The Ontario Library Association’s annual Superconference is one of my favourite places to be! It’s an opportunity to meet up with my fellow authors in the flesh. We see each other a lot, but it’s usually virtually! It’s also of course fantastic to chat with librarians and teacher-librarians. No one supports books and authors more than librarians and educators.
Also, it’s just so utterly fun to walk around the tradeshow and snap pics of my friends. Authors are invariably by nature introverted so we all do what we can to promote each other. Take a look at all the friends I ran into just in half a day! I actually ran into more than this, but couldn’t always take pics.
Thanks, Lorna Schultz Nicholson for taking this pic!It was lovely to meet this teacher-librarian whose heritage is Polish-Ukrainian!Sylvia McNicoll’s book won the Hamilton Literary Award this year!!! I’m holding my late friend, Sheryl Azzam’s book, which was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award.With the one and only Barbara Reid!This is Mary Macchuisi, president of Pembroke Publishing. We have now known each other for 3 decades. She gave me a kind and helpful rejection when I was prepublished back in the 1990s, and I showed her letter during presentations. We seem to encounter each other once a year!With Sylvia, Jean E Pendziwol and Ali McDonald! Jean E gave the opening keynote at CANSCAIP’s PYI, which was a bookend to my closing keynote! I first met Ali when she presented at our Brantford Book Camp about 19 years ago! We’ve corresponded ever since!
Helaine Becker!!Signing at the Scholastic boothLana Button and Suharu Ogawa signing at the Orca booth!Me and Helaine!Kathy Kacer and her fans!Lorna Schultz Nicolson at the CANSCAIP booktasting!another shot of Lorna!Barbara signed 100 books!I LOVE this pic of Joanne Levy!Rebecca Bender and her newest book!Barry Jowett, my first novel editor, and dear Sheryl’s editor!Julien Chung goes beyond just an autograph when he signs books!Heather Camlot!Natalie Hyde!! It’s been SOOOO long since we saw each other in person! Former kidcritter!Natalie, Lynne Leitch and me!Mary Jennifer Payne! Former kidcritter.
My friend and writing buddy, Sheryl Azzam, died before her first novel was published. But it is being published, and Sheryl’s brilliance, empathy and compassion lives on. Today, Quill & Quire did a feature story on Sheryl and her novel, Red Flags and Butterflies. Here’s the link:
Sheryl’s book will be released on October 18, 2025. Five out of five stars from me!
“A tender, heartfelt, and intelligent coming-of-age story that celebrates quiet strength and trusting your instincts.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Straight A student, talented artist, swim team star — tenth-grader Lexie Moore is a shoo-in for Sunridge High’s prestigious fine art program, if only she can find the right words to tell her dad she wants to apply.
Lexie’s dad doesn’t see the point of some overpriced art school. He wants Lexie and her brother at home to help him launch his new renovation business. He says he can’t do this without her, so Lexie agrees to pitch in, just for a little while. If she supports his plan, then he’ll have to support hers, right? It’s only fair. But Lexie’s dad has a very different definition of “fair,” and as his demands increase, his means of getting his way become more and more suffocating.
Red Flags and Butterflies is an engrossing story about a young person facing the realities of emotional abuse.
