My Name is Valerie Hopkins, my pen name is Nifty Buckles.

I was born in Kingston, Ontario and raised in Belleville, Ontario, surrounded by a family of natural-born storytellers and bold adventurers. My childhood unfolded like a well-worn map: endless days of camping under starlit skies and plunging into the bracing waves of the Atlantic off Cape Breton's rugged coast. From those early years, a spark ignited—a love for words that danced in rhymes, sketches that bloomed in color, and the joyful rhythm of tap shoes on wooden floors. Writing became my canvas, a way to weave tales with my vibrant community of fellow creators. I have worked as a preschool teacher with hearing impaired and a variety of children over the years. Circle time was always an enchanting place where we all sang, clapped and giggled to our hearts content. 

I have a Red Dappled, mini, weiner dog named Mr. Skittles who has different colored eyes and a very feisty presence. 

Now, with my children all grown and soaring on their own paths, I carry the quiet ache of losing my second son, Scotty, a few years back. He lingers in every heartbeat, a gentle muse fueling my stories with tenderness and fire.

These days, my world brims with the quiet thrill of the page: crafting poems and prose, sharing fairytales with children.

Similar to a large bonfire at the heart of it all burns a quiet call: to kindle that hidden flame in every soul—to carve a whisper of legacy, however delicate. A solitary glint. A murmured legend. 

An evanescent beam. Something that hums in the quiet hours, vibrates through the years, and forges an indelible echo in the world.