Our 2025 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 100 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.

Kevin Yeates

Bryce Raffle & Steven Kothlow

Bryce Raffle is a Tri-Cities author of books for children, teens, and adults. Alongside Steven Kothlow, Bryce is the co-writer of The Littlest Dinosaur series. He was the illustrator of The Sad Fox by Jack Raffle. He is also a screenwriter, a video game writer (Sins of a Dark Age, Mech Armada) and was the editor of DeadSteam and DeadSteam II.

Steven Kothlow is a children’s book writer, best known as the co-writer of The Littlest Dinosaur series (alongside Bryce Raffle), as well as a screenwriter. He hopes to tell many more stories that help spread a message of diversity and inclusion, especially in children’s literature.

Find out more about Bryce and Steven from their website at https://littlestdinosaur.square.site/, on Instagram at @thelittlestdinosaurseries, and on YouTube @thelittlestdinosaur

The Littlest Dinosaur Goes to School by Bryce Raffle & Steven Kothlow

The Littlest Dinosuar Finds a Home by Bryce Raffle & Steven Kothlow

Book: The Littlest Dinosaur

Ty, the Tyrannosaur just wants to make a new friend. Sadly, all the other dinosaurs are afraid of his sharp teeth! So, Ty must go on an adventure to find a dinosaur brave enough to be friends with a Tyrannosaur.

Borrow The Littlest Dinosaur from the Library.

Book: The Littlest Dinosaur Goes to School

Ty, the Tyrannosaur is ready for his first day of school.
The Littlest Dinosaur wishes he could go too, but he’s just too little! It’s up to Mama Tyrannosaur to cheer him up. But luckily, Mama knows best!

Borrow The Littlest Dinosaur Goes to School from the Library.

Book: The Littlest Dinosaur Finds A Home

The Littlest Dinosaur is off on a new adventure. It’s time for bed, and the newborn dino has nowhere to lay down his sleepy head. Luckily, he’s got Ty the Tyrannosaur to show him the meaning of family and help him find a place to call home.

Borrow The Littlest Dinosaur Finds A Home from the Library.

What inspired Bryce and Steven to write The Littlest Dinosaur series?

Bryce and Steven were inspired to write The Littlest Dinosaur series when they saw a need for more stories that uplift and empower those who have struggled to fit in and find their place in the world. They felt it was important to encourage and inspire others through inclusive stories about friendship, chosen family, and being kind to others, and to use their voices to create a more joyful world.

What have Bryce and Steven’s biggest challenges been while writing?

The most challenging part of being a writer has been learning to run a business. Authors need a lot of skills beyond the craft of writing; they also need to be entrepreneurs. The most significant struggle was learning the ins and outs of running a small business. The cost margins of books are a lot thinner than people might realize, and readers might be reluctant to shell out cash on a book series they've never heard of. That's why Steven and Bryce launched two of the books in their series through crowdfunding (Kickstarter & Indiegogo). Steven and Bryce also feel lucky that many Canadians understand the importance of supporting local authors and supporting small businesses. They are grateful to the White Pines Local Author Collection for supporting local talent.

Farida Somjee

Farida Somjee is an award-winning Canadian author. Her debut novel, The Beggar’s Dance, won the Whistler Independent Book Award for Best Fiction. She is also the author of the children’s picture book, Mommy Whey Aah You? Born in Mbeya, Tanzania, and raised in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, many of her childhood memories—and later, her experiences as a mother—have shaped her writing. She moved to Canada in her late teens and now lives in Coquitlam, with her husband and their dog, Zorro.

You can find out more about Farida from her website at https://www.faridasomjee.com, on Facebook at /FaridaSomjee and on Instagram at @faridasomjee_author

Book: Mommy, Whey Aah You?

A little boy has lost his mother while playing hide and seek. What will he do? Will he be scared and cry, or have the courage to follow his senses to find her?

Borrow Mommy Whey Aah You? from the Library.

What inspires Farida as a writer?

Life experiences inspire Farida’s writing. When she was ten, she saw a little boy begging with his mother. She couldn’t understand why she was in the car, enjoying an ice cream, while he was on the streets. For years, Farida wondered how he lived and if he survived. That childhood encounter became the seed for her first novel, The Beggar’s Dance, set against the backdrop of East African life. Motherhood has also been one of Farida’s greatest inspirations, which led her to write the children’s picture book Mommy Whey Aah You? Based on a true event of positive parenting (while playing hide-and-seek with her son), it reflects trust, love, and encouragement in a mother-son relationship.

What have Farida’s biggest challenges been while writing?

Farida’s biggest challenge is writing short stories. She started her second novel as one, but the words kept pouring from her heart, and she couldn’t stop. Farida is a visual person, so she sees the story like a movie—the characters, the scenes, the food, and the culture all unfold with her storytelling (including her talking to herself along the way). However, in recent years, the emotional roller coaster of life events has challenged Farida’s writing. After her mom passed away, she was diagnosed with cancer (and thankfully survived). Not long after, her dad also passed away—all within two and a half years. Although Farida dislikes the word procrastinate, it seems she has been doing just that with editing her second novel. It felt as though the book needed to pause, especially since it is about healing, grief, and letting go of the past. Yet, Farida now understands death and forgiveness more deeply, and she knows this will only strengthen her story.

Sean P. Connaughton

Suzanne Grant

Suzanne Grant is a retired college instructor. She enjoys gardening, nature, and local literary events. Wildflowers Grow in Broken Places is her first book. Find out more about Suzanne’s writing from her Facebook page: Wildflowers Grow in Broken Places by Suzanne Grant

Book: Wildflowers Grow in Broken Places

Told from multiple viewpoints, this is a story that begins on a cold December night in Quebec, 1941. The Jardin sisters, three-year-old Josephine and six-year-old Collette, were abandoned by their parents in a freezing cold house with scraps of food. They fell upon the mercy of Canada’s Ministry of Children and were quickly sent into the province’s Catholic-run orphanage system. However, when new radical laws took place, these orphanages were quickly abolished, and healthy orphans were dispersed to hospitals and mental institutions. Labelled as patients in this new system, the children were told they were “sick” and treated as “criminally insane” or “mentally deficient.” All forms of education stopped, and cruel medical treatments began. Josephine and Collette would remain there until they aged-out at sixteen.

Years later, the past would come back, but in what ways?

Borrow Wldflowers Grow in Broken Places from the Library.

What inspired Suzanne to write?

We never stop learning and challenging ourselves. Life is always evolving and bringing new experiences, and writing was one of Suzanne's. Her inspiration to write first began as a general interest in Canadian history and the effect of intergenerational trauma and then formulated into a story she felt she needed to put pen to paper.

What have Suzanne’s biggest challenges been while writing?

The most challenging part of writing for Suzanne is the process of perfecting the manuscript for publication after the story is complete.

Alison Shields

Alison is a proud mom and interior designer turned children's book author. Born and raised in Coquitlam, she lived in Hong Kong from 2015 to 2024 and is now settled in Port Moody.

Find out more about Alison from her website at https://iloveyouinbooks.com/ and on

Instagram at @iloveyouinbooks

I Love You in Hong Kong by Alison Shields

Book: I Love You in Hong Kong

Explore rich details of iconic landmarks and dynamic streetscapes while discovering a local animal on each page. This bedtime rhyme sparks curiosity and shows us that we all belong - and are loved - in Hong Kong. I Love You in Hong Kong is the ideal library addition for anyone who is in Hong Kong, loves someone in Hong Kong, or loves this fabulous city.

Borrow I Love You in Hong Kong from the Library.

What inspired Alison to write?

Alison didn't set out to become an author. On a whim she wrote a little rhyme about Hong Kong and shared it with family and friends, who encouraged her to turn it into a book. She decided to create a publishing company, hire an illustrator, and craft a beautiful board book as a love letter to the dynamic, energetic city that she and her family called home for nearly a decade.

What have Alison’s biggest challenges been while writing?

Writing I Love You in Hong Kong was a simple flash of inspiration while standing in line for a coffee, followed by dozens of tiny tweaks to word sequence or rhymes over a handful of years. It took years of searching to find the ideal illustrator, who had to be able to accurately depict Hong Kong; the city is the "character" in the book. The most challenging part was learning everything required to self-publish a children's book while living in Hong Kong during Covid.

Nargis Abraham

Nargis Abraham’s rapport with writing began with a journalism degree and freelance articles in magazines and newspapers. She taught journalistic feature writing at Osmania University in India and professional writing skills at BCIT in Burnaby, BC. Along the way, she acquired a Ph.D. and two masters’ degrees. Since 2015 she has registered in the Port Moody Writers’ Group where she has read several of her short stories and chapters of her novel Munni at my Doorstep that was published in 2025. Nargis lives in Coquitlam.

Find out more about Nargis from her website at https://nargisabraham.com/

Book: Munni at My Doorstep

The setting could be anytime, anywhere in the world, and the protagonist could be any single working woman. Here, the protagonist is Clara Ferguson, a Scottish spinster missionary in British India of the 1890s. One night, a frantic woman pounds on her door and abandons an infant at her feet. What should she do? Such is Clara’s dilemma.

Even though she knows about the dangers of keeping baby Esther (Munni), Clara decides to do just that. There follow stigma, covert and overt prejudice, and real danger from a birth family bent on eliminating the child. While Esther is told that she is adopted, Clara doesn’t tell her about the birth family until it is too late.

The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of colonial British rule, reigning maharajas, epidemic and famine in India, and the First World War and Spanish flu in the British Isles. The focus is on Clara’s relationship with her adopted daughter as they navigate their circumstances.

Borrow Munni at my Doorstep from the Library.

What inspired Nargis to write?

Nargis has always had stories in her head. Every time she came across an interesting incident or person, her imagination would take off into “what ifs”. For example, if she saw someone at a bus stop, she would wonder “what if she was running away from home, why, and what next.” Nargis went into journalism (primarily teaching the skills of the profession) and published a few non-fiction articles, never fiction. Fast forward forty-five years when she retired, and she thought she could try her hand at creative writing and challenge herself to carry a plotline from start to middle to finish. She enjoys the process!

What have Nargis’ biggest challenges been while writing?

The biggest challenge has been to find the time to write! Time to focus on the writing, with enough of a stretch of time to develop an incident in a story. Nargis responds best to deadlines, and that’s where the Writers’ Group has motivated her; to have something ready to share with the group every week. That’s how her book came about, writing a chapter each week.

Raymond G. Lemoine

Raymond G. Lemoine is a recent retiree from a career in education spanning over forty years, during which he served in many roles, including as a teacher, principal, school director, and educational consultant. Originally from Manitoba, he has worked locally in Canada, parts of Europe and Africa, as well as Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and China. He was inspired to write his first book by his time serving as a school director in Guinea, which he deems the most rewarding endeavour of his educational career.

He and his wife, Madeleine, call Port Moody home—where they love to return, no matter how far their voyages take them. Find out more about Raymond from his website at https://www.raymondglemoine.com/

Maple Leaves in Mango Trees by Raymond G. Lemoine

Book: Maple Leaves in Mango Trees

With retirement approaching and their children having flown the nest, lifelong nomad educators Raymond and his wife, Madeleine make the bold decision to uproot their lives and embark on another overseas posting to Guinea, marking their fourth move abroad.

Under military rule following a coup that had taken place the previous year, the West African nation-state is in a state of incredible upheaval, proving challenging even for well-seasoned travellers like Raymond and Madeleine. Armed military personnel roam the streets, and outbreaks of political unrest—even violence—are not unusual. While Madeleine teaches and Raymond serves as director of the American School in Conakry, they find themselves faced with these forces, in addition to the more everyday difficulties one might expect to encounter as Westerners living in Africa.

However, their passion for educating their students carries them through. As they immerse themselves more fully in the local culture, they find themselves inspired by the unwavering strength and resilience of the Guinean people. Moved by their desire to make a difference in the lives of those they teach, Raymond and Madeleine will ultimately find themselves utterly transformed, with a clearer sense of purpose than they thought imaginable.

Borrow Maple Leaves in Mango Trees from the Library.

What inspired Raymond to write?

Raymond began writing more than forty years ago, while pursuing a master’s degree in French literature. Until then, it had never occurred to him to write about anything that truly mattered. In one of his writing courses, he started putting childhood memories to paper—the story of a boy growing up on a farm in southern Manitoba. One of Raymond’s professors, a semi-retired French gentleman who had once taught literature at the Sorbonne, saw in his words something Raymond hadn’t noticed himself. To his professor, they held not only the innocence of memory but also the richness of a culture—something worth preserving. This encouragement quietly set Raymond on the path of writing.

Everyone has a story to tell. After returning from four unforgettable years working in West Africa—among the most fulfilling of his life—Raymond felt he had not only a story but also a message to share. That conviction became the inspiration behind Maple Leaves in Mango Trees.

What have Raymond’s biggest challenges been while writing?

As a bilingual Canadian who has lived and worked in both of Canada’s official languages, Raymond’s first language is French, and most of his earlier writing was in that language. His greatest challenge in writing Maple Leaves in Mango Trees was learning to think and feel in English. Writing in English calls for simplicity, clarity, and restraint—so unlike the elegance and abstraction of French prose. Raymond had to unlearn long, winding sentences, embrace understatement, and find the right emotional tone without losing his natural voice.

A turning point in his writing journey was joining the Port Moody Writers’ Group. Their honest critiques and thoughtful suggestions were invaluable in helping Raymond grow as a writer and find confidence in his English expression.

About the White Pines Local Author Collection

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