Our 2019-2020 White Pines Authors Part 3

The Port Moody Public Library created the White Pines Local Author Collection to highlight and support local authors, poets, and illustrators from our community. We launched the collection in May 2019 with 12 inaugural authors. Over the last year, we have received many exciting, new submissions and now have more than 30 local authors who are a part of this special collection.

You can browse our White Pines Collection online to place holds on items, or in person during our Controlled Access hours.

Over the next few blog posts, we will introduce you to all our 2019-2020 White Pines authors.

Yvonne Harris

Yvonne was raised in the Yukon and spent her life as an avid outdoorswoman, ultra-marathon canoeist, and marathon skier, until she suffered a stroke in 2016. Since then, she completed the historical fiction novel Redemption, and the children’s books, Yukon Gold Mystery and The Pig who Saved Christmas and Other Yukon Stories (with artwork by her granddaughter). Yvonne has a BA in Psychology and an MA in Regional Planning. She has six children and nine grandchildren and lives with her husband, Paul, in the Tri-Cities.

Yvonne has two new books in works: Murder During the Pandemic, Fiction with a Dose of Truth, and her 12th book, a sequel to Redemption.

Book: Yukon Gold Mystery

Yukon Gold Mystery is a thrilling adventure of mystery, intrigue, and murder set during the waning years of the Klondike Gold Rush. Siblings Charlie, Claire, Victoria, and Edward journey from their wood camp on the Yukon River to a trapper’s cabin only to find it vandalised. Along the way they encounter two disreputable gold miners who are searching for a missing stash of gold. The book is full of suspense that will keep readers guessing until the last page.

Borrow Yukon Gold Mystery from the Library.

Book: The Pig Who Saved Christmas and Other Yukon Stories

with illustrations by Cecilia Kirkham
Seven Christmas stories for readers ages 6 to 12. These stories are based in the Yukon and range from a story of poverty and hope in The Pig Who Saved Christmas, to a heart-breaking story of an elderly grandmother taken to a rest home against her will and saved by her young granddaughter.

Borrow The Pig Who Saved Christmas and Other Yukon Stories from the Library.

Book: Redemption: A Story of the Oregon Trail and the Fraser River Gold Rush

This historical fiction novel set in the 19th century is roughly based on true experiences along the Oregon Trail, the tragedy of the Donner Pass, and events on the Fraser River that led to the creation of the Province of British Columbia. Seeking a better life, Robert leaves his impoverished family in Iowa to follow the Oregon Trail. Along this well-established route, he suffers the loss of a loved one. Alice, a wealthy widow, is led into disaster when a man she despises insists on taking a shortcut. On the Fraser River, Chief Spitlum from Lillooet chooses peace over war and saves his people from a massacre.

Borrow Redemption: A Story of the Oregon Trail and the Fraser River Gold Rush from the Library.

What inspired Yvonne to be a writer and to write her Yukon based stories?

Yvonne has always appreciated good writing. She enjoys reading Canadian works including Governor General and Booker Prize winners. She is always searching for excellency in other writing as well as seeking to improve her own prose. Yvonne was inspired to publish her stories 25 years ago after encouragement from a friend. Yvonne and her family spent time canoeing many Yukon Rivers together. On these trips, she would tell her children stories as a way to entertain them. It was these stories that her friend suggested she publish.

Yvonne’s favourite part of writing is finding the perfect phrase, piece of dialogue, and description that gives voice and soul to her characters. Whether it is the protagonist or minor characters in her stories, Yvonne enjoys providing this depth to each of them.

Author Karen Hein

Karen Hein

Karen has been writing poetry since grade four, and she is currently working towards her dream of being a metaphysical/spiritual guidance Life Coach. She has been a motivational speaker, and believes that mental wellness is possible for everyone. Karen is currently working on her memoirs, another book of poetry, and her journals. She resides in Port Coquitlam, surrounded and supported by friends and family.

Book: Inspired Musings

If you like simple, easy-to-understand poetry, you will like Karen’s 40-page booklet, Inspired Musings. The subjects range from fantasy to nature and always evoke a response from the reader. Metaphors fill the pages and very little rhymes. It is original and reads like a smooth ice cream sandwich.

Borrow Inspired Musings from the Library.

What inspired Karen to become a writer?

Karen has been writing since elementary school and still finds it fulfilling. She loves to share her writing when she can and has wanted to create a collection of her poetry since early adulthood. As this was a dream of hers for a long time, she was thrilled when she found out that publishing her first book, Inspired Musings, was a possibility. Karen thinks that sharing her poetry is a beautiful way to touch the world, if she can. Karen has a few more books in the works. She is hoping to publish her next book, Bits, Snippets, and Other Works, in 2020.

Doug Matthews

Doug Matthews has a diverse background including twenty-two years in the Royal Canadian Air Force as an aeronautical engineer; nineteen years as the owner of an event production company; and five years as a university lecturer. Throughout this time and up to the present, he has also passionately embraced writing and photography, drawing on his experience in special events and his other areas of interest, archaeology and entertainment. To date he has published five textbooks on special event production, one book of humorous anecdotes of his entertainment career, and four photography books as well as journal and magazine articles.

Book: Stumbling Toward Applause: Misadventures in Entertainment

Unusual brushes with celebrities like Michael Bublé and Diana Krall, jungle animals on the loose, bar fights, pyrotechnics gone awry, technical glitches at award ceremonies, and a sweltering outdoor show for UN troops in war-torn Cambodia – these are a just a sample of the stories that await in Stumbling Toward Applause. This inspiring book is the first to reveal real-life backstage experiences within the relatively young industry of special events. With the consequences of human frailty and human determination as the themes, it takes readers from hilarious, live onstage mishaps to the poignancy of an actor’s untimely death. Under the surface lurk nuggets of wisdom and lessons about life, business, and relationships.

Borrow Stumbling Toward Applause: Misadventures in Entertainment from the Library.

What inspired Doug to write books and what is his favourite part about writing?

Doug was pulled into the literary world when he was approached by a publisher. He was also drawn to writing because of the interesting subjects which he would be able to address through his work. Doug’s favourite part about writing is doing the research.

Author Rob Taylor

Rob Taylor

Rob Taylor is the author of three poetry collections, including The News (Gaspereau Press, 2016), which was a finalist for the 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Rob is also the editor of What the Poets Are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation (Nightwood Editions, 2018) and guest editor of Best Canadian Poetry 2019 (Biblioasis, 2019). His fourth collection, Strangers, will be published by Biblioasis in Spring 2021. He lives in Port Moody with his wife and children.

Book: Best Canadian Poetry 2019

Best Canadian Poetry is an annual series which collects the 50 finest poems published by Canadians in the previous calendar year. The poems for the 2019 edition were selected by guest editor Rob Taylor.

Borrow Best Canadian Poetry 2019 from the Library.

What inspired Rob to become a writer?

To answer this question, Rob has looked to haiku master Matsuo Bashō, with this quote from over 300 years ago:

"In this mortal frame of mind, which is made of a hundred bones and nine orifices, there is something, and this something can be called, for lack of a better name, a windswept soul, for it is much like thin drapery that is torn and swept away by the slightest stirring of the wind. This something in me took to writing poetry years ago, merely to amuse itself at first, but finally making it its lifelong business. It must be admitted, however, that there were times it was almost ready to drop its pursuit, or again times when it was so puffed up with pride that it exulted in vain victories over others. Indeed, ever since it began to write poetry, it has never found peace with itself, always waving between doubts of one kind or another. At one time it wanted to gain security by entering the service of the court, or at another it wished to measure the depth of its ignorance by trying to become a scholar, but it was prevented from either by its unquenchable love of poetry. The fact is, it knows no other art than the art of writing poetry, and therefore it hangs onto it more or less blindly."
(As translated by Robert Hass in The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson and Issa (Ecco 1994).

About the White Pines Local Author Collection

The Port Moody Public Library created the White Pines Local Author Collection to highlight and support local authors, poets, and illustrators from our community. We launched the collection in May 2019 with 12 inaugural authors. Learn more about this collection and how you can become a White Pines Local Author.

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