Illustration

Jessica Joy Hiemstra

Jessica Joy Hiemstra is a visual artist, writer and designer living in Gunning Cove, Shelburne County, Mi’kma’ki. When she’s not gardening or writing, she’s drawing. She especially loves to make hand-drawn animations. At the moment she’s making drawings to accompany 41 short poems from writers across the country. These poems, edited by herself and Gillian Sze, will be published by Baseline Press in 2027. A book of essays, written in conversation with the art of Claire Wilks, is expected with Exile Editions in 2026. On the back of that book it says: don’t tell me I cannot love.

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Katie Arthur

Katie Arthur is the author and illustrator of Our Woolly Bear (Owlkids Books, 2024) and What if Marty Doesn’t Like My Party? (Owlkids Books, 2025). Katie holds an MA in English Literature & Creative Writing from Concordia University and is also a graduate of the Humber School for Writers. Her work has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, and her adult fiction has been longlisted twice for the CBC Short Story Prize. Born and raised in the suburbs of Southern Ontario, Katie now lives with her family on the rocky shores of Northeastern Nova Scotia.

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Norma Shephard

‘Why We Remember‘

The personal and domestic side of war is often revealed in War letters. My presentations on the importance of firsthand accounts and the digitalization of hand-written accounts is ideal for Remembrance Day observations and/or Canadian History studies. Access to my full media kit on the book Dear Harry; A Canadian War Story Told Through Letters, can be found here.

‘Social History Relevance Revealed Through Material Artifacts’

As the director of the Mobile Millinery Museum, I have been educating students, seniors, and others on Canadian Social History through the use of those most personal of historic artefacts: clothing and accessories. Examples of the available presentation topics, which we adapt for student audiences, can be seen in the Museum Presentations Information Kit.

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Vivian Zhou

Vivian Zhou is a Chinese-Canadian cartoonist and story artist. She is a graduate of Sheridan College’s Bachelor of Animation program. After working on a multitude of animated shows and award-winning short films as storyboard artist and occasionally director, she is now following her dream of making her own comics. Her debut graphic novel “Atana and the Firebird” released in 2023; book two of the Atana duology, “Atana and the Jade Mermaid”, is releasing in May 2025.

Visit her at https://vivianzhou.ca/

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Tina Capalbo

As a teacher, writer, mom, and life-long creative, Tina Capalbo has written everything from lesson plans, blogs, stories, and plays, to volunteer manuals, educator packs, and architectural proposals.

Tina completed her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees at Western and her Master of Arts degree at Dalhousie. She has taught high school English and Drama in London and Halifax, English as an Additional Language in Tokyo, Toronto and Halifax, and thousands of writing classes online.

As a WITS author, Tina loves exploring stories with students and offers two workshops: (1) ‘Ari and the Very Loud Bird!’ is a workshop with early elementary students (grades P-3), featuring Ari, an upbeat, non-binary kiddo, who loves to sleep in. The workshop includes a lively reading, a visit with Ari the puppet, and a book chat. Students create a songbird, invent a bird call, and become a noisy chorus of birds. (2) ‘Main Character Energy’ is a creative nonfiction writing workshop for secondary students (grades 10-12). Students engage in life-writing, exploring elements of journaling, memoir, personal essay, personal monologue, and phase autobiography.

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Judie Oron

Judie Oron is a Canadian/Israeli journalist and award-winning author. Born in Montreal, she lived and worked in Israel for nearly 4 decades and now lives in Halifax, NS. After completing her BA in Anthropology at McGill University and academic research in African Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she worked as a feature writer at The Jerusalem Post, including a 4-year stint as a weekly columnist. Her articles have appeared in Lifestyles Magazine, The Canadian Jewish News, Weekly Press Pakistan, The Jerusalem Report, Hawarya Canadian/Ethiopian Press, and the Australian editions of Christian Woman, Christian Daily.

Judie left the newspaper to recruit and direct an unofficial rescue unit that assisted Jews to find their way from Ethiopia to Israel. During that period, she returned to war-torn Ethiopia to search for a missing Ethiopian Jewish slave named Wuditu. She located the child, released her from captivity and took her into her family. Cry of the Giraffe tells the story of Wuditu’s 4 years in slavery.

“I paid cash and was handed a human being,” Judie explains, “that experience changed my life.” Since publication, Judie has been speaking out about child slavery, bride kidnapping and obstetric fistula in 2 languages and on 3 continents, in hopes of driving these tragic circumstances onto a wider public consciousness. “Wuditu was trapped into a form of slavery we would call debt bondage,” Judie reports. “My current novel in progress is focussed on another form of child slavery that is also wide-spread in Ethiopia, bride kidnapping.”

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Megan Coffin

Megan Coffin, a proud resident of Nova Scotia is an author known for her captivating children’s books. Born on May 22, 1986, Megan has faced and triumphed over numerous challenges, including her battle with breast cancer, which has further fueled her passion for storytelling.

Megan’s journey into the world of writing began at a young age, thanks to her father’s extraordinary gift for spinning tales. His captivating stories about Sneaky the Snake and friends left a lasting impression on Megan, and she soon discovered her own love for writing. In her teenage years, Megan started exploring poetry, enjoying the experience of putting her thoughts and emotions onto paper.

It was after her father’s passing that Megan decided to honor his memory by sharing their favorite stories with their loved ones. Inspired by his handwritten versions of Sneaky the Snake’s adventures, Megan took on the challenge of revising and expanding these tales, completing her highly admired series, “The Adventures of Sneaky the Snake.” These stories take readers on captivating journeys, filled with thrilling twists and heartwarming moments, all set against the backdrop of Megan’s childhood experiences in Nova Scotia.

Her dedication to preserving her father’s legacy and creating charming tales has earned her a growing readership. The illustrations in her books hold a special significance as they are all based on the cherished places, she grew up in. Each detail, from her grandmother’s fields and home to the family tractor and the local farm where she and her brothers played, adds an authentic and nostalgic touch to her stories.

As a Nova Scotia resident, Megan has an inherent understanding of the region’s natural beauty and rich landscapes. She weaves these elements seamlessly into the fabric of her stories, creating a sense of familiarity and fondness for readers of all ages.

Through her engaging storytelling and heartfelt narratives, Megan Coffin continues to enchant audiences young and old alike. Her ability to transport readers to a world of imagination, while honoring her father’s legacy, showcases her passion and talent as a writer. Megan’s books remind us of the power of cherished memories and the importance of preserving our roots for future generations.

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Lynette Richards

Lynette Richards has been cartooning as long as she can remember, and recently published her first graphic novel Call Me Bill (Conundrum Press 2022). She is a Craft Nova Scotia Master Artisan, who lives and works in Terence Bay NS, where she operates her business Rose Window Stained Glass. She chose Stained Glass as her professional medium because it was both a trade and an art that has used sequential narration for over 1000 years!

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Sarah Sweeney

Sarah Sweeney was always a writer, but her big chance came while she was a teacher working in Istanbul, Turkey. She became frustrated that she didn’t have the right kinds of books to help her students learn English, so she started making her own materials. After a bit of pushing from a colleague she started working with a publisher, and they brainstormed what kinds of books were needed and how they could make them. Sarah is not just an author but also has illustrated many of her books. She has written 20 books with Turkish publishers Redhouse Kidz and Fono Publishing. She also taught herself digital artwork in order to illustrate two of her books

Sarah has since moved back to her home province of Nova Scotia, and continues to write. Since she will always be a teacher at heart, she teaches as a substitute in the nearby elementary schools and junior high. She is often inspired by the students she meets in all the different classrooms she gets to teach in.

Sarah traded in the city, for a little house by the sea, surrounded by trees. She lives there with her husband and two young daughters.

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Joseph Howse

Joseph Howse writes fiction and poetry, as well as technical books on computer programming and image analysis. He lives in a Nova Scotian fishing village, where he chats with his cats and nurtures an orchard of hardy fruit trees.

Joseph’s debut novel, The Girl in the Water, has won the 2023 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction and the 2023 IAN Book of the Year Awards for Outstanding Multicultural Fiction. He is currently working on the sequel, The Circus and the Atom. These novels are the start of a multigenerational saga called Next Year’s Snow, which hinges on the friendship and strife of two families in the Soviet/post-Soviet world.

Some of Joseph’s latest work is published or forthcoming in Litbreak Magazine, Humana Obscura, paint me (37th Anthology of the New Zealand Poetry Society), Haiku Canada Review, and The Poetry Lighthouse Anthology (Volume II).

Joseph has experience doing business, volunteer work, and speaking engagements on six continents. He has won several awards from Bpeace (a pro bono consulting group) for his work on business mentorship projects in El Salvador and Guatemala.

As a graduate of Dalhousie University, Joseph holds a BA in French, MBA in International Business, MA in International Development Studies, and Master of Computer Science.

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