All Posts

It's been an incredible week or so, including a children's workshop at the Cork World Book Festival! While the book is easy to find in North America, it’s been surprisingly difficult to get it into Irish hands during my trip. So for a very limited time, I’ve made it available for direct order through this website. Orders will close at the end of the day on May 1, and all books will ship on May 2. A few important notes: I’m currently in Edinburgh, so all orders will be shippin

For authors, media coverage and book reviews make all the difference. And with review spaces disappearing and arts coverage still shrinking all the time, I can't stress enough how much we appreciate when someone decides to take the time to review our work. This post is long overdue (the side-effect of completing a school practicum while promoting a book), but here are a few of the wonderful bits of coverage Ellis on Guard has received (thank you to all)! Quill & Quire 2026 S

I've learned a lot about book promotions since Nimbus published my first book almost 11 years ago, but there are three big things that stand out. There's a threshold where doing more book events really doesn't make much of a difference in terms of sales. It's really easy to burn out while trying to promote a book. Picking events that are genuinely fun makes it all a lot easier. So, I don't actually do that many events anymore, but the ones I do, I do because they're special.

I get a lot of questions about the publishing industry, from “How do I submit?” and “Do I need to draw my own pictures?” to “Do I need an agent?” and “Is my book good enough?” And it’s for good reason—unless you’re IN it, the publishing industry can be incredibly opaque. That’s why, when the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) sent out a call for expressions of interest, I jumped on the opportunity—I want to help more stories, a wider variety of stories, make their way into the w

As authors, the success of our books often depends on things like Amazon reviews, and whether or not Heather at Indigo gave them her seal of approval. But many don't realize that indie bookstores are the lifeblood of our industry. They handpick the special books that the hype machine missed, and they handsell them to their customers with love. To celebrate that, the Ellis On Guard preorder campaign focuses on three independent Canadian bookstores: Woozles Bookstore in Halifax

Plans are coming together for the Halifax launch of Ellis on Guard , and I'm so excited to share that it will be on February 19, 2026, at Woozles Children's Bookstore in Halifax. I have a longstanding fondness for Woozles, starting in elementary school. We had a trivia contest via the announcements, and one of the questions was "Who illustrated Thomas's Snowsuit ?" It turns out spelling counted, and no one knew how to spell Michael Martchenko — but my mom's a librarian, so I

We're just a couple of weeks away from the release of my newest picture book, Ellis on Guard, and little by little, our nervous pet parent and their canine companion are starting to get some media attention! 2026 Spring Preview: Books for Young People – Picture Books ( Quill & Quire ) Upcoming Releases for Winter and Spring 2026 (CanLit for Little Canadians) Publishing in Canada 2025 (Publishers Weekly)

I'm so excited to share that my next picture book, Ellis on Guard , will be hitting bookstore shelves on February 3, 2026. Illustrated by Nandita Ratan and published by Second Story Press , Ellis on Guard will also be released in a French edition titled Ellis prend garde . Big thanks to Isabelle Montagnier for the translation. "Ellis on Guard is a gentle, imaginative story about living with anxiety—and finding ways to stand tall anyway." —Danny Ramadan, author of the award