Deb Loughead

Deb Loughead, a Toronto author, poet and workshop leader, has been writing since she learned how to read. In fact, shes saved everything shes ever written, including her very first composition entitled A Narrow Escape for a Mouse which she often reads during her classroom visits! As of 2015, Deb has published over 35 books for children and Young Adults. She completed her B.A. in English at the University of Toronto in 1977, then worked as a copy editor until she decided to stay home to raise her three sons and squeeze in some creative writing on the side. From 1980 1995 she was an associate editor for Etobicokes Spires magazine, writing short stories, poetry and articles for the childrens pages. She has also written and directed childrens plays which were produced by the drama club at Etobicoke elementary schools, as well as one in Sudbury, and coached children in drama workshops as far away as Goose Bay in Labrador. Deb has conducted writing workshops and held readings for children and adults at schools, festivals and conferences across the country, such as the Montreal Young Authors Conference, the Labrador Creative Arts Festival, Sudburys Rainbow Schools Authors Week, Eastern Townships Language Arts Festival in Lennoxville, Quebec, the POW Poetry Festival in Cobourg, and the Eden Mills Writers Festival. She has also taught creative writing classes for adults in Toronto. Her award-winning poetry and adult fiction have appeared in a variety of Canadian publications. Debs childrens poetry book, All I Need and Other Poems for Kids, is popular with teachers for classroom curriculum use. She has written extensively for the educational market, and her rhyming stories and plays, as well as a series of middle grade novels, are used in classrooms across the country. Debs advice to budding writers is: Save everything you ever write. You never know when youll need it! She is a Past President of CANSCAIP, The Canadian Society for Childrens Authors, Illustrators and Performers, as well as a member of the Writers Union of Canada, and the Canadian Childrens Book Centre.