Our 2023 White Pines Authors Part 2

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.

Now, with over 80 authors represented, the collection has grown to house even more creative and diverse submissions from members of our community. You can browse our White Pines Collection online to place holds on items, or in person at the Library under the green White Pines sign.

Author Rachel Ahern

Rachel Ahern

Rachel Ahern lives in Port Moody and is a grade ten student at Inquiry Hub Secondary School.

Rachel has always enjoyed writing and has kept a journal and written short stories for a long time. She had a poem published in Balancing Act, a collection of poems by young Canadians, in 2017. The Frog Who Wanted to Sing is her first children's book, and she not only wrote the story but did all the illustrations herself.

Rachel started the book as a school project, wanting to create a story that combined two of her passions: animals and music. Rachel loves animals and has been a volunteer at the SPCA for five years. She also enjoys playing the trombone and piano. With her book about a frog who loves to sing, she hopes to inspire young people to believe in themselves and to never give up on their dreams.

When she's not at school, writing, or playing music, Rachel is an instructor at Endurance Taekwondo.

Book cover of The Frog Who Wanted to Sing by Rachel Ahern

Book: The Frog Who Wanted to Sing

A children's book about a young frog named Gus who has always wanted to sing. This book sets out to inspire children to believe in themselves and never give up on their dreams.

Borrow The Frog Who Wanted to Sing from the Library.

What inspires Rachel to write?

Rachel always loved to read while she was growing up and it made her want to write her own stories. Over the years, she started writing many stories, but never managed to finish them. She has also kept a daily journal for the last three years. For The Frog Who Wanted to Sing in particular, Rachel was inspired by a school project, where she was given a lot of creative freedom. Having a school project with a deadline ensured that Rachel would complete the entire book from start to finish.

What has been the most challenging part of writing for Rachel?

The biggest challenge Rachel had was when she would get to a fork in the road in her story, not sure where she wanted it to go next. She struggled with this particularly, because the character in the book almost has a chance to make it and she wanted to make sure that they make the right choice. Rachel had a few ways that Gus, the main character, could have gone about his story, and she’s glad to say that she’s confident that she made the right choice for him.

Author Bari Emam

Bari Emam

Bari was a teen when his family escaped a war-torn Afghanistan arriving in Canada in 1990. About ten years later, after completing high school and some post-secondary, he become a police officer. During this time, he continued his education and completed a Master of Arts degree. After twenty years of service where he became exposed to some of the most challenging human conditions in our society, including over one hundred homicide investigations, Bari was personally affected by a toxic work culture and was unfairly treated by the RCMP. He lost his passion for police work and decided to leave this job.

Bari went on a five-year healing journey where he focused on self-improvement, post traumatic growth, and spiritual awakening. He also completed writing his book and finished a Master of Counselling degree. Today, Bari is a Registered Clinical Counsellor specializing in post-traumatic growth, family systems, and couples/relationships. Bari loves his work and finds it extremely rewarding.

Bari and his wife of twenty years are also parents to three children. Bari strives to promote a message of peace and unity between all humans by focusing on what brings us together while advocating for a socially just society where everyone matters.

Book cover of Uprooted and Thriving by Bari Emam

Book: Uprooted and Thriving: One Man’s Journey from Afghanistan to Becoming a Canadian

From growing up in a war zone to spending almost two decades of his life as a police officer in Canada, Bari Emam has a unique and extraordinary view into human lives. Emam believes that to get a different perspective, we must understand the struggles of others and listen to someone else's story. It is through these stories that we gain a sense of appreciation about what type of people we share the world with. Uprooted and Thriving offers readers one of these different perspectives through Emam’s story. Emam believes that despite any differences people have, it is our commonality that is the key to understanding each other. By amplifying and embracing the core values of humanity, such as compassion, kindness, understanding, and self-responsibility, Emam hopes to paint a more complete picture of what is happening in our world.

Borrow Uprooted and Thriving: One Man’s Journey from Afghanistan to Becoming a Canadian from the Library.

What inspired Bari to write Uprooted and Thriving?

Bari was inspired to share his story because, as a nation of immigrants, Canada is full of beauty due to its diversity. Everyone has so much to contribute to keep this country great. However, Bari knows that as a first step everyone must feel safe with each other.

On the opposite side of things, Bari also wrote this book because of fear. His fear came from a place of seeing some of the latest world events. Nations were being divided because they were focusing so much on what they didn’t like about one another, separating the human family. Bari decided that he could not accept this as a way to move forward. He knew that Canada was stronger when everyone connected with one another, saw the good in each other, and came together as a nation. Immigrants eventually become part of the country’s fabric and Bari hopes that his book will help to honour that and help people stay connected.

What has been the most challenging part of writing for Bari?

The most challenging part for Bari was to make the stories concise. Human beings and their stories are highly complex, and this book could have been much longer. Bari also knew that there were so many emotions involved in his story which he tried to manage while writing. He felt that it was hard to fully convey the stories of human struggle while trying to keep the negative emotional impact upon the readers to a minimum. Bari’s story is true, and he could not hide the truth, so some parts are hard to read. However, he did his best to highlight the positives, the lessons learned out of struggles, and to inspire the readers that no matter what life throws at us, we can handle it if we stay positive. In the end, despite what Bari went through in life, he still has faith in the power of human connection, and he believes that this is what is needed to live a life of peace.

Banner with words "Colleen Van Niekerk"

Colleen Van Niekerk

Colleen van Niekerk, a proud Port Moody resident, is a debut novelist originally from Cape Town, South Africa. Her first novel, A Conspiracy of Mothers, deals with the unveiling of long-hidden truths from a passionate and taboo interracial relationship as apartheid was reaching a political end in 1994.

Book: A Conspiracy of Mothers

The year is 1994, and South Africa is in political turmoil as its first democratic election looms. Against a backdrop of apartheid and racial violence, traumatized artist Yolanda Petersen returns from the Appalachian foothills to the land of her youth at the behest of her mother. While there, Yolanda longs to reconnect with her estranged daughter, Ingrid, the product of an illegal mixed-race affair with a white man.

But Ingrid is missing, and as Yolanda quickly discovers, she isn’t the only woman in Cape Town desperate to protect her own. Ingrid’s very existence is proof of a white man’s crime, and that man’s mother will do anything―even kill―to ensure the truth remains buried.

Borrow A Conspiracy of Mothers from the Library.

What inspires Colleen to write?

Colleen grew up enamoured by stories and storytelling. Whether simple or elaborate, stories offered a way of understanding and being in the world that she has always instinctively been drawn to. Colleen writes to process what's happening in the world around herself and to offer the gift of story to others to do the same.

What has been the most challenging part of writing for Colleen?

Writing for others, once you decide to publish (however you do this), is a grind - no question about it. You have to be prepared to set your ego aside, inhabit your characters and meticulously focus on them, their arcs, and the elements you're blending together, to sculpt the best possible story you can as patiently as you can. That iterative process that can feel endless (but isn't), is especially challenging, but the payoff of producing something that will outlive you is worth it.

Author Mary Bertucci

Mary Bertucci

Mary Bertucci (she/her/hers) is an English-language instructor and writer living in Port Moody. Her family background is mainly Ukrainian, Polish, and German. Mary grew up in Treaty 6 Territory in Vermilion, Alberta, and has lived on the West Coast for over twenty years. She has been teaching English for nearly two decades and loves to develop thoughtful curricula for beginner-level students. She is part of an Indigenous family and is proud to have two beautiful First Nations children.

Book: A Powwow Story

Ben has never been to a powwow, and he is excited to experience the dances, drumming, and traditions for the first time. He hopes to learn so much, but will he connect with his family and culture there? With guidance and a surprise from his Great Aunt Ruthie, young Ben has a powerful experience at Kamloopa, one that fills him with deep love and pride.

Set on the ancestral and unceded lands of Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc, A Powwow Story gives readers a chance to start important conversations about Indigenous cultures and histories. With simple sentence structures and carefully selected vocabulary, it is great material for beginner to intermediate English-language learners, and a story you won't soon forget.

Borrow A Powwow Story from the Library.

What inspired Mary to write A Powwow Story?

Mary never had a big plan to become a writer, even though she has always loved to express herself and her ideas through writing. Around fifteen years ago, Mary had an idea to write a novel for English-language learners. She saw her students' desire to read English stories, but many of them were too difficult to understand. The choices for beginners were limited as well. Mary thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to create something I could teach with? A story that was about something positive, local and diverse?” That idea stayed with Mary for a long time, and during the pandemic, something told her that the time was right. A Powwow Story was inspired by a trip her family took to the Kamloopa Powwow in 2019, and it was such an amazing experience for them that Mary wanted to explore those ideas, work in a collaborative way to bring a story to life, and share a work about culture, family, and community.

What has been the most challenging part of writing for Mary?

The most challenging thing for Mary is carving out a bit of time every day to work on writing. She’s had so many ideas for stories, but it took nearly fifteen years to get something down on paper that she wanted to share with others! Mary journalled a lot when she was younger, but now that she has a young family and a full-time job, it’s hard to find time. That being said, Mary found the time! Where was it? She decided to stop watching TV in the evenings and turn her attention to writing. It was surprising how many hours she found by turning off the screen.

About the White Pines Local Author Collection

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