Kira Vermond wins top kids’ book award for Why We Live Where We Live

Guelph-based children’s author Kira Vermond has won the prestigious 2015 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-fiction for her most recent book Why We Live Where We Live (Owlkids). Kira shares the award with her Vancouver-based illustrator, Julie McLaughlin.

Besides being a great writer, Kira is also a charming speaker and will be one of the three guest speakers at the Writing for Children and for Young Adults mini-conference, Saturday, April 30, in Guelph. For details see here.

Why We Live Where We Live takes readers beyond pat answers to show them the wider picture of how human habitation has developed and why, in an intuitive, friendly and accessible way. She says living in Guelph as a child, and then again many years later as an adult, had a real impact on how she approached the topic. 

“I moved back to Guelph 11 years ago because I was convinced it was one of the most livable places in Canada,” she says. “I still do. That made me want to explore why and how people decide that a dot on a map should their home – when there are so many of those dots to choose from. That’s fascinating.”

Yay, Kira!

Kira is the author of three nonfiction books for children, one for adults and has another children’s book, Half-Truths and Brazen Lies: An Honest Look at Lying set to be released in April 2016. Kira’s first two children’s books, The Secret Life of Money, and Growing Up, Inside and Out, published by Owlkids, were Red Maple nominees.

For more information about this year’s Norma Fleck Award, visit here or to learn more about Why We Live Where We Live, visit here.

For information on submitting to Owlkids and Maple Tree press, see here.

See Brian Henry’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Alton, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Ingersoll, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.