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Kids’ Day/Journée jeunesse

Presented by Halifax Independent School

With Sara O’Leary, Darcy Whitecrow, Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, Rebecca Rose, Meaghan Smith, Kai Cheng Thom, Réjean Roy, Caroline Bélisle, Florence Brunet, Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, Anna Lazowski, and Sal Sawler

Sunday, November 1, 2026
12:30 pm
to 3:30 pm
Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library
$0.00
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Description

Drop by our fun-filled free-for-all for infants to age 10. Kids can get their Kids’ Day passport stamped or signed by authors Sara O’Leary, Darcy Whitecrow, Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, Rebecca Rose, Meaghan Smith, Kai Cheng Thom, Réjean Roy, Caroline Bélisle and Florence Brunet, Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, Anna Lazowski, Sal Sawler. Plus, enjoy snacks, activities, and readings in the Cozy Corner: Pop in for ten minutes, or stay all day! ASL, low-sensory room. Presented by Halifax Independent School.

Speakers

  • Sara O'Leary is the author of numerous popular and critically acclaimed books for children and the most recent recipient of the Vicki Metcalf Award from Writers Trust. Her latest book A Friend is a Friend is a Friend is part of the Who We Are trilogy which includes A Family is a Family is a Family, now in its 10th printing and A Kid is a Kid is a Kid which was a finalist for the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award. She was a recipient of a New Brunswick book award for The Little Books of the Little Brontës. She taught at Concordia University in Montreal for a number of years but is now happy to call the South Shore of Nova Scotia home.

  • Darcy Whitecrow is a Seine River First Nation band member. He has lived his life within the circle of the traditional indigenous practices of the Anishinaabe and Dakota. He is also, with his partner, Kimberlee Campbell, the principle caretaker of the Ojibwe horses bred at their non-profit, Grey Raven Ranch.

  • Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail is the author of eight books for children and adults, including Children of the SS Atlantic (Nimbus), Flying High on PEI (Acorn), and Freddie the Flyer (Tundra). Her titles have received an Atlantic Book Award and First Nations Communities Read Award, been shortlisted for the Hackmatack Award, and are included in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Danielle is former Historian Laureate for the City of Edmonton; Berton House Writer in Residence in Dawson City, Yukon; and was Maverick of the Year for Chatelaine. She now makes her home by the sea in Nova Scotia with her family and pets. www.daniellemc.com

  • Rebecca Thomas is an award winning Mi'kmaw writer of things. Sometimes they are poems, sometimes they are childrens’ books and sometimes they are love notes for family and friends. But they are always done with purpose and intention. She is a registered band member of Lennox Island First Nation in Epekwitk. Her ultimate goal is to take up space as an Indigenous woman in a world where they aren’t as valued or worthy as other groups of people. Rebecca dares you to tell her to be smaller and see what happens. She has been the Poet Laureate of Halifax and caregiver to her father who is a survivor of the Shubenacadie Residential School. She has performed with the Halluci Nation, Symphony Nova Scotia, and has spoken and lectured at conferences and coffee houses from coast to coast. Her first book I'm Finding My Talk has been shortlisted for the First Nations Community Reads Award. Her most recent collection of poetry called "I place you into the fire" was listed as one of CBC's top 20 books of 2020. Her book "Swift Fox All Along" was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General's Award for children's literature. She has an upcoming children's book called "Grampy’s Chair" is set to be released in September of 2024. She pays her bills by helping students who are overwhelmed with life and studies as a Student Services Advisor at the Nova Scotia Community College.

  • Kai Cheng Thom is an award-winning writer, performer, and creative arts facilitator based in tkaronto/Toronto whose work delves deeply into the themes of revolutionary love, transformative justice, and healing from collective trauma. Kai Cheng’s work has received multiple literary awards, including the Stonewall Honor Book Award, the Publishing Triangle Award, and the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Writers.

  • Passionnée de théâtre physique, de marionnette et de création collective, ses expériences sont au théâtre, au cinéma et à la télévision. On a pu la voir entre autres dans 1.2.3. de Orange Noyée, chez Satellite Théâtre dans Overlap, « T », Les limites du bruit Possible, Pépins, Bouée ainsi qu’au théâtre l’Escaouette dans Tsunami, Les Remugles et Winslow. Elle a également joué dans la pièce Murs de Créations In Vivo, ainsi qu’au TPA dans la pièce Dîner pour deux et dans la pièce musicale Belles-Soeurs. À la télévision, on a pu la voir dans les téléséries Bedaine, Mont Rouge, Garde Partagée et Conséquences, ainsi que dans une douzaine de courts et longs métrages. Florence fut nommée au Gala des Prix Gémeaux 2023 dans la catégorie interprétation humoristique pour ses rôles dans Garde Partagée et est récipiendaire d’un prix Éloize 2022 comme découverte de l’année en théâtre pour son interprétation dans Tsunami.

  • Mangeshig is a multi-disciplinary Anishinaabe artist from Barrie, Ontario and a member of Wasauksing First Nation. He currently resides in the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsliel-Waututh people (Vancouver,BC). He is an award winning children’s book illustrator and author whose work explores themes of language revitalization, ancestral knowledge sharing, and memory.

  • Anna Lazowski wrote her first picture book for a class assignment in the sixth grade and has been creating stories ever since. Now she is an award-winning radio producer and writer, whose journalistic work has been published in various newspapers and magazines, and she is the author of several picture books. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with her husband, kids and dogs.