Fee: $360 members, $380 non-members
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A limited number of bursaries are available for this class. Bursaries are made possible by funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.
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Join author Y.S. Lee and illustrator Alexandra Finkeldey for this engaging 10-week course that guides participants through the creative process of developing an original picture book, from first words to drafted illustrations.

Participants will explore the art of writing and visual storytelling, learning how to find their voice and create a story that sparks imagination, stirs emotion, and stays with a reader long after the last page is turned. Writing workshops led by Y.S. Lee will dive into the joy and craft of storytelling; how to build a world with just a handful of words, how to write with rhythm, and how to speak directly to the heart of your audience. Illustration workshops with Alexandra Finkeldey will introduce techniques for telling stories through images, including storyboarding, creating character sheets, and finding inspiration in the world around you.

Each session builds towards a full draft manuscript and a set of thumbnail illustrations, with opportunities for group critique and discussion woven throughout. Participants will also gain an insight into the process of getting work published, drawing on the real-world expertise of both instructors.

The course ends with a group reading held two weeks after the penultimate session, offering participants the opportunity to share and reflect on their work and consider next steps.

This course is a good fit for beginners, those looking to develop their creative practice, or anyone who dreams of creating something truly magical for the young (or young at heart) ones in their lives.

Please note that materials are not included in the course price. Please refer to the material list and feel free to bring additional materials you’d like to create with.

Materials List

Alexandra Finkeldey (pronounced “fing-cull-die”) is a Canadian illustrator based in Kingston, Ontario, on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat peoples. Self and community-taught, she gratefully acknowledges the wisdom of her childhood art teachers, the encouragement of her family, and the generosity of the artists who so freely share their knowledge and resources. Alexandra’s work celebrates the small, cosy details of everyday life, rendered through rich textures that blend traditional and digital techniques. She draws inspiration from vintage children’s illustration, animals, long walks in nature, video games, and animation. Her illustration credits include I Am We: How Crows Come Together To Survive by Leslie Barnard Booth (Chronicle Books, 2025), Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin (Candlewick Press, 2025), On a Mushroom Day by Chris Baker (Tundra Books, 2024), A Horse Called Now by Ruth Doyle (Nosy Crow, 2024), Saving the Spotted Owl by Nicola Jones (Kids Can Press, 2023), The Boy, the Cloud and the Very Tall Tale by Heather Smith (Orca Books, 2023, cover only), When the Storks Came Home by Isabella Tree (Ivy Kids, 2022), and True Stories of Animal Heroes: Talala by Vita Murrow (Frances Lincoln, 2021).

Y.S. Lee is a Canadian author of poetry, fiction, and lyric essay. Her poems have won Contemporary Verse 2’s 2022 Foster Prize and been anthologized in Best Canadian Poetry 2025 and Best Canadian Poetry 2027. Her first full-length collection, Rebuke the Ghosts, is forthcoming from Brick Books, and her lyric essay “Tek tek” was shortlisted for the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize. She is also the author of two poetry chapbooks, Exit Permit (Anstruther Press, 2023) and care (Alfred Gustav Press, 2027). Ying’s fiction includes the critically acclaimed YA mystery series The Agency (Candlewick Press / Walker Books UK), which was translated into six languages, won the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s inaugural John Spray Mystery Award, and will be reissued in 2027. Her picture book, Mrs. Nobody (illus. Marie Lafrance), is published by Groundwood Books.