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Kids’ Day/Journée jeunesse

Saturday, November 1
12:30PM – 4:00PM
Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library
$0.00

Description

Drop by our fun-filled free-for-all for infants to age 10. Kids can get their Kids’ Day passport stamped or signed by authors Briana Corr Scott, Lauren Soloy, Angela Bowden, Jacqueline Halsey, David A. Robertson, Jesse Wente, Vivian Zhou, Jennifer McGrath, Riel Nason, Chad Lucas, Mireille Messier, and Camille Perron-Cormier. Plus, enjoy snacks, activities, and readings in the Cozy Corner. ASL, low-sensory room. Presented by Halifax Independent School.

Speakers

  • Briana Corr Scott is an author and artist who lives in Dartmouth Nova Scotia . She loves to explore the Atlantic coast near her home, sometimes venturing as far as Sable Island or as close as her backyard. She writes and draws simultaneously in one sketchbook. She combines the magic that is found in the quiet details of a landscape with her big imagination to create her stories and pictures. Weeds, moths, and fog are often main characters in her stories - as well as mermaids, selkies and the moon.

  • Lauren Soloy is the author and illustrator of many beloved picture books, including The Hidden World of Gnomes.

  • Angela Bowden is a celebrated African Nova Scotian author whose work is rooted in faith, purpose, and a deep love for her people. She thoughtfully weaves heritage, lived experience, and cultural memory into compelling narratives that uplift and inspire. Angela is a seventh-generation descendant of Samuel and Sealia Bowden, originally from Norfolk, Virginia, who settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia on June 4, 1783. She traces her family’s journey from Birchtown through Guysborough to her birthplace of New Glasgow, carrying with her the strength and resilience of those who came before her. She serves her community as an advocate, activist, poet, motivational speaker, and a vessel for healing. With a background in Women and Gender Studies and a heart committed to justice, Angela draws on both academic and lived experience to amplify the voices of Black women and highlight the often-overlooked stories of rural African Nova Scotian communities. Her acclaimed poetry collection, UnSpoken Truth: unmuted and unfiltered, offers a raw and reflective lens into the African Nova Scotian experience. A champion of healing and empowerment, Angela’s message resonates in her impactful TEDx talk, Dear Black Women, Let’s Talk About Healing, and her debut children’s book, Black Boy, Black Boy, a joyful affirmation of identity, love, and the beauty of Black being. Grounded in gratitude, her work centers connection, transformation, relationship-building, and collective healing. She moves with purpose and humility, offering her gifts in service to others, always trusting God to do the deeper work.

  • Jacqueline Halsey is a Nova Scotia writer and storyteller. She is the author of seven children’s books each one reflecting her love of the sea, local history and young heroes. She currently lives with her husband, Ray, and rescue cat, Piper, in an eighty-year-old house overlooking Halifax Harbour. When not writing, she spends her time renovating the old house and enjoying local beaches with family and friends. In the summer months she leads groups of visitors on storied hikes around beautiful Mcnabs Island and takes part in the massive, annual, McNabs Island beach clean-up. She is a member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia and takes part in the “Writers in the School” program.

  • David A. Robertson is a two-time Governor General's Literary Award winner and has won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Writers' Union of Canada Freedom to Read award. He has received several other accolades for his work as a writer for children and adults, podcaster, public speaker, and social advocate. He has been honoured with a Doctor of Letters from the University of Manitoba in 2023, and a Doctor of Laws from the University of Lethbridge in 2025. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and lives in Winnipeg.

  • Jesse Wente is a husband and father, as well as an award-winning writer and speaker. Born and raised in Toronto, his family comes from Chicago and Genaabaajing Anishinaabek and he is an off-reserve member of the Serpent River First Nation. Jesse is best known for more than two decades spent as a columnist for CBC Radio’s Metro Morning. Jesse spent a decade with the Toronto International Film Festival as a curator, including leading the film and gallery programming at the Tiff Lightbox. Jesse was the founding director of the Indigenous Screen Office and is the first Indigenous person to serve as Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. His award-winning first book “Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance” was a national bestseller. Jesse was recently named the Storyteller in Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. His first children’s book, Danger Eagle, is being published by Tundra Books in November.

  • Vivian Zhou is a Chinese-Canadian cartoonist who loves writing stories filled with magic and fantasy. She is the creator of the Atana graphic novel series.

  • Jennifer McGrath is a national award-winning children’s author from Hillsborough, New Brunswick. Jennifer’s books include middle grade adventure novels, Chocolate River Rescue and White Cave Escape, as well as picture books, The Pony and the Starling (Groundwood Books), The Snow Knows (Nimbus Publishing) Gadzooks the Christmas Goose (Nimbus Publishing) and Pugs Cause Traffic Jams (Kids Can Press). A nature and animal lover, Jennifer finds creative inspiration in New Brunswick’s rural landscapes, and the wild beauty of the Bay of Fundy. Jennifer lives just down the road from the world-famous Hopewell Rocks, with a border collie named Robbie and an Irish Cob pony named Thorin.

  • Riel Nason is a New Brunswick author. She is best known for her debut novel The Town That Drowned, which won the Commonwealth Book Prize for Canada and Europe among other awards, and the bestselling picture book The Little Ghost Who Was A Quilt. Her works have been translated in many languages including French, German, Japanese and Scottish Gaelic. The Little Ghost Quilt's Winter Surprise is her latest release.

  • Chad Lucas has always loved working with words, as a journalist, communications professional, parenting columnist, and author. His debut novel, Thanks A Lot, Universe, won the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature and was named a best middle grade book by the School Library Journal, New York Public Library, and Canadian Children’s Book Centre. His other titles include Let The Monster Out, a Forest of Reading and Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award nominee; You Owe Me One, Universe, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection; and The Vanished Ones, released in January 2025. His short fiction has appeared in Event Magazine, the Dalhousie Review, and the anthology Today I Am: 10 Stories of Belonging.

  • Mireille Messier is a Montreal-born, Ottawa-raised and now Nova Scotia-based children’s author, translator and voice actor. She has published over thirty children's books, some in french, others in english, including The Branch, which was nominated for a Governor General's Award, and Sergeant Billy, winner of the Rocky Mountain Book Award and the Hackmatack Award. Mireille was, is and always will be a “library kid!”

  • Camille Perron-Cormier is from Dieppe, New Brunswick. She completed a Bachelor of Arts and Design with a concentration in comics from the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) in 2018. Since graduating, she's been back in New Brunswick, where she does comics, illustration, graphic recording, some graphic design and leads youth workshops. She has illustrated three children's books published by Bouton d'or Acadie: Adieu, Jacoby! written by the trio Renée Guimond-Plourde, Danielle Guimond and Mélanie Plourde, Sous mon bateau, written by Chantal Duguay-Maillet and recently Dans ma boite à diner, written by Nicole Poirier. In 2023, she published her first comic book with Éditions Bouton d'or Acadie: SOS sorcières, the first volume in the Crapaud et Romarin series. The sequel, Maude et le spectre, was released in January 2025. She is currently working on a third volume for this series.