Local Author Showcase

Adult Program Room
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
All ages welcome
Drop in

Enjoy a variety of book-themed crafts throughout the day. Come and go drop in program. 

Teen Area
10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
For ages 0 to 5
Drop in

Kick-off our Local Author Showcase with an interactive "Jumps and Jingles" storytime! Join Joan for a fun-filled half-hour of music, rhythms, and rhymes. You and your child will sing along to old classics, learn new songs, dance, and move to the music. Explore rhythm-making with shakers and scarves, have fun with puppets, and enjoy an entertaining story.  

Board Room
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
For adults 
Drop in as space allows

Join Allison Hannah for your opportunity to get your fingers moving and ideas flowing. We'll write in a group and play 7-minute writing games: themed lists, music title prompts, pass a prompt to another participant, and more. You'll have the opportunity to share a piece of writing with this group and receive feedback. The session is designed for writers at any level. 

Board Room
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
For adults
Drop in as space allows

Join multi-award winning writer, Douglas Smith, as he demonstrates how to build a short story - from inspiration to using scenes to create a strong structure.  

Michael J. Anthony has been composing poems since he was 10 years old. He grew up in Scarborough where he studied art in high school and learned to play musical instruments. As time went on, he drafted poems listening to his mind and heart to put words on paper.

Life Expressions is an anthology of poems depicting the various expressions of life, inviting readers to reflect, feel, and connect with the shared human journey.

Jennifer Aves shapeshifted with the help of ‎her many wholistic modalities into an energetic wellness business owner and author. Bringing along ‎with her all of her creativity and fire to infuse each session and word with a positive Reiki spark. 

Key Reset: How I fixed my sh*tty by finding my spark of joy from within is a beautiful guide to living a life of purpose by shifting one's attitude. Jennifer shares her wisdom on how to embrace happiness and joy. 

Sarah Bankuti 

Sarah Bankuti is an educator and author living with her family and a miniature dachshund. Inspired by her love of reading and her daughters, she began writing children's books that promote self-esteem and individuality.

The Princess Alannah Series: Princess Alannah and her friend Scoot, embark on an adventure to find a missing glow fish, help him embrace his differences along the way. 

Kristin Blakely is a Toronto-based mom of three, author, and with a PhD in Sociology. As a hearing aid user, Kristin shares her experiences with hearing and language challenges both personally and as a parent.

Just when it is time to settle into bed, Nate’s imagination begins to run wild, thinking about all the things he’s never "sawn" [seen] before. This comforting story acknowledges children’s feelings of bedtime anxiety and over-stimulation while showing there is no need to feel scared and alone at night. 

Bryan Cole is a long time fan of the fantasy and science fiction genres. He has had a long career in the enterprise software space. His love for stories about heroes, villains, magic, and dragons has never dimmed, and in 2022 he published his first book, Beginning of Arrogance. Check out Bryan's website.

Futility of Defense: A Paladin's Journey, #2: In this sequel, Krell has been chosen by the god Recknor to become a hero who will fight for the lives of all the believers and must fight against the fearsome sea devils that threaten the town of Watford. 

Amanda Cupido is an award-winning podcast producer, TEDx speaker, author, and entrepreneur. She founded Lead Podcasting, an agency for developing podcasts, and authored Amazon bestsellers, including Let’s Talk Podcasting: The Essential Guide to Doing it Right. With a background as a radio producer, reporter, and news anchor, she was the first female program director at a Toronto talk radio station.

Let's Talk Podcasting: The Essential Guide to Doing it Right: The inside scoop on this burgeoning industry's biggest players and--more importantly--how you can join them.

Inna Figotina is a certified French as a Second Language educator who is sharing her journey to becoming trilingual to inspire others who are on their own journey of learning a new language. She wrote this
dual-language book as part of her thesis project after years of doing research on the topic of immigrant students in the French as a Second Language program.

Trilingual Me! Moi, trilingue! The story follows a girl who overcome challenges to become a trilingual. It's a fun, colourful, dual-language picture book in English and French.

Joan Hargraves

Sheila Horne

Sheila Horne is the author of three novels: Sunshine Girls, Paper Sun, and Place in the Sun. When she isn’t writing, she can be found encouraging a new writer, or in her garden, or on a road trip with her husband and their dog. Check out Sheila's website.

Place in the Sun: Every good or bad decision we make leads us one step closer to exactly where we're supposed to be in life. 

Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson has sporadically written poems as time and events allowed which resulted in his first collection of poems “Enter Light-Exit Light and Everything in Between”. For his second publication, he combined his love of poetry and his photography in “Old Embers Rekindled”, where the complementary words and pictures garnered many favourable reviews.

Old Embers Rekindled: A collection of poems integrated with selected photographs that are meant to complement each other generally. 

Aurora cartoonist, Scott Johnston, is a member of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists and the National Cartoonists Society, and has drawn weekly cartoons for The Auroran newspaper for 25 years. His cartoons have also appeared in Neighbour Paper, Cartoon Canada, Aislin's Favourite COVID Cartoons from Around the World, and (not surprisingly) Scott Johnston Cartoon - Volume 1, 2, 3, 4.

Scott Johnson Cartoons V.1: A collection of 171 full colour, single-panel cartoons that take a humourous and slightly skewed look at random subjects.

Patricia Kenney is an award-winning poet, novelist, theatre and literacy critic. Her latest novel, One Man Dancing (Inanna) is a story of Africa, politics, art, and personal survival set on the world stage.

One Man Dancing: The true story of a Ugandan actor-dancer's artistic journey and survival through the perilous regime of Idi Amin, highlighting his encounters with danger and his global experiences. 

Olamide Lasisi, a young artist and author, founded Pocketlings, a collection of affirmation-filled dolls celebrating Black joy and creativity. At just 10 years old, she began designing dolls to reflect herself and her friends, aiming to ensure every child feels seen, loved, and proud.

Recipes for Awesome Me: Welcome to the kitchen of confidence, where every ingredient is sprinkled with self-love and every recipe stirs up a little magic!

Osayi Lasisi is a growth strategist, speaker, and author passionate about helping entrepreneurs turn clarity into action. She is the author of No Leads No Growth, a practical guide for founders ready to scale with purpose, and To Look Back with Joy, a reflective call to live and lead with intention.

To Look Back with Joy: Brace yourself for an exhilarating ride as she shares her life's extraordinary journey, filled with heartbreak, triumphs, and unforgettable moments.

Tara Marshall-King is a Canadian author who has recently released her debut novel, All We Don't Know. She works as a high school teacher and is an avid reader. As a lover of the outdoors, she finds inspiration in the beauty of the natural world.

All We Don't Know: Marine biologist Finleigh Farraway discovers a buried journal of WWII veteran Liam Crowley in Newfoundland. The journal's shocking revelations disrupt her life and set her on a transformative quest. 

Retired police superintendent Keith Merith ended his 31-year tenure in 2017 after holding command positions in different areas of law enforcement. Keith is the author of an award-winning, national best-selling book, A Darker Shade of Blue - A Police Officer's Memoir.

A Darker Shade of Blue - A Police Officer's Memoir: A transparent, first-hand account of a Black officer maneuvering through three terrifying yet rewarding decades of policing, all while seeking reform in law enforcement. 

Stephanie Simpson McLellan is the award-winning author of six picture books and a middle-grade novel. Her newest book, Two Tales of Twenty-Six is a picture book/first reader hybrid.

Two Tales of Twenty-Six: Two parallel adventures intertwine in a story about Walter the mouse conquering twenty-six cats and Liam the boy, who must conquer twenty-six letters.

Dawn Neill

Dawn Neill's debut memoir Rescued chronicles her life as a young mother in Pushthrough, an abandoned Newfoundland outport, during the early 1970s. Neill now writes from her home on Lake Simcoe, Ontario, where she continues to share her journey from remote outport to international educator.

Rescued: A Young Mother's Memoir of Survival on Newfoundland's Forgotten Coast: Dawn's idyllic teenage life in Toronto unraveled due to her father's affair, leading her to marry young and move with her husband and child to an isolated Newfoundland outport. 

Kathryn O'Dwyer

Kathryn has found joy in retirement by pairing her love of literature and adventure to write the children’s novel series, The Extraordinary Travels of Two Sisters. As an avid reader, who has been able to travel with her family, Kathryn hopes that these stories will inspire young readers to be curious about other cultures and respectful of them in their own travels.

Ella and Alora and the Secret Drain: This story highlights the importance of friendship, family, and learning about our world to better care for it.

Nomi is an indie author located right here in Georgina. She is currently working on her paranormal soap opera series, Passions. The first three books are available now, and books 4 and 5 will be out next year. When not writing or doing other author-related things, Nomi is a mom of two humans and three cats.

Intense Feelings: Two families, bound by unlikely love, and a centuries old feud, find themselves thrust into a battle between good and evil, where ancient secrets stir and destinies intertwine.

Wendy Poole

Wendy Poole is a retired educator with experience in Early Childhood Education living in Markham, Ontario. Wendy has been published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, wrote two children’s books, and shared her mother's Alzheimer journey in 2021. Currently, she is working on her second novel.

Remembering A Time of Great Purpose is a Historical Fiction/Memoir. It is based on the experiences of her mother, father, uncle, a dear friend, and other family members who shared their World War II experiences with her. 

Raffaele Quirino

Raffaele has been a resident of Georgina since 1990, and proudly calls Keswick his home. He has had a career in the music industry that spanned from 1984 to 2010.

Adventures in 12/8ths Time: A love song to progressive rock music. It journeys from deep ocean depths to cosmic expanses, exploring related genres like metal, electronica, new age, new wave, and classical along the way. 

Nathan's life has largely centered around writing and creating. These pursuits have long been his passions and interests. After revisions, his work will transform into Colin Harris: The Game of Wits, marking the official start of his career as an author.

Colin Harris: The Game of Wits: it was a complex, long-standing game of wits won by vision, dedication, and perseverance, unbeknownst to its participants.

Bruce Roach

Bruce's fascination with lake creatures began with reports of the Loch Ness Monster in the 1960s. Living near the lake for over twenty years heightened his curiosity, leading to a personal encounter in early fall 2016.

A Monster in Lake Simcoe? Believe It!! Experts Rod Urquhart and Bruce Roach conduct a concise examination of potential monsters in Lake Simcoe, ON, referencing over 60 sightings of a serpent or serpents. 

Andrew Sibbald

Andrew Sibbald was born some four decades after Emily Twillum’s story takes place and grew up on the Briars property in Jackson’s Point, Ontario. The Briars Believed is his second publication, picking up at the end of The Briars Between. He is at work on the next Emily Twillum adventure.

The Briars Between: Follow 13-year-old Emily's tale, revolving around her friendship with a Chippewa boy and two Jewish siblings with the doubtful help of three, Indigenous entities.

Janice Marie Singleton is an actress, author, inspirational and motivational speaker and singer/songwriter. Janice's newest book is a course study textbook: A Positive Behavior Practice Book For All Ages. Specifically designed for those interested in raising their frequency to become living examples of positive purposes and make our planet a more loving place to live.

A Positive Behavior Practice Book for All Ages: Become your better self from the inside out. This practice should be ongoing in a world of contradictions. Relaxing your positive ideals for even a moment can diminish your growth and ways to stay on point.

Douglas Smith is a five-time award-winning author described by Library Journal as “one of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction.” His latest work is the multi-award-winning Young Adult (YA) urban fantasy trilogy, The Dream Rider Saga.

The Lost Expedition: The Dream Rider Saga, #3: The Lost Expedition is the third and final volume of the Dream Rider trilogy. It follows Will, the Dream Rider, the superhero who walks in our dreams but never in the streets of his own city.

Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor is a published poet and author of six books. His poems have appeared in literary journals worldwide. His first collection, Trainer, focuses on his father's WWII experiences and received acclaim from John Robert Colombo. 

Cities Within Us: Offers poems that are dense and deep with language that resonates at multiple levels and often startles with its juxtapositions and verbal explosions. 

Jacinta Yang, founder of Jacinta Healing Arts, offers Reiki, reflexology, and crystal healing to support healing journeys. Jacinta also travels for client requests and volunteers at various organizations, including Hospice Georgina and the Good Food Collective, to offer compassionate support.

Take Charge: Reclaim Your Life and Be Your True Self: Through her writing, Jacinta motivates readers to reclaim their lives, embrace their uniqueness, and connect with their inner truth.