Join three acclaimed middle-grade authors for a lively and engaging reading that follows young people navigating mystery, friendship, and everyday moments of courage. From uncovering secrets and helping communities to finding direction in uncertain times, these stories trace how small acts of attention and care can quietly shift the world around us. This session invites readers to consider how curiosity, persistence, and imagination shape the choices we make.

Location: Childrens Tent, UBC Robson Square

Moderator: Emily Satako Seo, The Perfect Sushi (Barefoot Books), The Science of Boys (Tradewind Books)

Readers: Claire Hatcher-Smith, The Shadow on the Wreck, The Mizzy Mysteries (Penguin Random House Canada) | Tanya Lloyd Kyi, The City of Lost Cats (Penguin Random House Canada) | Stacey Matson, Eleven Out of Ten (Scholastic Canada)

About The Moderator

EmilySeo

Emily Seo is a Japanese Canadian author and scientist with a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia. Her experimentation with creative writing resulted in her debut novel, The Science of Boys followed by Our World: Japan and The Perfect Sushi. She currently lives in Richmond, BC, with her husband and two young children.

About The Readers

Claire Hatcher-Smith

Making Collaborative Practice Work: A model for teachers and SLTs (J&R Press, 2011)

The Mizzy Mysteries: A Skeleton in the Closet (Tundra, 2025)

The Mizzy Mysteries: The Shadow on the Wreck (Tundra, 2026)

Tanya Kyi

Tanya Lloyd Kyi is the author of more than 35 books for children and young adults, including The City of Lost Cats (Penguin Random House) and Feeling Your Feelings (Kids Can Press). She writes about science, pop-culture, history, and places where the three overlap. Tanya has worked in the past as a graphic designer, an editor, and a dishwasher. (She considers herself entirely qualified for that last one.) Her favourite color is blue, her favourite food is cheese, and her favourite book is A Wrinkle in Time. Tanya lives in Vancouver, B.C., where she’s a lecturer for the UBC School of Creative Writing.

Stacey Matson

Stacey Matson is a children’s author based in Vancouver, BC and Eleven Out of Ten is her fifth novel with Scholastic Canada. Stacey’s first book, A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius, was a Junior Library Guild Selection and won the Chocolate Lily award. Stacey has just completed the 2025-2026 term as the Writer in Residence for the Saskatoon Public Library. She also works as a creative writing instructor for the Creative Writing for Children society and a manuscript consultant for Simon Fraser University and is a member of the Moon Jelly Arts Collective, a multi-disciplinary group of artists doing immersive arts programming in schools around BC.