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Back to SearchThe 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.
Now, with over 50 authors, the collection has grown to house even more thought-provoking and unique submissions from members of our community. We’re introducing four of the most recent authors to our collection, who shared with us some of their personal journeys with writing.
You can browse our White Pines Collection online to place holds on items, or in person.
Lyn E. Ayre
Lyn E. Ayre has been writing poetry for sixty-two years. She’s been published in a few anthologies (A Summer’s Day in 2001 and New Beginnings in 2020) and has published her memoir—Fragments of a Shattered Soul Made Whole 2018. She and her husband enjoyed watching mysteries and crime scene investigation shows, so she began writing one. Six years later, she finished her first foray into fiction and began a six-book series called the McClintock/Miller Murder Mysteries. Book one came out in November 2021: Murder on Belcut Mountain. After her husband passed in 2016, she wrote her feelings down and now, five years later, she has published a book of 55 essays and poems—Waking Up to the Life Left in Me in 2022. She is the author of 50 books. She has two children and three grandchildren. She’s called Coquitlam her home for the last 28 years. You can find Lyn online at https://lynayre.com/, on Twitter, on Instagram, or on Facebook.
Book: Fragments of a Shattered Soul Made Whole
Fragments of a Shattered Sound Made Whole is a memoir is about how a young girl survived her early life of sexual abuse, subsequent addiction and on-going health challenges. There was very little recourse for a person who experienced such things in the 1950’s. People were taught that they had to shut up and put up. Happily this woman went on to have a spiritual awakening, worked hard on herself and blossomed into a mentally healthy young woman. After two failed marriages, she had a beautiful 29 year relationship with the best person she had ever met. They were as happy as a couple can be for all those years.
Borrow Fragments of a Shattered Sound Made Whole from the Library.
What is Lyn’s favourite part about writing?
Lyn has a keen imagination and can see things clearly in her mind’s eye. She enjoys following these fantasies and seeing where they lead her. Writing is her exporting tool. She goes as fast as she can to get it all down. At the end of a session, she goes ‘Whew!’ Then the real work —editing— begins.
What made Lyn decide to be a writer?
She was eight when she began writing poetry. The first few were about her father, whom she adored. Hardly a week has gone by since then that Lyn hasn’t been working on a poem.
After her mother died, Lyn wanted to write a book about her but soon discovered she didn’t have enough material to get the job done. She decided to tell her own harrowing life story, as well as her mother’s.
She’d not written much fiction—the odd short story here and there. Lyn decided to try it and really loved it. She’s looking forward to all the writing years between 2022 and 2029 when the sixth and final book in the McClintock/Miller Murder Mysteries series is due for release. For Lyn, it was never a decision to write, it’s just who she is. As she says “Writing—it’s what I do”.
Bob Cowin
Bob Cowin issued oodles of memos and reports as a bureaucrat working in post-secondary education. After retiring from Douglas College, he switched to writing creative nonfiction—rather more fun and a great way to tell the world about the fascinating activities and perspectives of his acquaintances. He is currently preparing a book about mountain bikers, while a day on a tall ship beckons as the subject for a future manuscript. A lifelong resident of British Columbia, Bob has lived in the Tri-Cities since 1986.
Book: Refugee Countdown
Refugee Countdown presents the questions and dilemmas ordinary people face in deciding to sponsor refugees and how to go about doing so. Blocked from bringing Syrian refugees into the United States, members of a Seattle church helped a family enter Canada instead, raising enough funds to support them for a year while they learned English and a new culture. Refugee Countdown describes the project’s origin in 2016 and the evolution of a partnership with the Canadian church that became the formal refugee sponsor. It portrays the learning, waiting and preparations over a two-year period until the family is finally clear to leave their place of exile in Lebanon. The story is told from the perspective of the Canadian partners and ends with the family’s arrival in Vancouver. The focus is on the experiences of the sponsors, not those of the Orthodox Christian refugees.
Borrow Refugee Coundown from the Library.
Book: Launching Solo
Contrary to simplistic portrayals of either blissful relaxation or bewildered depression, adjusting to retirement is every bit as complex and ambiguous as life’s other transitions. In Launching Solo, six retirees describe what actually happened during their initial months out of the workforce; what went smoothly; what proved bumpy; and what they came to either desire or fear. Sometimes their reactions took them by surprise, while other developments unfolded much as they expected. These informal conversations with ordinary people are supplemented with a brief mention of key research findings. By focusing on the stories of single people, the complications of getting along with one’s partner are set aside to highlight the types of pleasures and personal challenges that retirements brings – challenges that arise regardless of marital status. Launching Solo is a pleasant, yet thought-provoking read for everybody leaving paid employment to embark on a new way of living.
Borrow Launching Solo from the Library.
Book: Music for Other Reasons
Music therapists use music to achieve non-musical goals. Their clients range from children with autism or developmental disabilities, adults recovering from brain injuries or addiction, or seniors with Parkinson’s disease, depression or dementia. Although accomplished musicians, their therapeutic efforts are quite separate from what they do in other settings as performers or teachers. Music therapy is a fascinating field full of human interest, but unfamiliar to many people. Music for Other Reasons offers a warm and informal introduction to the profession and its practitioners. While touching on some of the new science that explains how music can unlock a client’s physical, cognitive, or emotional capabilities; the book focuses on the therapists who use this knowledge to benefit others: how they came to work in the field, what they do each day, and some of their joys and challenges.
Borrow Music for Other Reasons from the Library.
What is Bob’s favourite part about writing?
His research for his books usually involves talking with people about some aspect of their life that they care deeply about. He loves hearing the extended versions of their stories and is regularly surprised at how much his interviewees appreciate having a patient, interested listener. He then gets to relive these wonderful conversations as he writes about them.
What made Bob decide to be a writer?
He writes primarily to educate himself, choosing nonfiction topics that will broaden his horizons or help him see the world in a different light. Telling people that he hopes to write a book allows him to ask them more detailed and intrusive questions than might be tolerated in normal conversation. After hearing what they have to say, he usually thinks it is fabulous stuff that a broader audience should know about it. They tend to agree and a book emerges.
Carlos Lozano-Gilabert
C. Lozano Gilabert lives in Port Moody, where he divides his time between British Columbia’s gorgeous nature and his passion for books and movies. He started telling stories during recess in Grade 1, and he hasn’t stopped since. Eventually, he migrated from oral tradition into the written format. The genres he dwells the most in are horror, adventure, and strangely, romantic comedies. He loves creating screenplays and plays like Deep North, short stories like the ones in his Voices from the Dead compilation, videogames and novels. You can find C. Lozano Gilabert online at https://clozanogilabert.com/.
Book: Creatures from the Dark
Thirteen intoxicating short stories of unexpected horror and adventure where we venture to meet 13 dazzling creatures: mermaids with daddy issues, trees that lust for gold, misleading werewolves and someone so beautiful as to petrify. An emotional rollercoaster that takes us from the iciness of the Arctic to the jungles of Laos, from a war zone to suburbia, from the Himalayas to what lies lurking just beyond your backyard.
Borrow Creatures from the Dark from the Library.
What is C. Lozano Gilabert’s favourite part about writing?
Definitely experiencing other lives through his characters. He can have all the adventures he wants without leaving his home.
What made C. Lozano Gilabert decide to be a writer?
He has always been telling stories. Even from Grade 1, he remembers having a bunch of friends around him listening to his stories. He didn't decide anything. It is more of a joy he couldn't contain, something he has to share if he doesn't want to burst at the seams.
Chris Pudlak
Chris Pudlak is the author of Achieving Wellness through Arthritis. He was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and writes firsthand from his experience of struggling with the disease. As a licensed engineer, he applied engineering techniques in researching and testing diets, activities, and lifestyles, and ultimately determined some clear triggers to the disease. Chris volunteers with Arthritis Research Canada and continues to research published studies in an effort to manage his condition and share information with other patients. You can find Chris online at http://chrispudlakbooks.com/ or on Twitter.
Book: Achieving Wellness through Arthritis
In his mid-thirties Chris was hit with severe arthritis. He was used to running 10k and cycling to work. Now, it took two hands, wincing through pain, to turn the key to the ignition on his car. He was limping around the house, not wanting to go anywhere. After a diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis, Chris was faced with a lifetime of illness and serious medications. However, the onset of symptoms suggested some clear triggers to the disease. He put his engineering hat on, started researching, testing diets, activities and lifestyles. It took years, but Chris eventually recovered and feels stronger than ever before. While his arthritis is not cured, he finds refuge in an assortment of techniques to manage it without medication.
Borrow Achieving Wellness through Arthritis from the Library.
What is Chris’s favourite part about writing?
Chris initially began intensive note-taking during the course of his illness, in an effort to find solutions for his own symptoms. As this information took shape, he realized it could be structured and shared to help others. Seeing the research come together and ideas take form as he writes is his favorite part of the writing process. After the final book was produced, he was able to share and discuss the subject matter with other patients, and receive thanks for the information, which was the most rewarding.
What made Chris decide to be a writer?
Chris never planned or expected to become a writer, although he always did like writing privately. Only when note-taking relating to his arthritis became extensive, and he realized he could put it into a format that could benefit others, did he seriously consider writing his first book. After being shortlisted with a publisher, he realized he was close to the dream of producing a book. He decided to self-publish, in an effort to share valuable information with other arthritis patients.
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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