ANDREW PYPER, author of THE ONLY CHILD: You can't see it now for the buds on the trees, but through the long winter months you can spot the top third of the CN Tower from my office window. I've always appreciated it for its audacity and glamour—not exactly Canadian characteristics—as well as its signaling of home when first glimpsed from the windows of planes.

SARAH RAUGHLEY, author of FATE OF FLAMES: This is the Phoenix, a pub at McMaster University. So why consider this a part of Canadian history? In the pub is a blank book reserved for everyone at McMaster who successfully defends their dissertation. Every time students finish their defense, they're invited to the Phoenix where they can sign their name and write a little message in the book. I’m pictured here on the day I completed my defense holding the ~chalice~ every new doctorate holder drinks from. There's years’ worth of history in that book chronicling all the PhD students who successfully graduated from that Hamilton university. I'm proud that my name is among them!

ERIC AND TERRY FAN, authors and illustrators of THE NIGHT GARDENER: We both live in the Beaches in Toronto, and the boardwalk is our favourite area of the city. It's at once a part of the city, but also apart from the city; a refuge where one can reconnect with the ceaseless rhythms of nature. It is never quite the same place from season to season, or even day to day.

AMANDA LINDHOUT, author of A HOUSE IN THE SKY: The mountains of my home province of Alberta have been very healing. In the aftermath of trauma, I needed a quiet refuge, and I found it in Canmore. Long hikes and meditating on nature have helped me grow into the healthy woman I have become.

GENEVIEVE GRAHAM, author of PROMISES TO KEEP: This is me at the Halifax Citadel (also known as Fort George) surrounded by a few of our resplendent 78th Highlanders. In 1749 the British claimed Halifax and fortified this hill against the original inhabitants (the Mi’kmaq) and the French. This present structure is actually the Fourth Citadel, built in 1856, only eleven years before Confederation, when Nova Scotia reluctantly became one of only four founding members of the Dominion of Canada. It was the first historic site I visited after I moved to Nova Scotia, and I enjoy it more every time I visit.

GLENN DIXON, author of JULIET'S ANSWER: I've lived most of my life within sight of the majestic Rocky Mountains. Here's me literally on top of one of them, just near the entrance to Banff National Park. For Canada's 150th birthday, the passes to all our national parks are free, so maybe it's time you visited.

SHARON BUTALA, author of WHERE I LIVE NOW: In June the [southwestern Saskatchewan] countryside blooms, even the grass turns green for a short while before the spring rains run their course and the sun burns down ever hotter, day after day, until the countryside becomes itself again: dry, pale yellow, aromatic, filled with spirit. Sometimes we find our true home: this is mine.

MARISSA STAPLEY, author of MATING FOR LIFE: Toronto’s High Park is an important part of my family’s life. We’re regular patrons of its bike paths, hiking trails, playgrounds, waterparks—and the zoo, of course, with its famous renegade residents. But I’ve also gone for long, solitary walks here to clear my head and work through tricky plot points; it only takes a few minutes of wandering through the interior to forget the city exists.  Canada is a diverse country of vibrant cities and vast green spaces, and thanks to this park I’m able to remember and feel grateful for that every day.

DEBBIE OHI, author and illustrator of WHERE ARE MY BOOKS?: I’m proud to be a University College alumna. Not only was UC the founding member of the University of Toronto’s modern collegiate system, but it's home to Canada’s oldest student government. Plus it’s rumoured to be haunted!

ANN Y.K. CHOI, author of KAY'S LUCKY COIN VARIETY: My formative years were spent at Trinity Bellwoods Park and at our family-run variety store next door to it. On hot summer days, kids drifted from the park to our store pleading with their parents for ice cream and other treats.

CHARLOTTE GRAY, author of THE PROMISE OF CANADA: This is where it all began! Prince Edward Island’s Legislative Building, Province House, was the scene of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference, where all those doughty Fathers of Confederation met to sort out the future for a bunch of British colonies. Three years later, the deal became the Dominion of Canada.  The nation-builders were so pleased with their agreement to build a new country called Canada that they had a slap-up ball in the library and council chamber. Champagne flowed. I love the idea that such a great big country came out of such a tiny perfect building.

S.K. ALI, author of SAINTS AND MISFITS: Here's the place I fell in love with books: Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School. It's almost as old as Canada's confederation, having served as a school since 1872. The portico I'm standing in front of survived all recent renovations and is the same entrance I passed through to meet "Anne with an e" for the first time. 

K.A. TUCKER, author of UNTIL IT FADES: There is nothing more symbolically Canadian than the mass exodus each summer, to the vast beauty that is our landscape. My entire childhood was spent on this very lake--just a tiny blip on the map in Ontario's picturesque cottage country, but the most cherished part of the world, in my eyes. Now I have the opportunity to watch my children make their memories here.

SARAH RICHARDSON, author of AT HOME: SARAH STYLE: There are so many historic buildings in Toronto that mean something to me, but my favourite has to be The York Club on St. George St., which was built in 1889 as the home of George Gooderham Sr. before being converted into a club in 1910. This beautiful building has served as the backdrop for some of the happiest occasions in my adult life, from our wedding to special occasions and celebrations so I associate it with family and friends and happiness. Since business and life so often intertwine, I’m also privileged to have the opportunity to reimagine some of the incredible spaces in this 19th century club for modern living and entertaining in the 21st century.

WESLEY KING, author of OCDANIEL: For me home is now the cold water of Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore, a place steeped in the early colonial history of this country. Canada has some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, and many colourful saltbox homes of 150 years (or more!) are still stubbornly standing against blustery ocean winds, salt spray, and the rolling fog...and, once in a while, a warm, welcome sun.

ROZ NAY, author of OUR LITTLE SECRET: This is me outside of the Nelson court house, historic landmark of the town since 1909. I like it because it's vined and turreted, and houses all our idyllic town's crime! I also like the fact that they made men from the gaol help finish the building of it. That appeals to my sense of irony.

KEVIN SYLVESTER, author of MINRS and MINRS 2: My backyard hockey rink. Hockey got me through some tough times when I was a kid, and I feel blessed to live in a place where water freezes in winter!