Regular BOLO attendees will know Janet of Cartoon-Coloured Glasses well as her cartoons have been a favourite at this event in the past. The way she manages to capture the everyday moments of raising two young boys – and the absolute hilarity of those moments – is sweet, tender, and oh so funny.

Every parent can relate to panels that capture the way kids love their stuffies (and how we can’t resist buying them more); the way mittens and gloves for kids never seem to work quite right; and the way a simple walk around the block can turn into an hours-long outdoor adventure. It’s the little things that would maybe pass in and out of memory in any other life, but Janet turns them into golden memories, the kind of posts that make us remember our own similar moments. The mom, dad, and kids in her strips are unique and expressive – but at the same time universal, as well all nod along in full agreement. We’ve been there, too.

Janet has a real knack, too, for setting up her posts and panels with a big punchline payoff. So come and chuckle along with Janet and her family at Blog Out Loud.

Nicole of TravelLarge certainly does travel large – with her five children in tow. Her family is much like other families – a mom, a dad, the usual parenting challenges – but at the same time, her view of the world is wider, more encompassing, and more adventurous than most.

As a homeschooling mom, Nicole is the major player in getting her children to see themselves as citizens of the whole earth, to celebrate other cultures and above all, remain curious at all times about other people and places. To that end, she and her husband took the whole crew on a major world tour back in 2014, and now are making plans to head out again in the fall of 2017, this time to see new places in Asia, Africa, and Europe. In between, there have been plenty of challenges, including cancer, financial troubles, and the usual crazy, unexpected ups and downs of parenting five children. But through it all, Nicole has maintained her positive voice, her sunny way of looking at the world – and as a plus, she’s gathered a ton of great cost cutting measures and travel hacks that’s she’s more than happy to share.

Come and hear Nicole spread her inquisitiveness, thoughtfulness, and positive attitude to all at Blog Out Loud.

Blogging is often seen as a young parent’s game – posts about the struggles of toilet training, veggie eating, and sleeping through the night are all great resources for parents who are knee deep in babies and toddlers. But what happens when those kids grow up? Patricia Paul-Carson of the blog Parenting Adult Children has plenty of thoughtful, insightful things to say on the topic.

It’s hard to go from being the one in charge to being one half of an adult-to-adult negotiation, and Patricia writes about that transition with tenderness and reflection. She’s got some stories to tell, and solutions to offer, for the kind of situations that arise when an adult child still lives at home – or awkwardly moves back in after a few years of independence. She knows what it’s like to deal with an adult child who borrows the car, or how to travel with your adult children, who might have very different ideas on what’s fun in the sun. And her insights sometimes lead to interesting reflections on what it’s like to be an adult child too, as she thinks about her own parents and her relationship with them. Patricia is practical, sensible, and direct, and we want to be just like her when our kids grow up.

Patricia has a way of really putting her finger on the heart of the parent-child relationship, and of human relationships in general. Come and hear what she has to say about this new stage of parenting at Blog Out Loud.

Amy of Keep Your Head Up has had a busy year – a year of upheaval, and a year of change. Some has been good – her young daughter is another year older, and gets smarter, stronger, and sassier all the time. Plus, she’s completed most of her new university degree – going back has been sometimes hard, sometimes tiring, but most of all, brave and bold. Soon she’ll be able to stop juggling school, parenting, and work and focus on her dream of getting deeper into politics.

Some of the change, however, has been tough. She lost her father last year, a respected professor at Carleton. Although father and daughter had many ups and downs over the years, he loomed large in her life and Amy misses the chance to debate politics and to share her goals and progress with him. With her now attending Carleton herself, there’s daily reminders of her father, some happy, some sad, some bittersweet. Her journey through grief – at the same time as she tries to find a life balance – has made for compelling reading on her blog, as she explores her life with a raw, honest, and tender voice. As Amy learns to deal with life, so do we all.

Come and Hear Amy as she opens her heart to love, life, and loss at this year’s Blog Out Loud.

Montgolfiere Weekly is a pretty cool place to hang out on the web. It’s a group blog written by a chorus of truly excellent writers, moonlighting from their day jobs to comment on culture in all its various forms. There’s insights on everything from fashion to theatre to graphic novels to politics. It’s a place where writing matters, ideas matter, and above all, discussion matters.

Marnie Wellar is a contributor to the weekly magazine and her writing shows her deep kindness and thoughtfulness. Her speciality is books, and her ideal world has every right book in the hands of the right person. Her work in a hospital library helps with that goal, and lately she’s been turning her book-loving mentality to the community at large, too. She’s not one to just sit by when she sees that something could be done; instead, she takes (sometimes offbeat!) thoughts and does something about it. She’s a dreamer who makes dreams a reality.

Come and hear all about Marnie’s latest project, written up so well for Montgolfiere. She’ll have the right book in your hands in no time.