Jennifer Maruno  began her publishing career with award winning educational materials for The Peel District School Board and the Ontario Ministry of Education. She is one of the authors of Explorations, a mathematics program for Addison-Wesley of Canada, and worked with TVO in developing teaching materials for the television show Mathica’s Mathshop. For her contributions to educational writing, she received the Federation of Women Teachers Writing Award, the National Council of Teachers Award of Excellence and The Award of Merit from the National School Public Relations Association. She holds a Masters of Education, Principal’s and Primary Specialists certification and is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature and the Humber School of Writers summer program.Her short stories have appeared in a variety of children’s magazines in Great Britain, United States and Canada. Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jennifer came from a book loving family. She worked as a library helper in the old red brick library on Victoria Avenue while attending Valley Way Public school. Her childhood ambition was to have a book with her name on the spine sitting on the shelf.Her first children’s novel, When the Cherry Blossoms Fell won nominations for the Hackmatack and Young Readers of Canada Awards.Educator, researcher and author, Jennifer Maruno knows stories provide much more than entertainment. From the pages of Canadian history, she creates novels empathetic to those who have experienced the darker side of our past. Maruno’s understanding of the importance of cultural identity has brought When the Cherry Blossoms Fell, Cherry Blossom Winter and Cherry Blossom Baseball based on the Japanese Internment and Warbird a novel of early Jesuit life among the Huron people.Details of Kid Soldier, Jennifer’s fourth novel for children, come from her father’s diary. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces under age and set out for England. Enroute Britain declared war. Totem, the story of a boy seeking his identity from the confines of a residential school, was written at a time most necessary to Truth & ReconciliationJennifer lives in Burlington, Ontario with her husband spending her time weeding her David Austin roses, writing and reading to grandchildren.Laurel Keating is an award-winning artist whose illustrations are familiar to Newfoundlanders. With an eye for detail and sympathy for all living things, Laurel brings her characters to life with warmth and humour. Children have delighted in her rich and colourful illustrations in Find Scruncheon and Touton (1 and 2) and Yaffle’s Journey and Full Speed Ahead: Errol’s Bell Island Adventure. She lives in scenic Portugal Cove, which she has called home all her life.

Guest Speaker Charley Chiarelli

Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli was born in Racalmuto, Sicily and raised in Hamilton, Canada. He's proud to cite his first vocational achievements of selling newspapers in downtown streets and setting up pins in local bowling alleys. He was elected President of the Westdale High School Student Council,1965-66. He went on to acquire a four year BA in Psychology at McMaster University, a certificate in Applied Linguistics and Teaching from the University of Toronto and an MSW at Carlton University in Ottawa.
Concurrent with being a psychology professor and mental health consultant, Charly was/is a showbiz devotee. In the past 20 years he has applied his expansive talents to acting, writing (screenplays, stageplays, librettos, novels, children's stories and music). He is also a virtuoso musician - harmonica & vocals - and storyteller. All have received, awards, international acclaim and rave reviews. 
- Re CHARLY'S HIT MOVIE: He is cowriter of the screenplay, has 2 starring roles & 2 supporting roles - and Charly and the film have been cited for 12 prestigious awards... and "Won 7", including the Taormina Film Festival🏆

Access Movie for FREE by going to tubiTV and search for:
🍋 Road To The Lemon Grove 🍋

Since retiring from public service in 2013, Susan Ksiezopolski has
re-ignited her award winning writing. She has developed and delivers
creative writing workshops across the GTA. Susan has published two
poetry books and recently launched “The Writer’s Workbook, Free the Writer Within” a creative writing aid.  The focus of Susan’s writing is not solely for telling her own stories and for her own self-expression but to also help others to be inspired to tap into their writing voice and capture their stories. Her motto is “Everyone has a right to have their voice heard it they choose to use it, regardless of their circumstances”. She is a member of the Canadian Authors Association, The Mississauga Writer’s Group and a recent graduate of the Humber School for Writers. Her work has been featured in the Canadian Immigrant magazine and in numerous other on-line platforms. Susan’s dedication for inspiring others to find their voice also prompted her to volunteer with the Toronto Writer’s Collective, where she is now a trained facilitator supporting the TWC mission to deliver workshops that “encourage voice and illuminate undiscovered strength in Toronto’s most vulnerable communities to transform lives”. She also runs creative writing workshops at Studio 89. To find out more about Susan visit her website at:

www.mywordsnow.com

Keith Oatley is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Toronto. His main research is on human emotions and the psychology of fiction. He is the originator, and now co-author, of the principal textbook on the psychology of emotions, Understanding Emotions (Wiley), now in its fourth edition. He is sole author of seven other books of psychology, most recently Our Minds, Our Selves (Princeton University Press) and three novels the first of which, The Case of Emily V., won a Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. He has also written a hybrid book, The Passionate Muse (Oxford University Press), a novella in seven parts each accompanied by a commentary on emotions that may be experienced while reading it. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

https://sites.google.com/site/keithoatleyhomesite

Shane Joseph is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers. He is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. Shane’s second novel, After the Flood, a dystopian novel of hope, released in 2009, won the Write CanadaAward for best novel in the futuristic/fantasy category.His short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in literary journals and anthologies all over the world. His blog at www.shanejoseph.com is widely syndicated, he has a monthly column in The Sri Lankan Anchormanjournal, and is the Book Reviews Editor for Devour Art & Lit Magazine.His most recent novel, Empire in the Sand,was released in September 2022.

Shane is the owner and publisher of Blue Denim Press (www.bluedenimpress.com), a literary press he founded in 2011. He is responsible for editing, formatting, cover design, production, distribution, and promotion at his press. To date, the press has published over 40titles (fiction and non-fiction) in paperback and e-book formats.  In particular, Shane loves editing to release the story from within the words.

More details on Shane’s work, blog and book reviews can be found on his website at www.shanejoseph.com.  He maintains an active presence on social media via Facebook, Instagram, Linked-In,Twitter and Goodreads. He has a growing collection of You Tube videos produced by him on book launches and author discussions.

 David William Warner

After a successful career in politics and teaching, David has become a writer and has recently been published.

Parliamentary Positions

      Elected as M. P. P. for Scarborough Ellesmere,1975-77, 1977-81, 1985-87, 1990-95

                  (elected by the House as Speaker of the Ontario Legislature – 1990 to 1995)

  Teacher

      Elementary School teacher in Scarborough, Ontario
            1964-75, 1981-85, 1987-90, 1995-99 [Chairperson from 1974 onward]

Select Positions with Boards and Associations

      Trustee, Forum for Young Canadians 1999 – 2017

      Chair, Board of Directors, InCharge Debt Solutions 2007 -13

      National Vice President, United Nations Association of Canada – 2002 – 2005

      Regional Vice President, (Ontario), United Nations Association of Canada – 2001 -2002

      President, United Nations Association Toronto Branch – 2000 to 2001

      President, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association(Ontario Branch)1990 to 1995

      Board of Directors, Scarborough Community Legal Services 1980 -90(Founding Chair of the Board, 1980 to 1985)

      President, Agincourt Community Services – 1972 to 1974

      Board of Directors, Youth Assisting Youth 1974 to 1985, 1987 to 1990

      Board of Directors, Canadian Cuban Friendship Association 1995 to 2004 (President 1998-2004)

      Board of Directors, Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary             Democracy 1995 to 1997

      President, Scarborough Ellesmere NDP Constituency Association 1995 to 1998, 2007 -2011

      Chair, Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians  2018 – 2021

Education

      1972 – Bachelor of Arts, Honours English, York University, Toronto, Ontario.