A cozy, joyful storytime for little ones featuring four beautifully illustrated books about the people, animals, and everyday moments we love most.

From snuggles and surprises to acts of imagination and care, these stories show how love takes many forms and brings connection into our lives in simple, powerful ways.

Location: Childrens Tent, UBC Robson Square

Sponsored by: BC Arts Council

Moderator: Mary Duffy

Readers: Charles Demers, Sure Do (Tradewind Books) | Julie Flett, We All Love (Greystone Books) | Udayana Lugo (illustrator), Gotcha Day (Orca Book Publishers) | Hayley Lowe, Juni and the Anything Tree (Orca Book Publishers)

About The Moderator

Mary Duffy

Mary Duffy was born in Dublin, Ireland but grew up on Red Island and in Southern Harbour, Newfoundland. Her poetry has been published in various journals and anthologies including Quills, Leafpress, Blueprint Review, High Altitude Poetry, The Return of the Downtown Eastside Poets, The Soul of Vancouver and online at the Globe and Mail. She performs her poetry frequently as part of Pandora’s Collective.

About The Readers

Charles Demers

Charles Demers is a Vancouver- based comedian, author, and playwright— including of three plays for young audiences. A staple of the Canadian comedy scene, he has been one of the stars of CBC radio’s The Debaters for more than 20 years, and provided the voice of Walter the Slug on the Emmy-winning Netflix preschool series Beat Bugs, based on the music of The Beatles.

Hayley Lowe

Hayley works as an illustrator and storyteller and enjoys exploring a range of media. In a previous chapter of her life, Hayley worked as a contemporary dancer and a children’s yoga instructor, where she used storytelling as a tool to teach and ignite imaginations. Hayley lives with her husband and daughter in Vancouver, B.C She is the author-illustrator of The Pie Reports and illustrator of Diaper Kid by Loretta Garbutt and Memory Stones by Kathy Kacer.

Udayana Lugo

Udayana is the illustrator of more than twenty picture books with several Canadian and international publishers. Although she can't remember ever not drawing, she started illustrating children's books less than a decade ago. In what feels like another life, she was a product designer and spent many years designing different things, like jewelry, auto-parts and furniture. Growing up, she never saw anyone who looked like her represented in any kind of media, so now she is very passionate about representation. Udayana was born in Russia, grew up in Mexico, and now lives in Richmond, BC with her family and their black dog.