Our 2023 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.

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 Graeme Partridge-David

Graeme Partridge-David

Graeme Partridge-David is a writer and cartoonist, and a self-identified autistic queer person whose pronouns are he/him/his. His journey through life includes mental health challenges, daily meditation, and a carefully cultivated sense of gratitude.

Graeme was born and raised on the unceded territory of the Kwikwetlem, Tseil-Watuth, Qayqayt and Sto:Lo peoples, in what is now known as Coquitlam. He met his wife, a stop-motion animator and writer, at art school in their early twenties. Two thoroughly loveable and surprising children filled out the family before long. Though the intervening years have seen some profound challenges, the Partridge-Davids are agreed in their delight in being together for the roller coaster ride.

Graeme loves exploring his forest home with their yellow lab service dog, Cotton, and coming home to their incorrigible cat, Lily. When indoors, he loves reading and movies almost as much as he loves writing and drawing comics. Almost.

Book: Max Velocity

There's never been a superhero like Max Velocity! He's autistic, super-fast, and ready to race to adventure with his new team: The Exceptionals! The Exceptionals are a diverse group of kids whose exciting, super-powered adventures are fun and challenging, and watchfully guided by veteran superheroes. Meet aliens and visitors from other dimensions while learning about inclusion, acceptance, and the power of friendship.

Borrow Max Velocity from the Library.

What inspires Graeme to write?

Stories are magic! As long as Graeme can remember, he has loved to burrow into a story and look around, feeling the infinite possibilities coursing around him. It was a natural progression for him to start writing his own, especially when he discovered comic books and realized that he could use both of his passions simultaneously to deepen and enrich each other. The story of Max Velocity was inspired by Graeme’s kids, who are autistic and magical in their own right. He wanted to make something that was fun and exciting, but sensitive to readers who don't need a lot of drama and danger.

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

Writing can be a little like wading into quicksand for Graeme - once he surrenders to the story, he finds it pretty hard to come back out. Graeme feels like he is looking at the real world from far away, and hearing voices through a tin-can telephone. But after a bit, he comes back to normal, maybe a little stranger than he was before, but still basically the same.

Author Karine Abergel

Karine Abergel

Karine Abergel is a Waldorf Early Childhood Educator who is passionate about connecting children with the wonders of nature. Karine is currently living in Vancouver with her husband and son where they tend to their overflowing garden plot and spend hours in the library exploring books. Karine is the founder of Holden Press and the author of its first publication, When You Sing.

Book: When You Sing

When You Sing is about the unique song that lives inside the heart of every child. Through heartfelt rhymes, When You Sing reminds us that only we can sing the song we are meant to sing, and that once we do, we discover our amazing capacity to transform the world around us in ways we never thought possible. With beautiful and touching illustrations from award winning illustrator Khoa Le, we follow the journey of a girl who, through the beauty of her song and voice, finds her true connection with everything around her, and remembers that she is never alone.

Borrow When You Sing from the Library.

What inspires Karine to write?

Writing has always come from a strong need to make others feel less alone. Karine writes from the moments and experiences that have truly touched her and given her a deeper understanding of the human experience, and it is from this place that she tries her best to capture it with words that will make the reader feel loved and seen. Working with children has been Karine’s biggest source of inspiration because you have to be so open and receptive to each moment to truly show up for them and guide them as they uniquely need to be guided. Writing her first children's book was Karine’s way of taking what she had soaked in from her most beautiful moments as a teacher and spreading the love and gratitude she feels for the work she has been able to do.

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

Karine’s biggest challenge is sitting down to write when she does not feel the natural inspiration to. She sometimes gets these surges of words from what feels like the most effortless place. She then gets caught in the trap of thinking she needs to wait for these types of surges to truly write something of value, rather than writing even when the inspiration is not there. The discipline of writing is something that still eludes her.

Banner with author Lucas Green

Lucas Green

Lucas is an award-winning illustrator and animator based in Port Moody. A prairie-boy turned west coast wanderer, he creates fantastical worlds for film and TV, including work on SyFy’s Vagrant Queen (concept artist) and Astrid and Lilly Save the World (storyboards), as well as the long-running CBC Kids Gumboot Kids series. Lucas illustrated the award-winning graphic novel King Warrior and is co-creator of the webcomic The Constant Star. When he isn't tied down to a drawing desk, Lucas can be found wandering the hills of Port Moody with his adventure dog, Kuiper.

Book: King Warrior

Living in different worlds and separated by an ocean, a father and son try to stay connected through the power of imagination as their distanced lives pull them further apart. Awale takes a job as a cab driver in Canada's remote city of Yellowknife in order to provide for his family back home in Gaalkacyo, Somalia. As his wife Warsan and young son Afrah struggle with his absence, Awale creates a world-building epic inspired by the wonders of his new Arctic home in order to keep his son close to him. A story spanning the globe both imaginary and real, King Warrior celebrates the turbulent glory of boyhood.

Borrow King Warrior from the Library.

What inspires Lucas to create?

Lucas just wants to make things. He’s driven to bridge the gap between the imagination and the real world — to share a vision with his audience. This goes for his own work, and work that he does with collaborators (or for hire). It is overwhelmingly satisfying to complete a book and watch his reader go through the same journey of discovery that he did when creating it. Lucas has been working in the film industry for fifteen years, and the greatest feeling is when you see your work on screen, and it is exactly how you imagined it would be.

What challenges has Lucas encountered in his work?

The greatest challenge is letting go. Lucas finds it very easy to nurse a story idea for years and years without making progress on it. Working with collaborators gives him other talented people to bounce ideas off of, and creativity becomes a conversation rather than a monologue. It also lights a fire under the creative process, because we are all kicking the ball in the same direction. For example, Lucas is currently working on a webcomic (ConstantStar.ca) with a friend, and they meet every other week and just share ideas and inspiration with each other, and discuss how they feel about where the story is going - sometimes it feels as if they are telling each other campfire tales - and then the two go their separate ways, chip away a bit at writing and drawing the comic, and then meet again in a couple weeks to talk about what they’ve done. In many ways it feels like they are laying down the train tracks as they go along. But it also means they’re never backtracking or conceding to self-doubt.

Author Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy is an award-winning writer and former stand-up comedian who has created engaging content for Walt Disney, HBO, A&E, Fox, and the Kentucky Derby, among many others. He has also been the head writer for three radio programs and his critically acclaimed short stories and columns have been published in twenty books and have been featured on more than one hundred and seventy radio stations and sixty newspapers across North America. A native of Halifax, Ryan presently lives in Burnaby with his wife and two children.

Book: How to Do (Almost) Anything: A Handy Guide to Doing the Impossible from the World's Biggest Know-it-all

Learn next to nothing about almost everything!

Unleash your potential and take on life's greatest challenges. This hilarious collection is the ideal handbook for tackling any task, no matter how daunting. From pulling off a heist to launching an Oscar campaign, you’ll learn how to turn Impossible into Mission Accomplished. Packed with clever asides and wicked one-liners, this rollicking literary ride will have you laughing out loud as you pick up essential life skills you didn’t even know you needed.

Borrow How to Do (Almost) Anything from the Library.

What inspired Ryan to become a writer?

Ryan wanted to be a writer before he could even spell his own name. He launched his first zine in third grade and sold copies of the publication to his classmates for a quarter each. Their positive reaction spurred him on, and he was soon churning out radio dramas and one-act plays starring his closest friends – and occasionally puppets when they were unavailable. Ryan has always loved to express himself and is grateful to the readers and audience members who have given him their attention and input over the years.

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

The greatest challenge for Ryan is silencing his inner critic. When he was younger, he would write reams of content daily without ever once considering if it was actually any good. Now that he’s older and has been exposed to the canon of English literature, he sometimes worries about trying to match wits with the literary and comedic giants that came before him. He does his best to avoid comparing himself to others (most of the time) and tries instead to be the best version of himself.

Author Amruta Krishnan Srinivasan

Amruta Krishnan Srinivasan

Amruta is twelve years old and Dissidents of Perfection is her debut novel. She completed the novel when she was ten years old, and she has planned to donate 100% of the proceeds to the Jane Goodall Institute for the conservation of wildlife and the environment. Amruta has published shorter works such as poems and short stories since she was four. She is a voracious reader and loves writing. Some of her work has been published by Stone Soup and one of her short stories was a finalist at the Young Inklings book contest.

Book: Dissidents of Perfection

Set in Animal Realm where magic and the wild are beautifully interwoven, this book delves into the ethics of meddling with nature even if it is for a good cause.

For Joey Fox and many other animals, Animal Realm is a refuge from Earth. Away from humans, it offers security that is absent on Earth. In fact, the carnivores in the Animal Realm do not even kill to eat. Instead, there is plenty of Bindarian Thistle, a food that grows on any surface, does not need any water, and morphs itself to the taste buds of the animals eating it. Joey likes the security of Animal Realm and not the dangers of Earth. Then there is Fiona the Flamingo. She is different. She believes in nature, even if it results in lower security guarantees. The Elders of Animal Realm have been living in blissful ignorance regarding their citizen’s sentiments towards it. And Fiona Flamingo’s escape to Earth proves it. Fiona breaks the rules by escaping back to Earth, leaving all of Animal Realm in shock —why would someone abandon a perfect land?

Borrow Dissidents of Perfection from the Library.

What inspired Amruta to become a writer?

For Amruta, it was reading other books and stories that inspired her to start writing. Falling in love with a book always makes her want to write something that will make other people feel the same. Amruta doesn’t know whether she’s succeeded, but she hopes she’s gotten close!

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

The most challenging part for Amruta has been getting the motivation to put pen to paper. Amruta believes that deadlines are the only source of any creativity she has as she will only write a few sentences over a month but write an entire story the day before it is due. Another challenge for Amruta is sticking with only one story idea. There are so many thoughts floating around in her head, and to stick with one of them without jumping randomly to other ones is something Amruta finds really hard.

About the White Pines Local Author Collection

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