Frieda Wishinsky

Frieda loves humor, history and exploring new ways to tell a story. In her presentations, she uses drama, group participation, chants and storytelling to engage her audience.
Frieda was raised and educated in New York City, where she earned a B.A. in International Relations with honors in History and a Master of Science in Special Education. She taught children and adults with learning disabilities in New York, Israel and Canada. She also established a number of school libraries. Frieda has worked on educational documents and projects for the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Girl Guides of Canada.
In 1990, her first picture book, OONGA BOONGA was published by Little Brown and was voted "Pick of the List" by American Booksellers. Frieda has published over forty trade and educational books. Her books have been translated into French, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Catalan.

Frieda's books have earned critical praise, starred reviews and have been reviewed in magazines and newspapers around the world including The London Times, The Observer and The New York Times. Many of her titles have been praised by the CBC's prestigious book panel. Her book, EACH ONE SPECIAL, was nominated for a Governor General's Award for text and won the Print Braille Book of the Year Award. PLEASE, LOUISE has been nominated for the 2008 TD Literatue Award and the Marilyn Baille Picture book award.
*Look for Frieda's new Maple Tree Press series, The Canadian Flyer Adventures, launched February 2007. There are ten books out already and more to come! The most recent title is LOST IN THE SNOW.

Elizabeth MacLeod

I haven’t always wanted to be a writer. I went through school not knowing what I would do when I was older. When I went to university I studied sciences; I didn’t take any writing courses.
After I graduated I worked in a lab, an office, a flower shop — still nothing to do with writing. By this time I wanted to be a writer, but I was scared to admit it. However, I had some articles published in newspapers, I studied writing and editing and soon had a job as an editor at OWL magazine. (An editor is the person who works with authors to decide what part of a story goes first, where the commas go, etc.)
Now I’m a writer. I love writing because it lets me investigate so many amazing topics — such as food!