Uptown Kidlit! Kids Book & Comic Festival
Presented by iSurround, North York Arts, and TCAF: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival
Saturday, September 28, 9:30am-4:00pm
@ North York Central Library, Auditorium, 2nd Floor
5120 Yonge Street (at North York Centre TTC)
Free
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival and North York Arts are thrilled to announce a brand-new, one-day kids focused literary event to be held at North York Central Public Library. We call it UPTOWN KIDLIT!
Uptown Kidlit is a free event that will feature a day of feature programs, drop-in workshops, and a small vendor fair with local authors selling comics, books, and more.
Participants include: George O’Connor (The Olympians graphic novel series), Anoosha Syed (author and Poster Artist!), Deborah Kerbel, Richard Scrimger, Britt Wilson, Ted Staunton, Lesley Livingston, Kean Soo, Lis Xu, John Martz, Tory Woollcott, Chad Solomon, Anoosha Syed, Brian McLaughlan, Hilary Leung, Rabeea Syed, and many more!
Click under the cut for full schedule and author bios!
Saturday, September 28, 2019
North York Central Public Library
Auditorium, 2nd Floor
5120 Yonge Street
North York, ON M2N 5N9
9:30am to 4:00pm
Auditorium Programs
9:30 – 10:15: Deborah Kerbel and Lis Xu (recommended ages 4 to 8)
10:30 – 11:30 Lesley Livingston + Britt Wilson (Almost Epic Squad) (recommended ages 8 to 12)
12:00 1:00: Richard Scrimger + Ted Staunton (Almost Epic Squad)
1:30 – 2:30: George O’Connor (recommended ages 9-14)
3:00 – 4:00: Brian McLaughlan and Hilary Leung (recommended to all ages!)
Workshop Programs
Activity 1 9:30 – 11:30: Chad Solomon
Activity 2 12:00 – 2:00: Anoosha Syed
Activity 3 2:30 PM – 4:30: Rabeea Syed (recommend age 8 and up)
Creators in Attendance:
DEBORAH KERBEL is the author of ten books for young adult, middle grade, and primary readers. She lives and writes in Thornhill, Ontario, with her husband, their two book-loving teens, and a rescue schnoodle named Freddie
HILARY LEUNG is a writer, designer, illustrator, ultimate Frisbee player and dad. He is the co-creator of the Ninja Cowboy Bear books with David Bruins, the author Stego-cumulus (illustrated by Niall Eccles), and the creator of two recently published early concept board books Will Bear Share? and Will Sheep Sleep? Hilary lives in Toronto, Ontario with his family. You can find out more about Hilary at www.hilaryleung.com.
LESLEY LIVINGSTON is an award-winning author of the Wondrous Strange trilogy, which won the 2010 CLA Young Adult Book of the Year Award, and was named one of the “100 young adult books that make you proud to be Canadian” by CBC Books. Her newest series, Valiant, is being developed for television. Visit her online at www.lesleylivingston.com.
JOHN MARTZ is an illustrator, cartoonist, and designer in Toronto, Ontario. His books include Burt’s Way Home (Koyama Press, 2016) and A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories (Koyama Press, 2014). You can also see his work MAD Magazine, and at The Nib.
BRIAN McLACHLAN is part writer, part artist, all cartoonist. He’s the author of the ILA-award winning book Draw Out The Story: Ten Secrets To Creating Your Own Comics, the picture book What Noise Do I Make? and graphic novel Ticket To Space. For over a decade, he’s written Owl Magazine’s “Alex and Charlie” comic.
GEORGE O’CONNOR is an author, illustrator and cartoonist. Above all, George is a Greek mythology buff and a classic superhero comics fan, and he’s out to remind us how much our pantheon of superheroes (Superman, Batman, the X-Men, etc) owes to mankind’s original superheroes: the Greek pantheon. Now he has brought his attention to OLYMPIANS, an ongoing series retelling the classic Greek myths in comics form.
TED STAUNTON is the award-winning author of over forty books for young people, and a roots/blues musician in whatever time is left over. A busy and popular presenter at schools across Canada, Ted also teaches writing at George Brown College in Toronto. Visit www.tedstauntonbooks.com.
RICHARD SCRIMGER has written more than twenty books for children and adults, which have received major awards and been published around the world. Some of his recent books are Zomboy, Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book, Lucky Jonah and Downside Up. Richard is also a contributor to the popular Seven series, with Ink Me, The Wolf and Me and Weerdest Day Ever! Richard lives in Toronto, Ontario. Visit him online at www.scrimger.ca.
CHAD SOLOMON is a member of the Henvey Inlet, First Nation. As a child, he and his family would visit with his late grandparents in the French River Ontario area. His grandfather Art Solomon, a traditional healer and justice activist would spend his time building wooden toys and playing with Chad and his siblings. Even in winter Art would go tobogganing with them. Learning from his grandfather, that no matter how old you become, you should always be young-at-heart and that laughter is the greatest medicine. This is the spirit behind the comical Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws series.
KEAN SOO was Born in England. Grew up in Hong Kong. Studied Electrical Engineering in Canada. Author of Jellaby and March Grand Prix. Writer and drawer of things. Eater of foods. Driver of cars.
BRITT WILSON is an Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated letterer, cartoonist and illustrator. She works on various comics and series, including the six-issue mini-series Fionna and Cake and Becky and Frank’s Capture Creatures. She is the illustrator of all four books in the Almost Epic Squad series, and own most recent graphic novel is Ghost Queen. Visit her online at www.brittwilson.com.
TORY WOOLLCOTT is an author, illustrator, designer and educator based in Toronto Canada, her works include autobiography, graphic novels, science comics, audio dramas, podcasts and kids books.
LIS XU is a Chinese-Canadian artist whose main tools are ballpoint pens, pencil crayons, and watercolours. She loves creating art that reminds her of the warmth of a hug. A debut picture book illustrator, Lis lives in Toronto, Ontario.
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