Environmental stewardship is on the minds of most as we find ourselves fully ensconced in the impacts of global warming. This year, the Lyceum’s collaboration with Word Vancouver will involve three local authors who have made the environment a top priority.

Anne Eriksson, Kirsten Pendreigh, and Anuradha Rao will do short readings from their latest books and answer questions relating to nature and our environment. This event is open to children aged 5 to 12, and hot chocolate and cookies will help participants be ready to hop into bed at the end of the night to dream about how they too can make a difference.

Location: Christianne’s Lyceum, 4433 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver

Sponsored by: Christianne’s Lyceum

Host: Christianne Hayward

Readers: Kirsten Pendreigh, What Fish Are Saying: Strange Sounds in the Ocean ‎ (Sourcebooks Explore) |Anuradha Rao, One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet (Orca Book Publishers) | Ann Eriksson, Urgent Message from a Hot Planet: Navigating the Climate Crisis (Orca Book Publishers)

About The Host

Christianne Hayward

Christianne has been educating children and adults for over 35 years. She established her unique parent and youth bookclubs in 1996, and now facilitates 17 bookclubs, 4 writers’ workshops and literature and art classes for young children at the Lyceum. She also teaches at post-secondary institutions, works as a teacher consultant, spent more than three decades facilitating parent groups in the ANCHOR Program at the Vancouver Child Study Centre, and is mother of two sons. Her Ph.D studies in education (UBC, 2000) focused on using select children’s literature to develop socially relevant curriculum in early childhood settings through to high school. Christianne’s M.Ed studies (Bristol, 1982) centered around the use of literary theming in nursery schools and its effect on children’s attitudes toward reading. Christianne completed her B.Ed (U of A, 1978) in Special Education and received her Diploma in Early Childhood Education in the same year. Her first year of study at the U of A was dedicated to Fine Arts which fueled a life-long love of the arts.

About The Readers

Kirsten Pendreigh

Kirsten Pendreigh is a poet, journalist and children’s author from Vancouver. Her books celebrate our early instincts to care for the creatures that share our planet. Kirsten’s 2025 nonfiction titles, WHEN A TREE FALLS (a PW Starred review out in March 2025) and WHAT FISH ARE SAYING (an SLJ Starred Review) use lyrical language, onomatopoeia, rhyme, and other poetic devices to engage children in the cutting-edge science of underwater species communication and the crucial role fallen trees play in regenerating the forest. Kirsten’s fiction picture books include MAYBE A WHALE (a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and Horn Book Book of the Year) and LUNA’S GREEN PET (a Today Show pick and Quill & Quire Book and CCBC Book of the Year). CAMPING IS A TERRIBLE IDEA will publish next year. . Kirsten’s poems are found in many Canadian literary magazines and anthologies including Best Canadian Poetry 2021. Find out more about at kirstenpendreigh.com

Ann Eriksson

Ann Eriksson is a Changemaker! From writing ecologically-themed books to restoring eelgrass meadows in the Salish Sea of British Columbia with SeaChange Marine Conservation Society to running the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy (ThINC) with her friends, Ann’s life is dedicated to protecting nature and helping it recover. She’s most proud of the land she’s helped protect as nature reserves and the programs she and her colleagues at ThINC run to educate the public about conservation and stewardship of ocean and forest ecosystems and the plants and animals that live there. Ann loves to be outside in nature, whether growing food at a communal garden, hiking the forests and beaches near her home, diving with wolf eels and octopus or kayaking the ocean. Ann strives to live softly on Earth. She has written two other ecological literacy books for younger readers, Dive In! Exploring Our Connection with the Ocean and Urgent Message from a Hot Planet: Navigating the Climate Crisis. Ann shares her home on Thetis Island with her husband, Gary, and the wild birds, deer, slugs, bats, bees, trees, and other wild species that surround it. You can read more about Ann at anneriksson.ca .

Anuradha Rao

Anuradha Rao is a Registered Professional Biologist, writer and facilitator with a focus on coastal and marine ecosystems. She has worked on research, conservation, mapping, planning, policy, restoration and stewardship projects across Canada and in 12 other countries. She is the author of the book One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet (Orca, 2020) and more than two dozen other publications in academic and popular media. She currently works as Senior Environmental Specialist-Marine Ecosystems on staff with Tsleil-Waututh First Nation. A child of Indian immigrants, Anuradha’s worldview and approach to science are heavily influenced by teachings from her own culture and from Indigenous knowledge holders. These teachings and the principles of ecology have shown her that everything and everyone is connected, and that we must remember this in our actions and interactions. Anu finds her happy place when she walks off a beach and snorkels among the creatures of the sea.