Tag: Silver Birch award

Currie, Susan (Brampton, Ontario)

Member: Writer’s Union of Canada, Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, CANSCAIP. All ages from 8 and up. Up to 100 or so participants.

Rates: $300 for one session, $550 for two, $800 for three, $1000 for a full day (four sessions). Plus a travel fee of $0.50/km to and from Brampton, Ontario. Virtual visits $200 plus HST for 30-60 minutes, $150 plus HST for each subsequent session on the same day.

Susan Currie is a Cayuga-Acadian author who has written 8 books for young people that focus on identity, friendship, music, social justice, and Indigenous history. Winner: Second Story Press’s inaugural Aboriginal Writing Award. Finalist: Silver Birch Award, CLA Book of the Year for Children, Hackmatack Award, Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award, First Nations Communities Read, CODE Burt Award (Honour Book), White Pine Award. Her books have been starred selections for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Children, selected for Top Grade, selected for JLG and Bank Street Children’s Book Committee, and included on several CBC and library lists of recommended books. Susan is an adoptee who was in the foster care system briefly as a baby, and only learned of her Indigenous heritage as an adult.

Susan engages and energizes students with an interactive and lively presentation focusing on what it is like to be a writer, the writing process, and how books get published. In each case, she will focus on one or two books in particular, exploring their big ideas and how they came to be written. She will include a short reading and leave room for questions. Susan is extremely flexible as a presenter and is happy to customize a presentation to fit the needs of each venue. After 26 years in the classroom, she is very comfortable engaging in conversation with young people.

Susan is also excited to do writing workshops with small groups. She is happy to work with educators to customize a topic.

Susan Currie 2026

Middle Grade Fiction (grades 3-8):

The Mask that Sang (Second Story Press, 2016)
• Indigenous history in Canada; overcoming bullies; friendship; foster care

Young Adult Fiction (Grades 6-12):

Iz the Apocalypse (Common Deer Press, 2023)
• Going after your dreams; foster care; critiquing unfair systems; music; creativity; identity; friendship

Fierce Voice (Common Deer Press, 2025)
• Developing your own fierce voice; finding courage to do hard things; standing up to bullies; music; friendship

Nonfiction (Grades 3-12):

Haudenosaunee: the People and Nations (Beech Street Books, 2023)
• Indigenous history to the present; customs and beliefs; art and music; social justice and fairness

Indigenous Peoples: Cayuga Nation (Beech Street Books, 2024)
• Indigenous life before and after first contact; traditions; political organization; modern Indigenous life; social justice and fairness

Amazing Women in Canada: Autumn Peltier (Beech Street Books, 2025)
• Water preservation; water walkers; raising your courageous voice; learning how we can all do our part

Indigenous Governance (Beech Street Books, 2026)
• First Nation, Metis and Inuit groups in Canada; how each group is governed; Indigenous history in Canada, Truth and Reconciliation

Tanya Tagaq (forthcoming from Beech Street Books in December 2026)
• Creativity; music; busting barriers; finding your own voice

Equipment required: a microphone for larger groups or in the gym; a screen and projector for presenting slides and doing shared writing.

Contact Susan to book a visit:

    Gentile, Leslie (Brentwood Bay, BC)

    Virtual and local in person visit rates: $300 for 45-60 minutes.

    Leslie’s debut middle grade novel Elvis, Me and The Lemonade Stand Summer won the Victoria Children’s Book Prize, The Jean Little First-Novel Award, and has been shortlisted for ten other awards, including The Washington State Library Award 2025.

    Her second novel, Shamus The Urban Rez Dog, P.I. was released in September 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Victoria Children’s Book Prize 2024, The Chocolate Lily Award 2025, and the Langley School District Book of the Year 2025. 

    Her third book, Elvis, Me & The Postcard Winter, is available as of November 2024.

    Leslie is an engaging speaker who very comfortable working with children of all ages. As a musician, she has written songs to accompany each of her books and performs these songs with her readings, which makes for a fun & dynamic visit.

    The Elvis series is an excellent choice for Pink Shirt Day, as themes touch on bullying, racism, and family.

    With Lemonade Stand, Leslie will lead students through an exercise on kindness and unkindness, and empowering choices we can make.

    With Postcard Winter, Truly’s story continues. Leslie will lead students through an exercise on bullying, and what each of us can do in small ways to be allies and good friends.

    And always, there’s music!

    Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I. is a fun-filled detective story with a twist – it’s told by an urban rez dog, trying desperately to fit into townhouse life while helping his kids solve a mystery to get their mom out of trouble. We learn Shamus’ views on racism and the world around him, and readings and songs such as “It’s a Dog’s Life’ and “Bad Dog Blues”.

    Leslie also offers a workshop on writing and getting published for young writers and adults called “Weird Things I Do To Write That Work!” This includes road-tested tricks for developing strong characters, overcoming writer’s block, and some great tips for getting published.

    All of these presentations and visits work equally well virtually and in person, and the larger the group the better! Leslie’s record is 420 students so far…

    Leslie lives in Brentwood Bay with her husband Dan and her German Shepherd who is convinced he’s a lap dog. Though not connected with a specific nation, Leslie is of Salish, Tuscarora and Scottish heritage and lives on Vancouver Island the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people.  

    Contact Leslie to book a visit:

      Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk (Brantford ON)

       Writers Union Member. Fiction & NF, Multi awards, internationally bestselling. All ages. $400 plus HST for 1 session, $650 for 2, $900 for 3 and $1100 for 4, + travel (.68 cents per kilometer, round-trip for SW ON).

      Virtual Visits: $300 plus HST, per session.

      Marsha is an experienced and passionate speaker who tailors each presentation to the group in front of her. As the author of picture books, middle grade novels, narrative non-fiction and YA novels, she can present to an entire school over the course of a day. She also loves speaking to adult groups and she loves loves loves giving writing workshops. 

      Presentations by grade

      For most presentations, Marsha reveals her struggles with dyslexia and not being able to read until she was 9. Marsha talks about why she writes about war from a kid’s point of view and why she considers herself a librarian/detective. She also explains how she became a princess if asked.

      Here is an example of her themes by grade:

      JK to 1: two 30 minute storytelling sessions for the price of one full session ($400+HST) using When Mama Goes To Work.

      2 to 4: 45 to 60 minutes: Storytelling session plus Q&A on topic/book of your choice. Most of Marsha’s books delve into the issue of war and displacement from a kid’s point of view. For this age group, this topic can best be presented via specific books:

      Ukraine’s long struggle under war: Silver Threads, Enough.

      Vietnamese refugee books: Sky of Bombs Sky of Stars, Too Young to Escape and Adrift at Sea. 

      Armenian Genocide, orphan refugees: Aram’s Choice, Call Me Aram.

      4 to 8: Most of Marsha’s books are for this age group and she can present her WWII novels, and Winterkill, set during the Holodomor, but Marsha’s most requested presentation right now is about her brand new Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy. Book one, Under Attack, has received rave reviews including starred reviews from Kirkus and Bookist, plus this from Canadian Children’s Book News:  “…Under Attack is an invaluable must-read and must-have educational resource for public, schools and home libraries everywhere. Lingering long after the last compelling page is turned, this timely book is inarguably a stirring catalyst for in-depth discussion…” Very highly recommended

      Book 2, Standoff, is published on Oct 7, and book 3, Still Alive, will be published in April 2026.

      Maximum group sizes for presentations: 45 for JK to 3. 100+ for everyone else.

      Writing Workshops work best with 16 or so participants

      Writing Workshop Topics:

      Teaching fun self-editing techniques to students in grades 4 to 12.

      How to create an awesome villain.

      How to assist gifted student writers (of any age) without tearing your hair out in frustration.

      Techniques for punching through writer’s block.

      Grade 12 Writers’ Craft personal memoir writing

      Other topics upon request.

      All Venues, library preferred. Equipment required: A glass of water, lunch (egg salad sandwich on brown bread) if she’s staying for the day. A table to spread her things out on. A microphone for larger groups or in the gym, or if the room acoustics are questionable. A screen and projector for power-point.

      Please note: Her surname is pronounced SKRIPP-ick.

      Contact Marsha for a visit: