STEPHANIE SIMPSON MCLELLAN is an award-winning author of six picture books, a mid-grade novel, and an innovative picture book/first reader hybrid. She reviewed children’s books for 12 years for Today’s Parent magazine (including an interview with Maurice Sendak!), operated an online bookstore called Neverending Stories, and wrote several scripts for the Gemini-nominated children’s television series Roll Play (on Treehouse).
Her books have won and been shortlisted for several awards (Mr. Christie Award, Ruth Schwartz Award, Chocolate Lily Award, CNIB Tiny Torgi Award, Crystal Kite Award, and Blue Spruce Award) and received starred and recommended reviews from Kirkus, OLA Best Bets, CCBC, CBC Books, Quill & Quire, School Library Journal, Resource Links, TVO Kids, Chickadee Magazine, The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, City Parent, CanLit for Little Canadians, and CM Magazine.
A passionate literacy advocate, Stephanie has twice toured for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week (Labrador in 2014, Northwest Territories in 2018). Following the release of The Christmas Wind (2017), she worked with 1,700+ students across Canada on a literacy initiative that produced 13,000 student drawings of her characters. Widely covered by CBC, The Christmas Wind Story Project was a top 10 finalist in the 2016 CST Inspired Minds Learning Project Contest.
A member of The Canadian Children’s Book Centre, CANSCAIP, The Writers’ Union, and SCBWI, Stephanie holds a BA in English Literature from Queen’s University and an MBA from the University of Toronto. A popular presenter at schools across Canada, Stephanie lives in Newmarket, Ontario.