Annika Dunklee was born in Uppsala, Sweden, to a Scottish father and a Swedish mother. As such, she enjoyed the influences of Basil Fawlty and Pippi Longstocking, while eating haggis and pickled-herring sandwiches. Her debut book, My Name Is Elizabeth!, was originally a class assignment for Ted Staunton’s course in Writing Children’s Fiction at George Brown College. She bases a lot of her stories on her own childhood memories.#On the first day of school each year, every teacher would mispronounce Annika’s name as “Ann-eeka,” making her cringe inside and forever fret the first day of school. My Name Is Elizabeth! was inspired by every person who dislikes having his or her name shortened, lengthened, mispronounced or mangled in some way. Her second book, Me, Too!, was based on her own experiences with having two best friends as a child.#Annika has retained certain characteristics since childhood, which include being an excruciatingly slow reader and having laughing hysterics in the most inappropriate situations. She currently resides in Toronto with her husband, two kids, a puppy, a bunny rabbit and a cockatiel.

Born in Montreal, Sylvie Desrosiers now lives in Longueuil, Quebec, just across the bridge from Montreal, preferring a big garden with skunks to traffic jams. She began writing for children 25 years ago with La patte dans le sac, a novel featuring Notdog, the ugliest dog in the neighborhood. Little did she know, Notdog would go on to become the hero of 18 novels. Sylvie writes for young children, teenagers and adults, and she won the Governor General’s award in 2008 for Les trois lieues, a novel for adolescents. #With forty books and two movies, not to mention television and magazine credits, under her belt, writing is the only thing Sylvie can see herself doing! She works in a tiny room full of pictures, books, dictionaries and souvenirs. Her dog, Brandy, gives as much help as he can while sleeping and snoring beside her; and her cat, Philibert, visits whenever he is bored.#Sylvie often tries to find story ideas by going for walks with Brandy, horseback riding or shopping. Before she begins writing, Sylvie talks for hours to friends on the phone and even does some household chores, emptying at least the wastebasket in her office. When all that is done, she sits and writes.#Do you want to know the words she likes to write the most? THE END.

Caroline Adderson grew up in Alberta wearing long messy braids and a baseball cap. After she finished high school, she spent a year traveling around Canada doing all kinds of jobs, such as sheep farming, carpentry and working at a community radio station. She came to Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend university and liked it so much that she stayed.#Caroline first began writing for adults. Then she had a baby. While reading books to him, she saw the light. Kids’ books are way more fun! She’s now written twenty of them. And though that baby is grown up now, Caroline still loves imagining the world in a kid-friendly way.#As well as writing, Caroline teaches, gardens, cooks, paints, sews and travels. She’s spent enough time in the “doghouse” to know how to get out fast: with a wag, a lick and a shake-a-paw … or the human equivalent.

Alan Woo was born in England, came to Canada when he was a young boy and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he still lives. He always wanted to be a writer and gets his inspiration from his Chinese Canadian heritage, his friends and family, reading lots of books, going to live theatre, meeting new people, traveling and playing with cats! He is the award-winning author of several picture books, and his work has also been published in Ricepaper magazine and Quills Canadian Poetry magazine.

J. Torres is a Filipino-born Canadian comic book writer. He is perhaps best known for his run on DC Comics’ Teen Titans Go!, the Forest of Reading Honour Book Planet Hockey, the Junior Library Guild and TD Summer Reading Club title Bigfoot Boy, and Lola: A Ghost Story, recipient of an Aesop Accolade from the American Folklore Society. Torres was born in Manila and raised in Montreal where he was educated at McGill University. He is married, has two sons and currently resides in a suburb of Toronto, Ontario.~Instagram: @jtorrescomics~Twitter: @jtorrescomics