Gemma and the Giant Girl

SARA O’LEARY is the author of many beloved picture books for children, including This Is Sadie, which was adapted by the New York City Children’s Theatre, and its follow-up, This Is Ruby. Among her most recent books for children are Gemma and the Giant Girl, the recipient of several honors in Canada, and Maud and Grand-Maud, which received three starred reviews. Sara is the 2024 recipient of the 2024 Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People. She is also the author of the adult novel A Ghost in the House. A graduate of the UBC Creative Writing Program, she has taught screenwriting and writing for children at Concordia University in Montreal.

Marie Lafrance was born in Quebec City. She studied graphic arts at a CEGEP in Vieux-Montréal and etching at Studio Graff. Marie has lived in San Francisco and New York, where she worked as a silk-screen printmaker for various galleries. She returned to Montreal to work as a freelance illustrator. Marie loves the diversity of her work, she has illustrated textbooks, magazines, books, and posters. Marie serves on the board of the Association des Illustrateurs et Illustratrices du Québec (AIIQ), where she is also a past-president. She has been nominated for many awards, including the prestigious Governor General’s Award for her illustration of Richardo Keens-Douglas’s La Diablesse and the Baby, which also received an Alcuin Society Design Award citation. Marie lives with her partner and their daughter, Béatrice.