Storybooks Canada
Our team
Bonny Norton
Dr. Bonny Norton, FRSC, is a Professor and Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, UBC. She is the research lead for Storybooks Canada and research advisor for the African Storybook. Her research focuses on identity and language learning, critical literacy, and international development. Website: faculty.educ.ubc.ca/norton
Espen Stranger-Johannessen
Dr. Espen Stranger-Johannessen is an Associate Professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and UBC alumnus. He is the international advisor for Storybooks Canada. His research interests include teacher identity, open educational resources, and the African Storybook.
Sara Florence Davidson
Dr. Sara Florence Davidson is a Haida/Settler educator and Assistant Professor in Indigenous education in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. She is also the project lead for Indigenous Storybooks, a sister project to Storybooks Canada. Sara’s research interests include Indigenous pedagogies (including storytelling) and research methodologies; adolescent literacies; narrative writing and research; and Indigenous education. She is the co-author of Potlatch as pedagogy: Learning through ceremony, which she wrote with her father. Website: saraflorence.ca
Asma Afreen
Asma Afreen is a PhD student in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, UBC, and serves as the audio recording coordinator for Storybooks Canada. She is currently translating English stories from the African Storybook initiative into Bengali for Storybooks Canada. Her research interests include translator identity, teacher education, and digital literacy.
Michelle Gilman
Dr. Michelle Gilman is a sessional lecturer at UBC in the Department of Language and Literacy Education. In addition, she works with various NGOs along with the Vancouver School Board in an attempt to address Kindergarten readiness, learning loss due to Covid and family literacy programs. Her research explored family literacy, issues of identity and investment as well as transformative learning among mothers from immigrant and refugee backgrounds.
Rahat Zaidi
Dr. Rahat Zaidi is Associate Professor and Chair of Language and Literacy at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dr. Zaidi’s recent publications include: Anti-islamophobic Curriculums, Literacy Lives in Transcultural Times, and Thinking About and Enacting Curriculum in Frames of War and Framing Peace: Thinking About and Enacting Curriculum as Radical Hope. She is currently conducting research on the use of Storybooks Canada for learners and speakers of French in Canadian schools.
Darshan Soni
Darshan Soni is a BASc graduate from the Department of Engineering, UBC. He is the website developer for Storybooks Canada and contributes to free and open source software. He has recorded the English audio for the stories on the Storybooks Canada website and is translating them into Gujarati.
Ingrid Schechter
Dr. Ingrid Schechter is a linguist trained at Oxford University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A former instructor at the English Language Institute, UBC, she is now an active contributor to both the African Storybook and Storybooks Canada. Her focus is on community outreach, classroom methods for using storybooks, and the provision of illustrations.
Liam Doherty
Dr. Liam Doherty is a Sessional Lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies and a Research Associate in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at UBC. He is the technical advisor for Storybooks Canada and a strong advocate for open educational resources. His research has examined digital learning, multilingualism, agency, and language socialization among learners of Chinese as an additional language.