Gillian O’Reilly has been interested in words ever since she ate the dustjacket of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary when she was 11 months old. She still a voracious consumer of books — but now chooses reading as the way to enjoy them.

Gillian is the author/co-author of two non-fiction books for young readers and she has written extensively about the book business for many years. From 1996 to 2016, she was the editor of Canadian Children’s Book News, published by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

She is the 2016 recipient of the Claude Aubry Award, given by IBBY Canada for distinguished service in the field of children’s literature.