Special Guests

Nastasha Baron is an award-winning writer, director, and filmmaker who also understands the emerging world of multimedia storytelling. She produced and directed the feature-length film MuSaDo, which was shown in over 25 countries, and wrote the coming-of-age screenplay Summer Storm, which was selected for development by Astral Media’s Harold Greenberg fund. She has written and produced numerous short films, including Children of Fate, a story about the post WWII Soviet occupation of her home country of Hungary. Children of Fate won multiple awards internationally and was nominated for LEO awards in two categories. In 2006, Natasha wrote the award-winning animated web series, Kingdoms of Grace, and is the author and creative visionary behind Grey Seal and Blackburn - two stories told through interactive graphic novels. She is the writer of a werewolf movie currently titled Under the Full Moon, which is scheduled to begin shooting in November 2012

KEN STEACY decided at age eleven to become a professional comic book writer/artist, a dream he realized in 1974. Since then, he has worked in the industry as author, artist, art director, editor, and publisher, chronicling the exploits of Spider-Man, Harry Potter, and the Star Wars gang, to name but a few. In addition to creating his own intellectual property, he has also collaborated with other writers, including Harlan Ellison, Isaac Asimov, and Douglas Coupland. The recipient of an Eisner and an Inkpot award, Ken was inducted into the Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, a lifetime achievement award honouring Canadian comic book creators for their contributions to the industry. He currently teaches in the Comics & Graphic Novels Program at Camosun College in Victoria.

JOAN THORNBORROW STEACY grew up in southern Ontario, and is a graduate of Sheridan College, The Ontario College of Art & Design, and The University of Victoria. A visual artist who has worked in a variety of disciplines, including sculpture, traditional illustration, and digital imaging, she is the author/illustrator of  So, That's That!, a biography of her father who lived to be 100, and  Aurora Borealice, the first in a series of four autobio/graphic novels, which had its debut at the Toronto Comic Art Festival in 2011, and was nominated for a Doug Wright Award. She is currently working on the second volume, and teaches in the Comics & Graphic Novels program at Camosun College in Victoria.