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Canadian Children's Book Week

Canadian Children’s Book Week Tour

*** APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED FROM FEBRUARY 28TH TO MARCH 10TH, 2024***

About the Tour

Authors and illustrators are chosen by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) staff. The storytellers for this tour are chosen by Storytellers of Canada (SC-CC). Applications are scored by an anonymous jury of experienced peers from provinces across Canada.

The 2025 theme has not been announced at this time.

The deadline for the 2025 Book Week Tour applications is Tuesday, February 27th , 2024

When participating in a live tour, costs for travel, accommodations and meals are covered. Expenses the storyteller might incur at home, such as childcare or loss of salary are not. SC-CC will pay for a Book Centre membership for the year in which the artist participates. Tellers will be paid between $150 and $250 for each performance.

A note about the 2025 tour: Over the last few years many changes have occurred with the planning, presenting and funding of the Book Week tour. In 2025 the tour is expected to be a 50/50 hybrid of live and virtual presentations. CCBC is considering asking some participants to tour within their own province offering billets where possible instead of hotel accommodations. By using fewer financial resources on accommodations and travel, more Authors, Illustrators and Storytellers would be able to be involved. Participants touring in their own province will have priority for a live tour.

Although SC-CC now makes a financial contribution to CCBC for the tour, this covers only a small part of the costs, especially when tours return to live venues. We could not offer this program without our partnership with CCBC. A number of SC-CC members maintain memberships in CCBC, but we encourage you, if you are able, to consider making a small tax-deductible donation directly to the CCBC's Book Week as a token of appreciation for the opportunities provided to our members. Even small gestures will help strengthen this partnership and highlight storytelling as an important part of the tour.

Application Criteria

Eligibility- You may apply to be a touring storyteller if you:

are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
have been a member of SC-CC for at least one year before applying. If your local storytelling group has a group membership, please identify it. Individual membership will still be required at the time of your application.
become a Book Centre member for the year of the tour. SC-CC will pay for touring artists’ Book Centre memberships for the year in which they participate in the tour.
do not sit on the SC-CC Board of Directors.
can demonstrate wide experience telling stories as a storyteller (particularly to groups of children)
have not toured as part of SC-CC from 2020- 2024 (Past Book Week tellers are eligible to reapply after five years).
have not toured with CCBC as an author or illustrator for five years.

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre is committed to sharing the stories and perspectives of people from diverse backgrounds. It is not a requirement, but we highly encourage applications from storytellers who identify with traditionally marginalized groups (Firsts Nations, Metis, Inuit, persons of colour, LGBTQ+, persons with a disability).

Expectations of a storyteller selected for the coming tour:

that you promote the objectives of CCBC and SC-CC throughout Canadian Book Week with diplomacy and grace.
that you be available to tour the first full week of May 2025 and are able and willing to travel to whatever part of Canada you are assigned by CCBC. Please note: transportation for the tour is decided by CCBC, not SC-CC.
if the tour is in person, the CCBC coordinators in each province will try to arrange as many performances as possible. You may be traveling considerable distances to accommodate this and may not know exactly what to expect in terms of audiences – how many, what ages, or how experienced they are as listeners!
if the tour is conducted virtually, it is essential that participants feel comfortable using technology.
that you write a final report for CCBC as well as an article summarizing your experiences for use in the CCBC and SC-CC publications by July 26, 2025.
you are required to cc a copy of this to the SC-CC coordinators Clara Dugas and Kathie Kompass and Anna Kerz by this date.

To apply to be a part of the tour, please complete and submit (with appropriate documents) the following form by Sunday March 10th, 2024.

Please note: When your application has been successfully submitted through our online system, a notification will appear on your screen and a confirmation email will be sent to your account. If you have not received the email or seen the notification, your application may not have gone through. Please email the project officers to confirm.

For any further questions, please email the project officers Clara Dugas and Kathie Kompass.

childrens-bookweek@storytellers-conteurs.ca

Learn more about The Canadian Children’s Book Centre and the Book Week Tour on the SC-CC website.

How to find the application form:

Go online to the SC-CC Members’ page, find Application Form

Click on Book Week and fill out the form

The Application Process consists of six parts. Please upload as PDF or Word document.

1. A CV of not more than one page that focuses on your storytelling experience with children. (If more than one page is submitted only the first will be given to the jury)

A bio of between 150 and 250 words that outlines your storytelling background and experience. (If you are selected this would also be used for the SC-CC website and included in the SC-CC Newsletter)

Two letters of reference written within the last two years dated between February 1st, 2022, and February 1st, 2024:

a) one from someone who has observed your storytelling in circumstances most like the ones you would encounter on the book tour (ideally with large groups of children in schools and libraries)

b) another from a storyteller familiar with your work, particularly with children.

c) All reference letters should have a phone number or email address clearly shown.

2. A detailed 45-minute program for a specific age group explaining how you ‘hook’ an audience, how you go from one story to another, and your completion or ‘ending’ technique.

3. Two simple lists of stories you might use, one for a specific age group, and the other for a mixed age group.

4. Storytellers chosen for this tour are representatives of SC-CC. Provide a short statement explaining how you would promote SC-CC if you are chosen.

NOTE REGARDING CHANGES TO APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

We are no longer accepting any materials by mail. Please use the online form to upload all documents including images, and provide web links to any video or audio material you would like to be considered as part of your application. A text box is provided below for these URLs. Please ensure all links you provide are functioning.

Please provide any online links for audio or video material (YouTube, your website etc.)

You may upload up to three photos or print items here.