Afua Cooper is a celebrated and award-winning poet, author, historian, curator, performer, cultural worker and recording artist. A recent winner of the Planet Africa Renaissance Award and the Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence, Afua was also chosen by the editors of Essence magazine (October 2005) as one of the 25 women who are shaping the world. Afua has been featured in the most recent volume of Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community from Thomson and Gale. Cooper’s poems have been anthologized in national and international publications, and translated in several languages. She has published five books of poetry, including the award-winning Memories Have Tongue. Her newest book of poetry is Copper Woman, a work in which she attempts to bring together the personal and the political, the exoteric and the esoteric. Her first solo recording, Sunshine, is a collection of poems for children. #Afua holds a Ph.D. in history with specialties in slavery, abolition and women’s studies. She is one of Canada’s premier experts and chroniclers of the country’s Black past. Dr. Cooper has done groundbreaking work in uncovering the hidden history of Black peoples in Canada. Her recent history publication, The Hanging of Angélique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montréal, cogently explores the life and death of Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Portuguese-born Black slave woman who was hanged in Montréal in 1734 for allegedly setting fire to the city. #Recently, Afua completed a pair of historical novels for the young adult audience. These novels are based on the experiences on enslaved children from the Black Diaspora. She was inspired to write these books because she was moved by the real-life experiences of Phillis Wheatley and Henry Bibb, both of whom she researched while studying Black history. These two persons were enslaved but overcame slavery and oppression to make their mark in the world and contribute to society. #Afua has also written poetry for children and one can enjoy such poetic expression by reading The Red Caterpillar on College Street. Afua’s inspiration for writing children’s literature stems from the many hours she spent as a child in public libraries reading books and listening to stories told by librarians during the “children’s story hour.”~Dr. Cooper is currently the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia.

Award-winning author Susan Hughes has written over thirty books – both fiction and nonfiction – for children of all ages, including Walking in the City with Jane: A Story of Jane Jacobs, Earth to Audrey, Island Horse, Case Closed?: Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science and No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure. She is also a freelance editor and writing coach.#When she was a child, Susan grew up on a very special street in Toronto, where the neighbors were like one big family. Parents planned events and street parties, and the kids of all ages played together, especially during the long summer days and evenings. Susan still enjoys getting together with these important childhood friends. And in recent years, Susan has been fortunate enough to make her home on other special streets with wonderful neighbors.#Susan has always loved writing. When she was in grades five and six, she and several friends had a writing club. They would gather with their poems and stories and read them aloud to one another. After finishing high school, Susan studied English literature at the University of Toronto. During the summer and after graduation, she worked for a short time at a children’s publishing house. Then she began doing freelance editing work, mainly for educational publishers, and also writing commissioned articles and stories, while also working on her own story ideas.#Today, Susan lives with her family in Toronto, Canada, in a house with a big red door. She continues to enjoy freelance editing and commissioned writing, as well as story coaching and critiquing manuscripts. And of course, she loves writing her own stories – from picture books, middle-grade novels and graphic novels to nonfiction and young adult novels!

Jacob Berkowitz is a science writer who lives in Almonte, Ontario. He has written for The Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen and other publications. Jurassic Poop is his first book.#Funny and informative, Jurassic Poop — written by Jacob Berkowitz and illustrated by Steve Mack — is flush with amazing facts, stories and activities. Kids will meet dung detectives getting to the bottom of history’s hind-end mysteries. They’ll find out how poop gets preserved and discover what it can tell us about dinosaurs, humans and many other animals from long ago. And kids will find out some pretty stinky facts, too. For example, did you know that the soil we grow our food in is largely made from the poo of worms and other small animals?#From coprolite crafts and feces facts to solving cases of “Who Dung It”, kids will be privy to the inside scoop on ancient poop in this unique and engaging science book.

Herb Shoveller was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and grew up in Lively, a small community west of the city. #After primary and secondary school studies in Sudbury, he spent a year traveling in Europe, the Middle East and Africa before entering the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. There he did an Honours Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and then a Masters degree in Journalism. #After working in agricultural, arts and business news at various publications, he joined The London Free Press daily newspaper at which, in a total of 20 years there, he worked in every news department in a number of different roles. In the midst of those 20 years, he and his family moved to Hong Kong for two years where Joanne, Herb’s wife, helped launch the Asian campus of the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey Business School. #The timing to do this book coincided with his family’s move from London, Ontario, to Guelph, where Joanne moved to become a vice-president at the University of Guelph. Herb left his newspaper job at The London Free Press, where he was business editor, to freelance. Meanwhile, there had been several overtures to Susan and Mark Hreljac, Ryan’s parents, to do a book on Ryan and the wells projects, along with the subsequent addition of Jimmy to their family. #Mark is Herb’s nephew, so Herb and his family have been following Ryan’s story from the outset and knew it intimately. Further, Herb’s wife Joanne was a founding board member of the Ryan’s Well Foundation and wrote its original business plan. Mark and Sue made it clear that if a book were to be done, Herb would be the writer. Luckily, events converged to make it possible for him to do the book.