Upcoming Events
Writing workshops: Various Ottawa Public Library branches – Ottawa, ON
July/August 2026 – Vivid Vignettes: Sensory Snapshots of your Ongoing Life Story – In this immersive creative writing workshop, we crafted vibrant vignettes that captured a childhood memory, guided by the power of sensory details. A MASC activity.
OPL Stittsville – July 11 – link to register
OPL Orleans – July 23 – link to register
Camp visit: Artsy Animals week at the Ottawa Humane Society
August 20, 2026 – Looking forward to writing animal stories with grades 1-3 during Artsy Animals week at the OHS! Animals as Story Starters, a MASC activity.
Booking now for Summer and Fall 2026!
Past Events
Book Event: Ottawa, ON (Ottawa Riverkeeper’s Learning Lab, NCC River House)
June 10, 2026, 6-8pm – The Ripple Effect: Inspiring Future Water Leaders through Storybooks
I had such a great conversation with fellow children’s author and environmental educator, Rochelle Strauss, and a very inquisitive audience in an Ottawa Riverkeeper Current Conversation: “The Ripple Effect: Inspiring Future Water Leaders through Storybooks.” We shared how we combine science, stories and hope to empower youth to make a positive impact.
School Visit: St. Brigid Catholic School, Ottawa, ON
May 15, 2026 – What could possibly be more fun than writing black bear and emperor penguin stories with kindergarten students? Animals as Story Starters, a MASC activity.
School Visit: Our Lady of Victory, Ottawa, ON
May 8, 2026 – Thanks for exploring with me, grades 1-3! Explore a Book, Explore an Ecosystem!, a MASC activity.
School Visit: Our Lady of Grace, Westmeath, ON
April 30, 2026 – What a fun Explore a Book, Explore an Ecosystem! presentation with K-3, made possible with funding support from the Ontario Arts Council through The Writers’ Union of Canada!
Love of Literacy fair: Bayview Public School, Ottawa, ON
May 2, 2026 – We made some great poetry together, K-4! Witty Words, Awesome Animals, a MASC activity.
Virtual School Visit: Lynn-Rose School, Mississauga, ON
March 26, 2026 – It was a pleasure to Explore a Book, Explore an Ecosystem! with grades 3-5! They had such wonderful questions and insights about This is the Boat that Ben Built as we looked at it through the lens of a scientist, reader, writer, and visual artist.
School Visit: Castlefrank Elementary School, Ottawa, ON
February 26, 2026 – Thanks for exploring with me, K-3! A MASC activity.
School Visit: Brookfield High School, Ottawa, ON
January 9, 2026 – We began by exploring the process of writing picture books and concluded with a story starter exercise to kick off the grade 9 summative illustrated children’s book project. The first visit of the day was made possible with funding support from the Ontario Arts Council through The Writers’ Union of Canada; thanks to MASC for helping to coordinate the other two.
School Visit: Mutchmor Public School, Ottawa, ON
December 4, 2025 – In this adapted MASC presentation for grade 2 students, we looked at how writers transform ideas into stories. Using animals as inspiration, we started a story about a bear named Lolo who became separated from his family. Thanks for writing with me!
Holiday Harbour Market: Britannia Yacht Club
November 29, 2025 – 10AM – 3PM – This was my first holiday market experience, and it was lovely to do experience it alongside author-illustrator Amberlea Williams (The Bee Without Wings) and so many talented artisans at the Britannia Yacht Club. Thanks for coming out!
Ontario Public Library Week visit: Township of Russell Public Library – Russell, ON
October 23, 2025 – Explore a Book, Explore an Ecosystem! presentation for grades 2-4, in partnership with nearby elementary schools. A MASC activity.
Writing workshops: Various Ottawa Public Library branches – Ottawa, ON
August 2025 – Vivid Vignettes: Sensory Snapshots of your Ongoing Life Story – In this immersive creative writing workshop, we crafted vibrant vignettes that captured a childhood memory, guided by the power of sensory details. A MASC activity.
Summer Visit: Andrew Fleck Children Services – The Glebe, Ottawa, ON
August 11, 2025 – The kindergarten kids showed such great attention to detail in the pictures and words as we shared the story This is the Boat that Ben Built. Such a perceptive bunch! A MASC activity.
School Visit: Vimy Ridge Public School, Ottawa, ON
June 12, 13, 20, 2025 – Grades 1-3 started some fabulous stories in the Animals as Story Starters workshop. – a MASC activity
School Visit: St. Monica School, Ottawa, ON
May 14, 2025 – What a joy to kick off St. Monica School’s Family Literacy Night! It was a pleasure to share a story with you. – a MASC activity
School Visit: Manor Park Public School
May 2, 2025 – Had a great time doing the Witty Words, Awesome Animals poetry workshop with this enthusiastic group of grade 4s! They came up with some great similes and jointly wrote a poem about black bears as hunters. It was such fun writing with you, poets! – a MASC activity
The grade 4’s group poem
School Visit: Osgoode Public School, Osgoode, ON
Feb 28, 2025 – The kindergarten students at Osgoode Public School are such good explorers! They found fish, insects, and the secret moose on the pages of This is the Boat that Ben Built. Explore a Book! Explore an Ecosystem! – a MASC activity
Excited to begin!
Family Literacy Day: Ottawa Public Library (Sunnyside Branch), Ottawa, ON
Jan 25, 2025 – We had such fun at this special Family Literacy Day visit and MASC activity, exploring This is the Boat that Ben Built through the lens of a reader, writer, scientist, and artist. We discovered how the author and illustrator work together to create a picture book, and how the animals of the northern river ecosystem are interconnected in the story and real world.
School Visit: Brookfield High School, Ottawa, ON
Jan 10, 2025 – In this adapted activity for grade 9 students, we explored the process of writing picture books and did a story starter exercise to kick off their summative illustrated children’s book projects. Thanks for exploring picture books with me! Made possible with funding support from the Ontario Arts Council through The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Public Reading: Arnprior Public Library, Arnprior, ON
Oct 18, 2024 (12:30 -1:30pm) with funding support from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers’ Union of Canada (National Public Readings Program). Had a lovely time reading to grade 1-3 students from local schools! These students were very astute to notice that the animals’ interactions in the story would not be likely in the real world. My favorite question: “What is it about nature that inspires you?”
Presentations: Ottawa Catholic School Board Arts Educator Professional Development sessions, Ottawa, ON
Oct 2, 2024 and Oct 8, 2024 – Had a blast talking with arts educators from the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) about my school presentations and writing workshops! It was also lovely to meet fellow creatives in the “Artist Carrousel.” Thanks to MASC and the OCSB for the opportunity!
School Visit: Blyth Academy, Ottawa, ON
Sept 27, 2024 – In this adapted MASC activity for a group of grade 7, 10 & 12 students, we explored picture books. We looked at the physical parts of the books, noting how the author, illustrator, and book designers used the spaces in different ways. We spoke about the balance between words and pictures in this art form, and students read and analyzed a picture book from my collection to get a better sense of how that worked. Finally, we did story starter activity, and students shared their picture book story ideas.
School Visit: Eardley School, Gatineau, QC
May 9-10, 16, and 24, 2024 – These MASC activities over 3 weeks in May were so much fun! It was lovely to get to know the students in the entire school. The K-4s read This is the Boat that Ben Built with me, and the 5-6s did a writing workshop that used animals as story starters.
Explore a Book! Explore an Ecosystem! presentation
Library storytime session with This is the Boat that Ben Built
School Visit: Brookfield High School, Ottawa, ON
May 28, 2024 – In this adapted MASC activity for grade 9 students, we explored the process of writing picture books and did a story starter exercise to kick off their summative illustrated children’s book projects. I loved chatting individually with them about the things they noticed while exploring the picture books I brought along, and about the results of the writing prompt!
School Visit: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School, Ottawa, ON
April 11, 2024 – The grade 5s explored the creative writing process from idea generation through word choice and story structure. We brainstormed living and nonliving things they might find in a northern river ecosystem. They learned about energy transfer within the ecosystem and how humans harness the energy of a river. We touched on the impacts of this use on animals and humans, and the ways in which scientists and engineers are designing solutions to reduce the negative effects.
Made possible with funding support from the Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program (Ontario Arts Council / The Writers’ Union of Canada).
School Visit: Bayview Public School, Ottawa, ON
April 10, 2024 – This full day of presentations to grades k – 4 had kids sharing the names of animals and plants they knew in river ecosystems (they knew so many!), finding secret animals on the story spreads, and enthusiastically joining in with the reading as they caught on to the story’s cumulative pattern.
Explore a Book! Explore an Ecosystem! – a MASC activity.
World Read Aloud Day, February 7, 2024
For the second year, I virtually read aloud to classrooms and libraries across North America. This year, I enjoyed reading with:
PreKs from Fox Elementary School in Spring, TX
Grade 1s from John Lymon Elementary School in Middefield, CT
Grade 1s from Tyson-Schoener Elementary School in Reading, PA
Grade 3 and 6 from McNair Upper Elementary in Herndon, VA
Thanks for exploring the river with me!
School Visit: Ottawa Christian School, Ottawa, ON
June 9, 2023; made possible with funding support from the Ontario Arts Council through The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Had such fun reading with the kindergarten class, and building poems with the grade ones using our poetry toolkits! Who knew an ordinary water bottle could become poetry? Thanks, OCS!
School Visit: Pinecrest Public School, Ottawa, ON
May 16, 2023; made possible with funding support from the Ontario Arts Council through The Writers’ Union of Canada.
What a great time with grades 1/2 (and a couple 3s!) at Pinecrest Public School today, sharing THIS IS THE BOAT THAT BEN BUILT. These readers were full of questions about the animals in the story, they enthusiastically named all the fish they knew (!!!!), and kindly greeted each of the toy animals I brought with me at the end. Thanks, readers!
School Visit: St. Bernard School, Ottawa, ON
May 15, 2023; made possible with funding from MASC.
This grade 3 class proved to be great partners to “Explore a Book! Explore an Ecosystem!” with. We explored picture books, the river ecosystem, and even added two new animals to the story. It was a pleasure to spend time with these young readers and writers!
School Visit: Elmwood School, Ottawa, ON
February 24, 2023 – Junior School Assembly
Had such fun exploring my picture book and the northern river ecosystem with the enthusiastic grade 1-5 students! Their March theme was curiosity, and they really lived up to it with their thoughtful questions about the creative process and the animals in the story.
World Read Aloud Day
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Virtual presentations scheduled with:
Grade 1 at Miller Elementary School, Canton, MI
Grades 1/2 at Hume Elementary School, Nelson, BC
Grade 1 at Todd Elementary School, Briarcliff Manor, NY
Read about it here.
Celebrate Reading Week at Turnbull School, Ottawa, ON
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Celebrating “Snow and S.T.E.A.M.” through presentations for kindergarten to grade 6 students.
What fun it was to share the creative process and northern river ecosystem connections with these bright students! They made such astute observations about the text and illustrations in This is the Boat that Ben Built. And, they told me they love WORDS. What more could an author ask for?
AELAQ Holiday Book Fair – Concordia University, Montreal, QC
Saturday, November 5, 2022 from 1:00 – 1:30pm
Book signing, together with illustrator Maggie Zeng
A fantastic day signing at the Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore table – thank you for coming out!
School Visit: Charles H. Hulse Public School, Ottawa, ON
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Funding provided by the Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program – many thanks to the Ontario Council for the Arts and The Writers’ Union of Canada.
What a fantastic visit with grades 1 and 1/2 classes! You were such fun to read with!
School Visit: Ottawa Christian School
Friday, June 17, 2022 9 AM – 11 AM (EST)
What fun it was to share This is the Boat that Ben Built with kindergarten and grade 1 students, and on such a special day, too! (It was the SK graduation day! Congrats, SKs!) Thanks for being such great readers and writers – I loved writing silly alliterative sentences with you.
Book Signing & Activities – Indigo Innes
Here’s my blog post about how it went!
Saturday, June 4, 2022 – 11 AM – 3 PM (EST)
Join local author Jen Lynn Bailey for a book signing with free crafts and activities for kids!
Indigo Innes is located at: 2025 Mer Bleue Road, Orleans, Ontario, K4A 3T9
VCFA Book Birthday
March 23, 2022, 8pm EDT
With all book tours going remote in 2020, Vermont College of Fine Art’s MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program began a series of celebrations, Book Birthday Parties! Join program staff in celebrating these incredible books and amazing achievements of our beloved community.
Book Launch hosted by Pajama Press
March 16, 2022, 7pm EDT
Hurray, the book is here! Join us online for an interview with Jen and Maggie, a reading, an inside look at the illustration process, and a Q&A session for young readers and adults alike!
Book an Event
Jen is an experienced teacher, workshop leader, and presenter who loves introducing kids to the animals of the northern river ecosystem through fun, interactive in-person and virtual sessions. She also enjoys teaching students both young and young-at-heart about writing and about how picture books are made.
For school and senior’s bookings in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, please contact MASC at reservations@masconline.ca or visit the MASC website. For booking outside of this geographic area, please visit Authors Booking Service.
Here are a few sample program descriptions*:
Explore a Book! Explore an Ecosystem!
Age level: Grades K-6; Duration: 40-60 minutes
Students will explore the picture book This is the Boat that Ben Built through the lens of a reader, writer, scientist, and artist. They’ll discover how the author and illustrator work together to create a picture book, and how the animals of the northern river ecosystem are interconnected in the story and real world. The presentation will begin with an overview of Jen’s early artistic development and creative process, and end with a Q&A period.
Key concepts: ecology, species diversity, food webs, STEM, picture book creation, writing process, cumulative stories, science
Key themes: curiosity, natural world, exploration
Writer’s Workshops
For children
Age level: K – grade 6; Duration: 45-60 minutes (shorter for kindergarten). Appropriate for visits with up to 30 students.
Animals as Story Starters – Story ideas come from our real-world experiences with people, places, and things. One great source of inspiration is animals in their natural environments. In this workshop, we’ll use animal behaviours, habitats, and adaptations to generate story characters, settings, and conflicts.
Witty Words, Awesome Animals: A Poetry Workshop – Kids will use their “poetry toolkits” to uncover meaning and music in a variety of animal poems, then generate their own. Includes an exploration of poetic techniques as well as a look into animal behaviour, habitats, and interactions. For K-4, the emphasis will be on descriptive words, comparisons and repeated letter sounds; in grades 5-6 more specific poetic techniques will be identified and explored (e.g., similes and metaphors, alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia).
Workshops begin with an overview of Jen’s early artistic development and the creative process, and end with a Q&A period.
For adults
Duration 75 minutes. Appropriate for groups of up to 15.
Vivid Vignettes: Sensory Snapshots of Your Ongoing Life Story – In this immersive creative writing workshop, we’ll craft vibrant vignettes that capture the essence of participants’ ongoing life stories. Guided by the power of sensory details, we’ll journey through memories, places, and pivotal moments, transforming them into vivid narratives that resonate with depth and emotion.
Library Storytime
Age level: preschool – grade 1; duration 30-45 minutes
Following a participatory reading of This is the Boat that Ben Built, Jen will lead kids in a simple craft about the animals in the northern river ecosystem.
*If you are interested in writing workshops for students in grades 7 – 8, secondary school, or college, or in workshops for adults, please contact Jen about your group’s needs.
“My students loved Jen Lynn Bailey’s visit to our classroom. They were excited to learn about the different animals in the story. Her book connections were engaging and they have enjoyed rereading her story during our quiet times. Thanks for a great visit!” — JV, kindergarten teacher, Ottawa, Ontario
“Jen Lynn Bailey captivated my students’ attention from beginning to end. They loved looking for all the animals in the story as Jen brought the story to life through facts and connections. They also learned more about being an author which was the perfect addition to our Author’s Day!” — RdH, grade 1 teacher, Ottawa, Ontario