Canadian kidlit creators star at this year’s Vancouver Christmas Market

Posted on December 2, 2025 by CWILL BC admin

If you’re a frequent visitor to the beloved Vancouver Christmas Market, you might notice a new addition to the vendor section this year! The Itty Bitty Bookshop is featuring books—and appearances—by over thirty local kidlit creators, including many CWILL members.

If you are looking to support local, Canadian book creators this holiday season, the Itty Bitty Bookshop is the place to visit. Board books, picture books, chapter books—all written and/or illustrated by BC kidlit creators—are on offer, and many of them signed. Different creators will be managing the shop at different times, so there is also an opportunity to get books autographed with a personal inscription. The booth also features a selection of Christmas classics.

The Itty Bitty Bookshop is the brainchild of Jill Danis, author of The Very Different Witch. Please stop by to say hello, browse the wares, and pick up a special treat for your favourite young reader!

Some of the authors and illustrators featured so far are shown below. Many more will be on hand. For more information, including the full list of featured authors, be sure to visit ittybittybookshop.ca. To find out more about the market itself, visit vancouverchristmasmarket.com.

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In Memoriam: Norma Charles

Posted on August 31, 2025 by CWILL BC admin
Norma Charles

It is with heavy hearts that CWILL shares that Norma Charles, one of our longest serving and most cherished members, passed away on August 19 after an illness.

Norma was a talented author and an integral member of the kidlit community in BC and Canada. She served as a membership committee coordinator for CWILL and was ever ready to offer a friendly greeting and a warm smile to our members, old and new. We have all benefitted enormously from her generosity, time, and friendship over the years. 

She was not only a leading member of CWILL, but other literary organizations such as The Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable, The Writers’ Union of Canada, the BC Book Prizes, and CANSCAIP. 

Her own books, including her latest picture book, The One and Only Question, frequently uplifted social justice causes and showcased her warmth, sincerity, and care. She was a teacher, teacher-librarian, mother to four, and author of 22 books over the past three decades.

She is greatly missed already, and CWILL will be finding ways to commemorate her in the time ahead. 

The One and Only Question
Last Chance Island
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Book Launch: A Stronger Home

Posted on May 6, 2025 by CWILL BC admin
A Stronger Home

Katrina Chen is thrilled to share that A Stronger Home—her picture book dedicated to raising awareness about the impact of family violence—is having it’s official launch:

Friday, May 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
YWCA Moiz & Nadia Place
6328 No. 3 Road, Richmond
(Special thanks to YWCA for cohosting this event!)

RSVP required. Please click here.

This story is unique in many ways, honoring the resilience and love that build safer homes. Co-written with Elaine Su, the book is illustrated by Delphie Côté-Lacroix.

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Book Launch alert!

Posted on April 30, 2025 by CWILL BC admin

Children’s author Kirsten Pendreigh is celebrating the release of her latest nonfiction book, WHEN A TREE FALLS with Sierra Club BC.

Thursday, May 8th, at 6pm
Patagonia store
1994 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

There will be snacks, door prizes from Patagonia, and crafts. All ages are welcome! More details can be found here.

When a Tree Falls book cover.
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Come celebrate CREATIVELY HUMAN with author Lois Peterson

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Lee Edward Födi

It’s time for a book launch! Please join Lois Peterson as she celebrates the book birthday of CREATIVELY HUMAN: Why We Imagine, Make, and Innovate

Windowseat Books
Nanaimo, BC
Saturday March 15, 1-2:30 pm. 

This book is perfect for teachers, parents, and young people who are looking to make their creative mark in the world.

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Submit your book for the Joan Betty Stuchner – Oy Vey! – Funniest Children’s Book Award!

Posted on October 16, 2024 by CWILL BC admin

We’re pleased to announce the FIFTH biennial Joan Betty Stuchner – Oy Vey! – Funniest Children’s Book Award!

Please enter your funny book to win one of our TWO prizes.

Joan Betty Stuchner, beloved children’s author and teacher, passed away unexpectedly in 2014. Joan was many things: brave, gracious, warm, generous, kind, and absolutely hilarious to boot.  (“Oy vey!” she’s probably saying now…)

With this pair of awards, we honour Joan’s life-affirming humour and encourage other children’s writers to laugh it up on the page the way she did.

The $752.81 x 2 Joan Betty Stuchner – Oy Vey! –  Funniest Children’s Book Award is presented biennially to the Canadian authors or illustrators of the two works of juvenile writing that had the jury most incapacitated with giggles, buckled over with guffaws, and/or rib-ticklingly, side-splittingly, thigh-slappingly entertained in these two categories:

  1. A board book or picture book
  2. A book with lots more words than pictures

Eligible works include:

  • board books
  • picture books
  • chapter books
  • graphic novels
  • juvenile fiction and non-fiction (suitable for readers up to grade 7)
  • created by Canadian authors and/or illustrators permanently residing in Canada. (books may be published outside of Canada)
  • published between January 1st, 2023 and December 31st, 2024 
  • self-published titles
  • written in English

Please note that young adult fiction is not eligible for these awards.

Submission requirements:

Please send 3* copies of the work along with a completed submission form to:

Joan Betty Stuchner – Oy Vey! – Funniest Children’s Book Award
6637 Emerson Street, 
Burnaby BC 
V5E 1W5

* please note that if you want to add a 4th book to your submission, we will see to it that it reaches the hands of young English-learners in Ukraine!

Please include a $30 Canadian submission fee per title, according to the instructions listed on the submission form.

Submission deadline: Cat Herders’ Day, December 15, 2024.

~~~

The fifth Joan Betty Stuchner — Oy Vey! — Funniest Children’s Book Award will be presented in Spring 2025. Details to follow. 

Sincerely,

The Joan Betty Stuchner — Oy Vey! — Funniest Children’s Book Award Committee

Cindy Heinrichs, Ellen Schwartz, Nathalie Patel, Gina McMurchy-Barber, Alison Acheson

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