Celebrate Family Literacy Day With Local Authors!

Celebrate Family Literacy Day With Local Authors!

Family Literacy Day is recognized every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Since 1999, thousands of schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups have taken part in the initiative. This year, why not celebrate Family Literacy Day by discovering a new author that lives right here in Brantford?

Mary M. Cushnie-Mansour was born in Stoney Creek, but now lives in Brantford. Mary has published five poetry anthologies and two collections of short stories. She also writes children’s stories, novels, plays, and songs. In 2011, Mary published the first book in the “Night’s Vampire Series” and has since released nine bilingual children’s books in the “Just Imagine Children’s Stories/Histories pour enfants.”

Find Mary’s books on Indigo or Amazon

Ali Purser Hie was born in Jarvis, but now resides in Brantford. Her collection of dark short stories called Horror, Gore and Ontario Shores comes from Ontario’s haunted places and history, and most are written in poetic prose.

Find Ali’s book on Amazon

C.A. King is a Brantford-based award-winning and bestselling author with over 40 books available across multiple fantasy subgenres. She has won a number of awards, including: Brant News Readers’ Choice Award for Best Local Author (2017), The Hamilton Spectator Readers’ Choice Award for Best Local Author (2017, 2018, 2019) among others.

Find Carol Ann’s books on her website

Zig Misiak is a Brantford based author, who has spent five decades research and telling the stories of First Nations history and culture. In addition to being a published author, Zig offers a myriad of topics for teacher/student workshops, in-class presentations, public speaking and/or one-on-one mentoring.

Find Zig’s books on Indigo or Amazon or view in person at the Brantford Visitor & Tourism Centre.

Michael Poeltl is a local author and visual artist who has written over ten books in various genres. His books are self-published and available for sale on his website or on Amazon. He recently celebrated the launch of his new website in 2020.

Find Michael’s books on Amazon

Marsha Skrypuch is a Brantford-based acclaimed author, who has pretty much published a book a year since 1996. In 2013, she won the Silver Birch Fiction Award for Making Bombs for Hitler and the Red Cedar Award for Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War.

Find Marsha’s books on Indigo or Amazon.

Kara Woodburn was born and raised in Brantford and published her first book, 101 Hockey Jokes, with Scholastic Canada in 2012. Her jokes also appear in Laugh-Out-Loud Canadian Jokes, a collection that includes Creepy Canadian Jokes, Math Jokes, and more. These books are geared to young readers ages 7-11.

Find Kara’s books on Indigo.

The theme this year is “Travel the World Together!” Use your imagination to go exploring and travel the world together as a family – you never know what you’ll learn. Plan your dream trip, learn about another culture and open your mind to the world.

Visit the ABC Life Literacy Canada website for free resources and learning activities to help improve literacy at home. Did we miss mentioning a local Brantford author? Let us know by e-mailing culture@brantford.ca