Nancy Deas author page

Nancy Deas biography

Nancy Deas is a Canadian writer for children whose work spans graphic novels and board books. She is the writer and co-creator of the ongoing graphic novel cycle Sueño Bay Adventures from Orca Book Publishers, illustrated by Mike Deas. The series opened with Shadow Island (2019) and continued with Otter Lagoon (2020), Hermit Hill (2022), Candle Point (2023), Crystal Cave (2024), and Howler Reef (2025), each title building a mystery-adventure set on a Pacific Northwest archipelago.

Deas also writes for younger audiences. Her board book Runaway Blanket (Orca Book Publishers, 2025), illustrated by Mike Deas, introduces a gentle, read-aloud chase with simple text and expressive art.

Publisher and catalog sources describe Deas’s stories as collaborative projects shaped closely with the illustrator from sketch through final pages, with an emphasis on place, community, and fast-paced plots suited to independent reading and classroom libraries.

Deas holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria. She continues to develop children’s projects in partnership with trade publishers in North America.