program, which made 50,000 copies available to preschool children across the province. Such a Prince was a 2009 Blue Spruce Honour Book, and Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? has been nominated for a 2012 B.C. Book Prize.#Although he’s been writing all his life in one form or another, Dan got started writing for children while working at an after-school childcare center. He would bring in dozens of books from the library every week for the kids, and he ended up falling in love with picture books himself. #With nearly twenty years’ experience of working with children ages three to thirteen, Dan has had many opportunities to listen to their stories and attune himself to their sense of humor. But Dan writes for his own amusement just as much, finding inspiration through travel and reading, walking and observing, and lying on his back, staring up at the sky and wondering, “What if …?” #In earlier chapters of his life, Dan trained and worked as a stage actor and later wrote and performed comedy. Before dressing up as old women or Greek gods to promote his children’s books, he’d already been costumed as a cowboy, a Mountie, a Scottish warrior, a Russian peasant, a mobster rodent, a rooster comedian and even a dead body.

Frieda Wishinsky is the international award-winning author of over sixty books. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, and writes in a variety of genres: picture books, novels and nonfiction. Her books have been translated into many languages, and her picture book Please, Louise! (Groundwood Books) won the 2008 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. Frieda’s newest books are Explorers Who Made It … or Died Trying and A History of Just About Everything, which was co-written with Elizabeth MacLeod.#Frieda loves gardens, talking with friends over coffee and pastry, walking down New York and Paris streets (she grew up in New York, and there’s just something about Paris!), the color red and eating chocolate. Frieda loves chocolate so much she has even written a book about it (Crazy for Chocolate). Frieda loves speaking to students and teachers and enjoys sharing the writing process with students at all levels.

Jude Isabella started writing kids books when she was managing editor of YES Mag: Canada’s Science Magazine for Kids. Her inspiration mostly comes from paying attention to things that make her laugh and things that make her angry (she learned that from a famous journalist named Molly Ivins). #Jude makes her living as a journalist and has found that when working she only lasts about 90 minutes before she has to get up and run around. Seriously, run. Or bicycle. Or walk really fast.#A resident of Victoria, British Columbia, Jude lives with her husband, composer Tobin Stokes, a raccoon that refuses to be evicted from the bicycle shed and a small group of deer that graze the garden each summer. When she’s not writing or interviewing scientists, Jude is most likely to be found riding her pretty green bicycle.

Elizabeth Suneby loves to play with words!#Writing helps Liz come up with new ideas, learn new things, figure out her feelings and express them to other people. Writing is also how Liz earns a living. She writes for companies big and small. She writes magazine articles. And she writes books for children and teens that help them find their voice in a hopeful world.#Watch for Liz’s latest book, No Room for A Pup!, in the fall of 2019. The thoroughly modern and humorous twist on a venerable Yiddish folktale (popularized in Margot Zemach’s 1978 Caldecott Honor book, It Could Always Be Worse) highlights the importance of gratitude and weaves in the ubiquitous “I want a dog” story. A fun read-aloud that reinforces the power of thankfulness and perseverance.#Liz’s multiple award–winning book Iqbal and His Ingenious Idea: How a Science Project Helps One Family and the Planet is her second in the CitizenKid series. It is a great read for anyone who loves science, the environment or learning about world cultures.#Another book Liz wrote in the CitizenKid series is Razia’s Ray of Hope: One Girl’s Dream of an Education. This multiple award–winning title is based on the true story of a girl in Afghanistan and how she convinces the men in her family to allow her to go to school. Can you believe that in some countries not all kids are able to go to school? In fact, 69 million school-aged children around the world are currently being denied an education. Liz leads interactive workshops with students that explore the topics of discrimination, determination and education for all.#Teachers and librarians, please contact Liz at liz@elizabethsuneby.com if you are interested in having her lead a workshop. Also, the Khaled Hosseini Foundation adopted the Razia book into their work with International Baccalaureate Schools and developed free curricula for all elementary and middle school educators.#Liz’s other award-winning titles include It’s a … It’s a … It’s a Mitzvah (picture book), That’s A Mitzvah (board book), The Mitzvah Project Book (nonfiction), The JGuy’s Guide: The GPS for Jewish Teen Guys (nonfiction) and See What You Can Be (activity book).