JonArno Lawson

JonArno Lawson, a writer who has published many books for children and adults, was born in Hamilton, Ontario and raised in nearby Dundas. He now lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his wife and three children.

Lawson has a BA in English Literature from McGill University. He also studied briefly at St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe), and at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He has taught children's poetry in the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature Program at Simmons College, Boston, and at iSchool at UBC.

He has been recognized for his nonsense poetry.

Lawson has won The Lion And The Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry four times, in 2007, 2009, 2013, and 2014. The books were "Enjoy It While It Hurts," "A Voweller's Bestiary," "Black Stars In A White Night Sky," and "Down In The Bottom Of The Bottom Of The Box." His book "The Man In The Moon-Fixer's Mask" was a finalist for this award in 2005.

In 2015, the French edition of Lawson’s wordless picture book “Sidewalk Flowers” Sydney Smith (Illustrator), won the Prix Libbylit in Belgium for best picture book. “Sidewalk Flowers” also won the Governor General’s Award For Illustrated Children’s Books in 2015, and was on the New York Times Best Illustrated Books List the same year.

Source:

• Love Is An Observant Traveler (Exile Editions, 1997) (illus. Lui Liu)
• Inklings (Exile Editions, 1999)
• The Man In The Moon Fixer's Mask (Pedlar Press, 2004) (illus. Sherwin Tjia)
• Black Stars In A White Night Sky (Pedlar Press, 2006) (illus. Sherwin Tjia)
• A Voweller's Bestiary (Porcupine's Quill, 2008)
• This (And That Was That) (Greenboathouse Press, 2009)
• Think Again (Kids Can Press, 2010) (illus. Julie Morstad)
• There Devil, Eat That (Pedlar Press, 2011)
• Down In The Bottom Of The Bottom Of The Box (Porcupine's Quill, 2012) (illus. Alec Dempster)
• Old MacDonald Had Her Farm (Annick Press, 2012) (illus. Tina Holdcroft)
• Enjoy It While It Hurts (Wolsak and Wynn, 2013)
• Aloud In My Head (Walker Books Ltd., 2015) (illus. Jonny Hannah)
• Sidewalk Flowers (Groundwood Books, 2015) Sydney Smith (Illustrator)
• The Hobo's Crowbar (Porcupine's Quill, 2016) (Illus. Alec Dempster)
• I regret everything (Espresso Books, 2017)
• Uncle Holland (Groundwood Books, 2017) (illus. Natalie Nelson)
• Leap! (Kids Can Press, 2017) (illus. Josée Bisaillon)

A Vole on a Roll, by Nelson Ball (Shapes and Sounds Press, 2016)

The Chechens: A Handbook (Routledge, 2005) by Amjad Jaimoukha