Meet Our Team
Alister Mathieson
AUTHOR
Alister Mathieson is a celebrated author of several university textbooks in tourism studies and Canadian children’s books. His children’s books have received exemplary reviews in Best Books for Kids and Teens and the Globe and Mail. His books have received the written endorsements of notable Canadians—the Governor General of Canada, Rick Hansen; Peter Mansbridge; Michael “Pinball” Clemens; and author Joe Kertes. Alister was born in New Zealand and has lived, worked, and travelled all over the globe. He relishes the privileges of Canadian citizenship and currently lives in Mississauga with his wife Nancy and daughter Rachel. His three boys live in Australia, Vancouver and Toronto. He has visited many parts of Canada, but seeing more of Canada remains number one on his bucket list.
Kelly Jackson
AUTHOR
Kelly Jackson has a passion for higher education and politics, spending her career with one foot in each world. Kelly has lived in big Canadian cities and in the countryside, and currently lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter. Kelly can trace her family’s presence in Canada for more than 180 years.
Diane Simpson
AUTHOR
Diane Simpson is a leader in international education. She has published a number of articles and book chapters on international education, with this being her first children’s book. Diane immigrated to Canada at the age of six where she spent several years in rural Ontario before moving to Toronto where she now lives with her husband and two children.
Marianne Ilass
AUTHOR
As a child, Marianne Ilass was always making up short stories and poems in her head. Then she learned how to write, so that meant countless hours closeted away in her room with her characters and creations pouring out on paper. Over the years she has had her stories and poems published in various newspapers and magazines. Her first and best love is writing for children and these books are the culmination of her dreams.
Derek Douglas
ILLUSTRATOR
Derek Douglas was trained in classical animation at college way ‘back in the day.’ But it was upon becoming a father, in 2008, that he became motivated to explore the wild and wonderful world of children’s book illustration. His three kids continue to fuel and feed his love of illustration, and he often finds his best inspiration at the bottom of a pile of wrestling kids.
C.M. Duffy
ILLUSTRATOR
C.M. Duffy is originally a Connecticut Yankee who left the hilly wilds of home to study illustration in the contrasted wilds of New York City. He has since moved to Toronto to be with his wife where they have enthusiastically explored slices of the country on their road trips with more to come. This is his first children's book and he looks forward to any that lay just over the horizon.