Louise Allison
Louise firmly believes that anyone can take control of their money and change their financial state for the better, regardless of their situation, income, experience, or knowledge. Originally from the UK where she was a college educator, she now works in Human Resources specializing in employee development and engagement, building financial wellness programming (amongst other things). Her passion for personal finance and empowering people to live a financially stress-free life, motivated her to write this book and share her story, tips, and free resources.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The First $100K: Your Guide to Financial Independence
Federico Angel
Federico Angel was born in Bogotá, Colombia. At an early age moved to the United States where he attended middle school and high school and later attended the University of Dayton for two years before returning to Colombia to take a roll in his family businesses. Federico’s entrepreneurial spirit has always distinguished him. With a passion not only for business and sports, but also for maintaining strong ties with family and friends. He has built these relationships into the core of his success. He now resides in West Vancouver, Canada, with his wife and his adult children.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Memory of a Name
Sheena Ashdown
Sheena Ashdown founded the Africa Village Project Association in 2007 to help alleviate poverty in a village in Tanzania. She and her husband devoted themselves to this project for years. She always thought their venture would make a good story, but the thought of writing a book was too daunting. Then the covid shutdown hit, and suddenly homebound, she had all the time in the world and no excuses not to write. How to Adopt a Village in Africa is her third book. When Sheena is not writing and doing charitable work, she reads voraciously and enjoys keeping fit. She lives on Bowen Island, B.C., with her husband Dale and their cat Night Star.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: How to Adopt a Village in Africa: a Story of Joy, Pain, and Purpose
Shelley Blignaut
Shelley Blignaut is a first-time author and lifelong storyteller. She grew up with a vivid imagination, nourished and inspired by fantasy novels by the likes of C.S. Lewis and Robin Hobb. Born and raised in South Africa, she witnessed the deep scars of racial segregation as well as the beautiful, chaotic, incredible innovation that can occur when people of different races, cultures, languages, and beliefs come together. This background inspired the world of The Last Tree in Galanthus. These days, Shelley lives in North Vancouver, Canada with her husband and two crazy, young kids. She enjoys reading novels and poetry, playing with her kids, drinking good coffee and running in the forest.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Last Green Tree in Galanthus
Elizabeth (Elspeth) Bradbury
With a career in architecture and landscape architecture, Elspeth Bradbury has also spent much of her life as a writer, painter and gardener. She researched and wrote West Vancouver: A view through the trees, as well as many columns for the West Vancouver Beacon. She co-authored The Garden Letters, The Real Garden Road Trip and the poetry collection Is That You This Is Me. For more than a decade, she volunteered at VanDusen Botanical Garden as Master Gardener and Garden Guide. She received The West Vancouver Heritage Award, and along with her husband Ray, the Environmental Award. In 2019 the Ferry Building Gallery presented WILD LIFE a solo exhibition of her paintings and poetry.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Journeys to the Nearby: A gardener discovers the gentle art of untravelling
Jane Callen
Jane Callen lives in North Vancouver but is an admitted Italophile. She travels to Italy whenever the fates allow. Between the pages, citizens of Canada and Italy frequent her writing. Her short stories have appeared in a number of magazines including Grain and Montreal Writes. She is a member of the Writers Union of Canada and The Association of Italian Canadian Writers. Her literary thriller, Bernini’s Elephant, was published by Guernica Editions in 2023. Beyond Canada, it is available in the USA, UK and Australia.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Bernini's Elephant
Linden Carroll
Originating from England, the author currently resides on the west coast of Canada. As a former writer and editor of environmental publications within Environment Canada, she now nurtures her interest in the natural environment by gardening, beachcombing and walking the mountain trails with her rescued canine companions. Her love of writing was rekindled following her tenure with Environment Canada. Deadly Assumption, her latest novel, was born from an idea developed after witnessing the rescue of a woman’s body from the ocean off Vancouver. The incident raised a number of questions and assumptions: Who was she? Where did she come from? How did she come to be in the ocean off Vancouver? And, the biggest question of all, was her death accidental or…? Deadly Assumption is a generational saga of suspected homicide, never-ending love and emotional trauma, the loss of loved ones, and the fight to recapture those closest to the heart. Rich in history the story encompasses England, Canada, Germany and France, spanning World War 2 to the 1980s.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Deadly Assumption
Maribel Castillo (with Co-authors Alina Gomez & Claudia Barrios)
Maribel Castillo Caicedo, Library Services Advisor at NVDPL, Ph.D in Social Sciences and Economist.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Las ciencias económicas toman la palabra: diálogos en un mundo cambiante 2020 (Spanish Edition)
Andrew Cawood
Andrew Cawood has written over 40 TTRPG books, including the Monsters series, The World of Myrr campaign setting, and adventure books. Originally from South Africa, he has been a teacher for many years. Andrew lives in North Vancouver with his wife and daughter.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Monsters of the Underworld
Jessica Cerato (with Co-authors Daphne Wells, Karen Small, & Beth Turner)
Former corporate executive turned intuitive mentor, Jessica Cerato has been immersed in numbers for decades. As a Professional Numerologist and Energy Strategist, she translates the energy of dates, numbers, and patterns into everyday language to help you feel more confidence and joy. Jessica offers personal readings, numerology courses, and energy strategy to clients around the world and is a best selling author of two numerology books, including this one. When she’s not playing with numbers, you can find her with her family in the forest, by the ocean, or dancing in her kitchen in North Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Decode the Deck: Find Your Path To Clarity and Purposeful Living
John D'Eathe
John D'Eathe was educated in the United Kingdom in law and urban land economics. After training in the City of London he set off blithely for an adventurous business life in Colonial Hong Kong and Asia. A decade later he returned to England but moved on to Canada, commencing a long career in major property investment and development throughout North America and in various parts of the world. He traveled extensively and witnessed the various cultural subtleties of getting things done. He and his wife Lane live in West Vancouver and enjoy visiting their widely located family and friends.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Celebrities who have met me. A Child of the Lost Empire.
Laura Dowling
Laura Dowling is a professional coach and consultative facilitator with a focus on leadership development and well-being, career development, culture and team performance. As the Founder of LD Performance Consulting, she provides customized solutions to companies across the world. Her expertise has contributed to more than 2,000 clients and industries in almost all areas of work: high performance sport, higher education, corporate, private and public sectors, tech, healthcare, non-profit and faith-based organizations.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Everyday Leader: Inner Mastery, Outer Impact
Susan Erikson
Susan Erikson, who traveled over 300,000 miles conducting research for the book, takes readers from the red clay roads of West Africa to the concrete sidewalks of New York City and London’s financial districts, to tell the stories of the people, the special interests, and the logics of pandemic bonds. Written for smart general audiences who care about capitalism’s effect on human health, Investable! will appeal anyone who wants to better understand how capitalism affects how we care for one another in times of crisis. Susan Erikson is a distinguished professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, where she studies complex political and economic systems that shape human health.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance - A Cautionary Tale
J. Erlichman
J. Erlichman is a British Columbia–born writer who grew up on Vancouver’s North Shore. He has written several short stories, as well as numerous works of non-fiction. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, he enjoys composing music and playing piano in his spare time. The Sniggles Present series marks his first foray into children’s literature. Picnic Day is an endearing story that teaches children (and perhaps adults too!) about theft, and why it’s often wiser to leave your valuables at home rather than carry them around in public spaces. The book is available in both softcover and hardcover versions. Erlichman is planning to release additional titles in The Sniggles Present series, including Our First Trip, The Mystery Noise, and Toothache. Stay tuned!
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Sniggles Present: Picnic Day
Carmen G. Farrell
Carmen G. Farrell (carmengfarrell.com) is a force behind community initiatives for neurodivergent individuals: para-athlete opportunities for highschoolers, learning-to-work programs at university, and playground inclusion groups in elementary school. Her other published creative nonfiction focuses on disability and inclusion, questioning the assumption that there’s a “normal” way to be with each other. She’s a director on the board of her local writing association, volunteers with The Writer’s Studio at SFU (’24 alum). North Vancouver is home.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Writer's Studio Anthology: emerge 24
Barbara L. Graham
Barbara L Graham was born and raised in Vancouver BC Canada and is a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She holds a Master's degree in Leadership from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC and is engaged in work for charity as her profession. She has worked with multiple organizations from grassroots to local provincial and national organizations and has found that her aptitude and passions work best in those arenas. She holds relationships and connections with others at the top of her list of life purposes and loves travel, writing, boating and decorating. She enjoys a wonderful home and family life with her best friend and husband of 57 years, Jim and their little Cockapoo, Ali. Her family is her pride.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Miracle at the Border
Rosemary Gretton
Originally from Alberta, with stints in Ontario, Québec, Belgium and Northern California, Rosemary Gretton now makes her home in North Vancouver. She worked as a translator, a lawyer and a civil servant before turning to writing and freelance editing. While in California, she earned a creative writing certificate from UC Berkeley. She writes poetry, essays and creative nonfiction. She sings soprano and is a long-time vegetarian.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Lyrical Girl
Laurel Gurnsey
Laurel Gurnsey has always been curious about life...soaking up adventures like swimming with sharks in Bora Bora, racing around the track at Le Mans in a vintage Lagonda, riding camels in the Outback and sharing her passion for history, the environment and research with her students during her teaching career. She writes regular articles for two car club magazines. Laurel and her husband and their Sheltie Keira live in British Columbia and are on the organizing committees of several large events.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: A Perfect Stargazing Night, Castles Under Siege, A Substantial Career
Mark Hagenson
Mark Hagenson grew up on the North Shore of Vancouver BC immersed in the world of commercial aviation as the son of Air Canada Captain Nels Hagenson who was the first officer on Flight 812. His early years were marked by countless hours in cockpits alongside his father, gaining firsthand experience of airline operations and developing a deep appreciation for aviation safety. These formative experiences, particularly his father's service on Air Canada Flight 812 in 1971, provided invaluable insights that would later inspire his writing. Mark's aviation expertise extends beyond his childhood experiences-he has completed ground school training and maintains connections to the airline industry through family members and friends who serve as Air Canada pilots. He combines his aviation knowledge with his technical expertise as a computer consultant specializing in building and servicing flight simulator systems. This unique blend of hands-on aviation experience, technical skill, and industry connections brings extraordinary authenticity to The Doomsday Flight, allowing him to explore one of commercial aviation's most compelling stories with both personal insight and technical precision. Mark is a lifelong resident of the North Shore currently residing in West Vancouver.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Doomsday Flight
Melanie Hess
As a young girl, Melanie was entranced with William Carlos Williams’s The Red Wheelbarrow and knew she wanted to write poems. Words have power and writing them down helped Melanie find her own voice. Many notebooks and many years later, she began writing again during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sometimes her own experiences sneak into the poems. Melanie lives in West Vancouver. She can frequently be found sitting at the water’s edge with a mochaccino.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Bread and Bone
Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho & Joanna Baxter
Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho (she/her) writes short fiction and creative nonfiction. Her award-winning stories and personal essays have appeared in PRISM international, Pulp Literature, Ricepaper, River Teeth, ROOM, WordWorks, and several anthologies. A member of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and a champion of creative communities, she volunteers with the North Shore Writers’ Association, North Shore Writers Festival, LiterASIAN, Word Vancouver, and Vancouver Writers Festival. When dodging her desk, she can most likely be found growing vegetables in her front yard or hugging trees in the forest.
Joanna Baxter's non-fiction work is published in the Bacopa Literary Review, The Globe and Mail, and she is a regular contributor to Alive and Maple Magazines. Joanna is currently working on a collection of short stories that draw from her vast life experiences from sailing across oceans to selling precious gemstones. She lives in West Vancouver.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Better Next Year
Brian Horswill
Brian is a first time author. This book was a labour of love that started during the pandemic and ended up becoming a published novel. He is delighted to finally share this story with the world. The story follows the life of a young man with mental illness resulting in hallucinations and delusions. He loses all sense of who he was and is on a quest to pick up the broken pieces of his life. Part tragedy, part love story, and part comedy, with plenty of twists and turns. Brian also works as a musician in Vancouver and is a physiotherapist and owner at Vancouver NeuroPhysio on the North Shore.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Leaving Paradise: A Tale of Love and Psychosis
Natasha Jones
Natasha Jones is a multidisciplinary artist and writer living on the North Shore. Her illustrated storybook, A New Mo(u)rning, is an introspective recollection of her late teens and early twenties—a time marked by uncertainty and transformation. While living with depression, Natasha found solace in writing. By gathering her favourite pieces and weaving them into a poetic narrative, she shares a story of moving through shame and making room for hope.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: A New Mo(u)rning
Mikaela Jordan
Mikaela is a writer and a publishing and communications professional from British Columbia, Canada. Her passion for storytelling was sparked at a young age, inspired by captivating authors and the vibrant world of online fanfiction and supernatural, fantasy, and horror literature. In her adventurous life, Mikaela has been an NHL ice girl, worked at Disney World, got her Master of Publishing from SFU, appeared in the background of Netflix shows, and married her high school sweetheart. She loves to try every experience, but for the lives she can’t live, she turns to the page and crafts stories in her favourite genres: dark romance, paranormal romance, and horror.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Shift
Dietrich Kalteis
Dietrich Kalteis is the winner of the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Crime Novel for Under an Outlaw Moon. Acclaimed by critics and readers in Canada and abroad, he is the prolific author of thirteen novels, two of which won Independent Publisher Awards. Kalteis enjoys life with his family on Canada’s beautiful West Coast.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Dirty Little War, Crooked
Sunny Kim
Sunny Kim: Writing feverishly under the foreign moon. Yoonhaw Lee: Essayist. Sehyun Jang: Poet. Soohyun Lee: Twin mom, picture book author.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: When Life Turns into a Story
Bill Koch
Bill Koch is a Clinical Professor Emeritus, UBC Faculty of Medicine, retired psychologist, and writer. He writes fiction that focuses on the fuzzy boundaries between normal emotions and mental health conditions. He is the author of Hired Gun: Uncovering Buried Secrets and Psychological Injuries: Forensic Assessment, Treatment, and Law.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Hired Gun: Uncovering Buried Secrets
Cathy Kuzel
A dynamic speaker, author and business development expert with a deep knowledge of the art of human connections, Cathy Kuzel fosters relationships and engages in the exchange of expertise with other women. She is an inspirational speaker whose enthusiasm, professionalism and “relatable” style make her the ideal host for When Women Talk Podcast – a project that includes a series of anthology books and podcasts for women who have moved from the ‘all about me’ to ‘all about WE’ and the belief that we all have a story to tell; there is someone who needs to hear it, and by working together, we can reach more people so that our stories can make a difference in someone’s life, career or business. This book is the volume 2 of the series. “Knowledge shared is Success magnified.” ~ C.Kuzel.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: When Women Talk Vol. 2 - Defying Social Expectations
Kelly LaVallie
Kelly LaVallie is a CPA, CA with over 30 years of financial advisory experience. Over the last decade, she has specialized in helping clients navigate the financial implications of marriage breakdown from understanding the family finances to negotiating and structuring the financial settlement.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Untying the Knot: Protecting Your Emotional and Financial Health During Divorce
Jane MacCallum
Jane Murray MacCallum, née Thompson, is a Vancouver girl who grew up in Kerrisdale, studied dance for many years from the age of three, married an Englishman and lived in England for 25 years where she brought up her three boys. After a divorce she returned to Canada, married again and inherited three young boys. When her husband retired and the boys had grown up Jane and Colin moved to Hornby Island and this is where and when Jane finally had the time to realize her long-ago wish to write, consolidating notes jotted down over many years. Jane now lives in West Vancouver with her husband Colin who has been the editor, adviser, contributor and artistic consultant for Jane’s novels and children’s stories.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Giselle and Jennie
Vansh Malhotra
Vansh Malhotra self-published this book in 2022. He has been inspired by Jonathan Reed's reverse poem, The Lost Generation, that his professor taught to him in an English Literature class, and he wrote a collection of reverse poems on controversial topics in society that are debatable. Read this book to get contrasting views of the same topic in one poem, and embrace the technique of reverse poetry. Vansh has completed an Associate Degree of Creative Writing and Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Interdisciplinary Studies (with Distinction) from Capilano University. He has represented his university in LongStoryShortAward 2022 contest and won prizes in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. He is currently working on a hybrid of lyric and narrative poems in which he juxtaposes childlike playfulness with mental health disorders. He wants to pursue an MFA from UBC and teach creative writing at postsecondary institutions.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Power of a Pen: A collection of Reverse poems
M. J. Milne
M. J. Milne (“MJ”) - Author, artist, feature film scriptwriter, traveler, bus driver, gold miner, receptionist, you name it, MJ’s been there, done that. As a result, her favorite saying is: “Life is an adventure! And it gets curiouser and curiouser along the trail.” Raised in the rainforests under a dormant volcano, in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada, educated at the Vancouver School of Art, the universities of UBC and SFU, Milne has loved every bit of the journey. Skilled in storytelling, grassroots publicity, and oil painting, her published writings include: Universal Tides a prophetic, socio-ecological Science Fiction novel; 12 Golden Keys for a New World an Inspirational Non-Fiction book; Secrets of the Italian Villa a Romance novel; and others simmering on the back burner. Website: MJMilne.com
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Secrets of the Italian Villa
Ana Miranda
Ana Miranda is a human being, a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend. She is an observer who feels deeply and is an advocate for positive change. "I am not a rocket scientist, a philosopher, or a wizard. Even if I were all three, I would still find myself looking off the edge of my understanding into a vast unknown. As I recognize my own limitations, I am more grateful than ever for a Higher Power who is free from such restrictions." Ref: Courage to change, page 225 New York, NY
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: phonedemic
Kirsten Pendreigh
Kirsten Pendreigh is a poet, journalist and children’s author from Vancouver. Inspired by hiking on local mountain trails and kayaking in West Coast waters, Kirsten’s books celebrate our early instincts to care for the plants and creatures that share our planet. Her 2025 nonfiction titles, WHEN A TREE FALLS (a PW Starred review) and WHAT FISH ARE SAYING (an SLJ Starred Review) use lyrical language to engage children in the cutting-edge science of underwater species communication and the crucial role fallen trees play in regenerating the forest. Kirsten’s fiction picture books include MAYBE A WHALE (a JLG Gold Standard Selection and Horn Book Fanfare Book of the Year), LUNA’S GREEN PET (a Quill & Quire and CCBC Book of the Year and Today Show pick) and CAMPING IS A TERRIBLE IDEA which publishes in 2026. Her poems are found in Canadian literary magazines and in Best Canadian Poetry.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: When a Tree Falls: Nurse Logs and their Incredible Forest Power, What Fish Are Saying: Strange Sounds in the Ocean
Catherine Peters
Cathy Peters is a former inner city high school teacher who raises awareness about sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking in Canada in order to stop it. Cathy learned about the crime over 45 years ago and has been speaking, educating and writing for the past 11 years to politicians, police and the public. Cathy has been awarded a Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal for her advocacy work.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Child Sex Trafficking in Canada and How to Stop It- second edition
Lindy Pfeil
Lindy Hughes Pfeil, is the author of two books (a novel, It Never Stays in Vegas, and a memoir, The Common Wife: Getting Lost, Dancing Naked, and Collecting Seashells), and the editor of four anthologies of community stories. She is the editor of The Beacon, a West Vancouver community newspaper, and has had her work shortlisted and published in literary contests and in numerous publications, including The Huffington Post. She facilitates writing workshops and works with authors writing their memoirs and life stories.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: West Vancouver Stories: the Wellness Edition
Toby Rogers
Toby was born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is the mother of two adult children and has dedicated herself to a career working in municipal government. With a simple action that she began with her kids as a way to spread kindness, Toby started collecting blankets and donations for people experiencing homelessness, which she would personally deliver to people in need living on the streets. This turned into an annual collection at her office and with friends and family, and over the span of 15 years, this endeavour grew to become three vans full of donations being delivered to individuals and organizations every winter. This inspired the idea of In a Magical Valley where kindness and thinking of others in need started to form a magical story. The title character was named after her daughter. This is Toby’s first book.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: In a Magical Valley
Elliot Rosin
Elliot Rosin drew animals from the time he could hold a pen. Particularly inspired by a visit to a game park in South Africa when he was 5, Elliot filled drawing book after drawing book with renditions of animals he saw, educating himself about them and their environments as he grew up. His first 'book' was an Animal Alphabet book he drew as an appreciation gift for his 1st Grade teacher. After completing high school at Rockridge Secondary School in West Vancouver, Elliot graduated from the University of Victoria with a degree in History and Art History/Visual Studies, subsequently honing his artistic skills with a certificate in Graphic Design from BCIT. Elliot is passionate about art, animals, the environment and conservation.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: African Tribal Animals Counting Book
Marie Sadro
Marie Sadro is a writer and educator who lives on the North Shore in Vancouver, BC. Born in Germany, she grew up in Saskatchewan, moved to Nelson and later to the North Shore where she raised her four children and worked as a teacher. She is an active member of the North Shore community and loves gardening and hiking. Her books are to be found on Amazon/Books.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Erika's Tales, Mariah: Death in Lynn Canyon
Lorinda Spooner
Lorinda Spooner is a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the American Board of Addiction Medicine. She started her healthcare career as a nurse working on Baffin Island in Canada's Arctic. There, she carried out house calls by skidoo and medivacs by Twin Otter airplanes. As a medical student she was blessed to meet Mother Teresa, while volunteering at one of the homes for the destitute and dying in the rough streets of Calcutta--a place that now has haunting echoes in the streets of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. As a doctor, Lorinda specialized in rural family practice, which allowed her to work in under-serviced areas on the British Columbia coast--Bella Coola and Haida Gwaii--and to return to Baffin Island numerous times. She was drawn to the beauty of the land and to the elders who were so open and so eager to show their traditional way of life. For the past 15 years, Lorinda has focused on addiction medicine, and has witnessed the drastic, catastrophic rise of addiction and death in the context of the opioid crisis. Her work experience includes: lead physician at the Vancouver Drug Court, the Downtown Eastside Mobile Medical Unit, the Vancouver Jail, outpatient primary care and addiction clinics, Vancouver General Hospital Complex Pain and Addiction Service, and most recently Corrections Health Care. Dr. Spooner began to write, "to try to find meaning out of all this suffering". Her book is a fund raiser for the Downtown Eastside Women's Center, all proceeds from the sale of her book will go to this critical organization, providing safety, sisterhood and santuary for vulnerable women since 1978. Lorinda lives on Vancouver's North Shore with her family, loving the ocean and local mountains.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Examining Room: Within the Walls of the Opioid Crisis
Mary Stern
Mary Stern, MPT, is a physiotherapist and the owner of Blueridge Physiotherapy & Wellness in North Vancouver. Known for her compassionate, authentic, and intuitive approach, Mary combines clinical expertise with a keen eye for the body’s patterns—drawing on her deep knowledge of anatomy, biomechanics, and the mind-body connection. The Emboldened Patient was born out of the frustration she witnessed in her clients navigating post-COVID care, alongside a personal experience supporting a loved one through a serious health challenge. In response, she wrote this book as a warm and practical bridge toward greater connection, clarity, and confidence in the healing process—for patients and care providers alike.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: The Emboldened Patient
Mary-Anne Taylor
Mary-Anne has lived in North Vancouver since 1982. She has two grown children. Since retiring from teaching at the Vancouver Waldorf School she spends her time swimming, knitting and writing. Her first novel, White Rabbit, was published as an e-book in 2021, and Home and Away is her second novel. She has recently been certified as a Peer Support Worker through the Hope Centre and is looking forward to supporting others who are recovering from a mental health crisis. She is currently editing a third novel and already has an idea for a fourth. She is an avid cold-water year round swimmer. Her husband of 48 years accompanies her on these ocean swims, but stays safely on the shore as her cheerleader and her 'lifeguard'.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Home and Away
L.J. Vanterra
LJ Vanterra lives on the west coast of Canada. LJ’s debut novel; Beyond the Wall was published in 2024. She is currently working on a second novel and collaborating with an artist on a picture book. LJ is a member of the North Shore Writers Association where she enjoys networking and learning with fellow writers. When not writing LJ explores other activities such as ice skating, cycling, snowshoeing, swimming, and reading the newspaper at coffee shops. During these solo activities, it is often where fresh ideas percolate. Occasionally LJ leaves her comfort zone to explore unfamiliar territory and encourages others to do so. For example, she recently took a course in Stand-Up comedy and had her debut performance in April 2025. Although she claims she will not pursue a career in Stand-Up comedy, she said the experience was both humbling and exhilarating, broadening her experience.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Beyond the Wall
Karen Wickerson
Karen Wickerson holds a Master of Arts degree specialising in Applied Behavioural Science. She was a Clinical Family Counsellor until she hung up her counselor's hat for her higher calling. As an Animal Telepath, she devotes her life to giving animals a voice, making a difference in their lives, and enhancing the lives of their humans. The purpose of this book is to give the reader a deeper understanding of animals' worlds about how sentient they are, how they understand more than we give them credit for. Karen reached Amazon's international best-seller status in March 2025.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Listen to Your Animals: They Know More Than You Think
Lucy Yang
Lucy Yang (she/her) writes and teaches on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples in British Columbia. She loves to explore language and literature with her students, and writes to examine feminist diasporic identities and intercultural pedagogy. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, ARC Poetry Magazine and BCTF Teacher Magazine. She is a finalist for the 2021 Foster Poetry Prize and a board member at Vancouver Poetry House. Ju is her debut chapbook.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Ju
Maryam Zarenejad Ashkezari
I've been living in North Shore since 2011. Before moving here, I wrote stories for magazines in my home country. Since 2014, I've been contributing to Daneshmand, a weekly Persian-language magazine. In 2020, during the Ukrainian plane crash tragedy (flight PS752), an article I wrote on the topic was published in North Shore News. I was also invited by CBC Radio to read my article in an audio format, which they later posted on their Facebook page. My writings are short stories in the social genre. Currently, I run Telegram channels where I share my own writings in audio format and post short articles on meditation. My two most recent books—one in English and one in Persian—were published in 2024.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: In what language can you say " Good Night"?, Nine months of staying at Mommy's hotel (Farsi: Noh mah eghamat dar hotel maman)
Peter Zednik
After obtaining an M.A. in Drama from University of Toronto, Peter Zednik has enjoyed a lifetime love affair writing fiction and plays. He is a three-time fiction winner with the North Shore Writers Association. His short story "The Theory of Relativity" was published in the collection "After Much Deliberation." "Dedication" was accorded Honourable Mention in a national short story competition adjudicated by Margaret Laurence. His scripts have been produced across Canada and internationally, earning Jessie Richardson Award nominations and a win for Best Script by an Emerging Playwright in 2000 for "Time After Time." He is an eight-time winner in the Canadian One-Act Playwriting Competition, including three 1st Prize awards ("Eye of the Storm" in 2013, "Three Things" in 2016 and "Sinkhole" in 2023). In 2023 his play "Toccata and Fugue" received Honourable Mention in both the Theatre BC Playwriting Competition and the Voaden Prize Playwriting Competition. In 2025 he won the Theatre BC Playwriting Competition in the One-Act Category for "63 Dates" and Special Merit in the Full-Length Division for "Reproduction." In 2024 Peter published his first novel, "Half Man." Peter has lived in North Vancouver, BC since 1992.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Half Man
Anna Zibarras
Dr. Anna Zibarras, PhD, has been immersed in the world of Metaphysics and esoteric Christianity for more than fifty years. She received a master's degree in metaphysical sciences and a PhD in metaphysical counselling. Anna's first book, "Above the Apparent and Beyond the Present" was published in 2011. In it, she explores the pursuit of spiritual development.
Titles in the 2025/2026 Collection: Discover the Eternal You!
