Jessica Dee Humphreys is a Canadian author, indexer, and journalist specializing in international humanitarian, military, and children's issues.

Education

Humphreys received her Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Linguistics from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1997, and the following year received her Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Canada's

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

. She then held an internship at the United Nations Development Fund for Women in New York.

Career

A writer, as well as a book indexer, Humphreys co-authored two books with Roméo Dallaire ''Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD'' and '' They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children'' She has also written two books for children, ''Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls are Used in War'' and ''The International Day of the Girl: Celebrating Girls Around the World'' (foreword by

Rona Ambrose Ronalee Ambrose Veitch ( , née Chapchuk; born March 15, 1969) is a Canadian former politician who was interim leader of the Conservative Party and the leader of the Opposition between 2015 and 2017. She was the Conservative Party member of ...

). Humphreys has been a regular contributor to the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

since 2020.

Awards and recognition

Humphreys's work was included in the National Post's list of Best Books of 2016 and the 2010 Globe and Mail's Top 100: Non-fiction. Her work has been awarded the 2017 Ontario Library Association's

Forest of Reading Red Maple Award The Red Maple Award is an award in the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Forest of Reading Awards. The Red Maple Award celebrates fiction (since 1998) and non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, i ...

for children's non-fiction, the 2015 Best Bet for Junior Non-Fiction from the Ontario Library Association, the 2016 Skipping Stones Honour Award, the Children’s Literature Roundtable of Canada Honour Book of 2016, and starred reviews from the School Library Journal and Quill and Quire, plus nominations for the 2016 Eisner Award Best Publication for Kids, the 2016

Norma Fleck Award The Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction is a lucrative literary award founded in May 1999 by the Fleck Family Foundation and the Canadian Children's Book Centre, and presented to the year's best non-fiction book for a youth aud ...

for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, the 2016 Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children, the Joe Shuster Dragon Award, the 2016-2017 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, the Young Adult Library Services Association's ‘Great Graphic Novel for Teens 2016’, the American Library Association’s 2016 Notable Children’s Book, and the 2017 Forest of Reading Golden Oak award for non-fiction. Her book ''Waiting for First Light'', was longlisted for the Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and for CBC's Canada Reads competition.

Publications

* Co author with Roméo Dallaire ''Waiting for First Light'', Random House Canada 2016 * Co author with Michel Chikwanine ''Child Soldier'',

Kids Can Press Kids Can Press is a Canadian-owned publisher of children's books, with a catalog near 1000 picture books and 500 e-books, non-fiction and fiction titles for toddlers to young adults. The Kids Can Press list includes characters such as Franklin ...

2015 * ''To Three and Beyond'' (contributor), Praeclarus Press 2014 * Co author with Roméo Dallaire ''They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children'',

Vintage Canada Random House of Canada was the Canadian distributor for Random House, Inc. from 1944 until 2013. On July 1, 2013, it amalgamated with Penguin Canada to become Penguin Random House Canada. Company history Random House of Canada was established in ...

2010 * ''The International Day of the Girl: Celebrating Girls Around the World'' (Foreword by

2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Jessica Dee Canadian children's writers University of Toronto alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Queen's University at Kingston alumni