Word Vancouver recognizes the effect COVID safety measures have had on book launches. This book launch held in UBC Robson’s HSBC Hall aims to give authors another platform to reach the public and showcase their new works.
Location: HSBC Hall, Theatre, UBC Robson Square
10:00 AM - 10:50 AM
Rhiannon Wallace
Leopold's Leotard (Orca Book Publishers)
Rhiannon Wallace is a children’s author and librarian. She works in public libraries, providing services to visitors of all ages. When she is not writing stories or helping people find their next great read, she enjoys knitting, playing Ultimate, and going to local shows and concerts. Leopold's Leotard is her first book.
Nikki Bergstresser
Seasons for Stones (Brandylane Publishers)
Lila Lou's Little Library (Cardinal Rule Press)
Nikki Bergstresser is an educator and author of children’s books. Her latest picture book, Lila Lou’s Little Library (Cardinal Rule Press, 2021), contains themes of activism, generosity, and community. Seasons for Stones (Brandylane Publishers, 2020), shares with readers the power of a young girl’s kindness as it ripples through a neighbourhood. Nikki lives on the west coast of British Columbia with her husband, two daughters, and a plethora of critters. She facilitates online book clubs, instructs writing classes for children, and presents literature seminars for parents and educators.
Naomi Kelly
The Syren Stories (Self-Published)
Naomi Kelly in an independent author who writes fantasy romance full of mythology, magic, and mermaids! She began writing about five years ago and hasn't stopped since. Her stories always follow a strong-female lead who fights the status quo and stumbles into love along the way. Her most popular series to date, The Syren Stories, follows seventeen-year-old syren, Wren, who has just swam away from home - only to be caught within the net of an enemy King. This fast-paced adventure is full of beloved trophes such as 'The Chosen One,' 'Family Found' and 'Enemies-to-Lovers.' Perfect for fans of Percy Jackson, The Cruel Prince, and Circe.
Gregory J. Corcoran
Murder in the Mayan World (Self-Published)
Return of Gilgamesh (Self-Published)
Gregory J. Corcoran is a retired high school teacher from Vancouver. The murder mystery series was written at home under the COVID restrictions and based on his personal travel experiences in Mexico and Turkey. To see more short stories and photos please visit the website corkyreadz.com.
Paola Opal
Spookie (Simply Read Books)
Tecka (Simply Read Books)
I'm a Canadian graphic designer and author/illustrator with over 15 published titles. I am best known for my Simply Small board book series designed for little ones with growing minds. These books have received accolades including a Kirkus Star and multiple listings on the Canadian Toy Testing Council’s great books for children. I live in Surrey, BC, and you can find out more at paolaopal.com.
11:00 AM – 11:50 AM
Geoff Mynett
Murders on the Skeena (Caitlin Press)
Pinkerton's and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot (Caitlin Press)
Geoff Mynett is a retired lawyer who lives in Vancouver.
Megan Clendenan
Cities: How Humans Live Together (Orca Book Publishers)
Design Like Nature (Orca Book Publishers)
Megan Clendenan has worked for women’s rights, mental health, and youth empowerment nonprofits as well as for an environmental law group, where she realized for the first time that the court system could be a way to help protect human health from pollution and toxic chemicals. She is the co-author of Design Like Nature, part of the Orca Footprints series, as well as the author of Cities: How Humans Live Together, Fresh Air, Clean Water: Our Right to a Healthy Environment and Offbeat, a novel for young readers. Megan lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia, with her family. Co-author Kim Ryall Woolcock has always loved books and biology. She has an honors degree in literature from UBC and a master's in biology from Duke University. A full-time science writer and editor, Kim lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, with her family. This is her first book.
Tara K. Torme
In Conversation Volumes I-IV (Silver Bow)
Bull (Silver Bow)
Ite, Missa Est Volumes I & II (Silver Bow)
T K Torme was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1987 and moved to Vancouver, BC in 1992. She received her B.A. in English in 2001. She has been writing since she was a child and has always loved reading and writing poetry. It brings her great joy & relaxation and opens her mind up to a myriad of new possibilities allowing her to expand her thoughts and channel them from her mind onto the page into poetry. T K has Asperger’s Syndrome, and she has found poetry helps her to express her feelings with clarity in concise words.
Pam Withers & Arooj Hayat
The Parkour Club (Self-Published)
PAM WITHERS writes award-winning, best-selling young-adult outdoor sports and adventure books – which are particularly popular with boys. She's a former journalist and editor who was also an outdoor guide. Pam is a three-time Ontario Library Association Red Maple Award nominee (for Stowaway, Tracker’s Canyon, and First Descent), and a Silver Nautilus Book Awards winner for The Parkour Club and First Descent. For other awards and nominations, check out pamwithers.com/bio/
Pam Withers
Mountain Runaways (Dundurn Press)
PAM WITHERS writes award-winning, best-selling young-adult outdoor sports and adventure books – which are particularly popular with boys. She's a former journalist and editor who was also an outdoor guide. Pam is a three-time Ontario Library Association Red Maple Award nominee (for Stowaway, Tracker’s Canyon, and First Descent), and a Silver Nautilus Book Awards winner for The Parkour Club and First Descent. For other awards and nominations, check out pamwithers.com/bio/
Winona Kent
Lost Time (Self-Published)
Winona Kent is an award-winning author who was born in London, England and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing. More recently, she received her diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School. Winona's writing breakthrough came many years ago when she won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with her short story about an all-night radio newsman, Tower of Power. Her short story Dietrich's Ash was an Okanagan Short Fiction Award winner and was published in Canadian Author & Bookman, anthologized in Pure Fiction (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) and broadcast on the CBC Radio program Ambience. Her short story Creatures from Greek Mythology was a Second Prize Winner and WQ Editors Prize and was published in Cross-Canada Writers Quarterly. Her spy novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Competition and was published in 1989. This was followed by a sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, and her first mystery, Cold Play, set aboard a cruise ship in Alaska. After three time-travel romances (Persistence of Memory, In Loving Memory and Marianne's Memory), Winona returned to mysteries with Disturbing the Peace, a novella, in 2017 and the novel Notes on a Missing G-String in 2019, both featuring the character she first introduced in Cold Play, professional jazz musician / amateur sleuth Jason Davey. The third book in Winona's Jason Davey Mystery series, Lost Time, was published in 2020. The fourth book in Winona's Jason Davey Mystery series, Ticket to Ride, was published in 2022. Winona's novella Salty Dog Blues, featuring Jason Davey in what is chronologically his first mystery, was published in Sisters in Crime-Canada West's anthology Crime Wave in October 2020. Salty Dog Blues was nominated as a finalist in Crime Writers of Canada's Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella in April 2021
12:00 PM – 12:50 PM
Ann Eriksson
Bird's-Eye View (Orca Book Publishers)
Nature is at the core of biologist and writer Ann Eriksson’s work. The author of five adult novels and three non-fiction ecological literacy books for younger readers, Ann aims to live lightly on the earth. Ann is the volunteer executive director of the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy. She lives, with gratitude, on Thetis Island, within the unceded traditional territory of the Hul’q’umi’num’-speaking Coast Salish People.
Phyllis Dyson
Among Silent Echoes (Caitlin Press)
Phyllis Dyson is an elementary school teacher who holds a bachelor of arts in music and a graduate diploma in special education. She is a long-time member of the BC Schizophrenia Society and has promoted mental health awareness in her community. She lives in a small town on BC’s west coast with her husband and two daughters where she enjoys hiking, playing her flute, and boating with her family.
Denise M. Nadeau
Unsettling Spirit (McGill-Queen's University Press)
Denise Nadeau is a mother, grandmother, educator, scholar, and activist who works and writes at the intersection of somatic therapy, spiritual practice, and racial justice. Her interest is in how the body holds racist and colonial patterns of behavior and how we can unlearn these through paying attention to the body and our interactions with the more - than - human world. She is of mixed European settler heritage from Quebec, and now resides in the homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples in Victoria. She is the author of Unsettling Spirit: A Journey into Decolonization (MQUP,2020) and is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University, Montreal.
Kim Mooney
Hidden Daughter-Secret Sister (Austin Macauley)
Kim Mooney is the author of “Hidden Daughter-Secret Sister, A Story of Adoption”. This is the story of the search for her mother and the secrets that swirled around them for thirty years. Alma Lee, founding director of The Vancouver Writers Fest and the Writer’s Union of Canada said, “There were parts that brought tears to my eyes - very moving- it deserves attention.” Kim’s newest book is called “After That Day: Stories of Resilience”. It tells the stories of nine ordinary people who faced instantaneous loss and how their resilience helped them find hope again. As an Associate faulty member of Royal Roads University in Victoria BC, Kim taught in the Schools of Leadership and Business where she built her skills as a storyteller. After retiring, she began to write, telling her own stories focusing on tales of strength and courage. Kim is a member of the Writers Union of Canada and the Authors Guild. Kim and her husband divide their time between their homes in Tsawwassen BC and Galiano Island. She is a voracious reader, a lazy gardener and an enthusiastic somewhat competent harpist. You can read more about Kim on her website: www.kim-mooney.com
Anuradha Rao
One Earth (Orca Book Publishers)
Anuradha Rao is a Registered Professional Biologist, writer and facilitator. She has worked on research, conservation, mapping, planning, policy, restoration and stewardship projects across Canada and in 12 other countries. She is the author of the book One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet (Orca, 2020) and more than two dozen other publications. She is currently Senior Environmental Specialist-Marine Ecosystems, on staff with Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Her worldview and approach to science are influenced by her own Indian culture, and the teachings of Indigenous knowledge holders. These teachings and the principles of ecology have shown her that everything and everyone is connected, and that we must remember this in our actions and interactions. Anu finds her happy place when she walks off a beach and snorkels among the creatures of the sea.
1:00 PM – 1:50 PM
PJ Patten
Tower 25 (Cloudscape Comics)
PJ Patten is a poet, author, and illustrator. Tower 25 is based on his own experience of addiction and homelessness in Southern California where he grew up. This is his first graphic novel.
Tanja Bartel
Everyone at This Party (Goose Lane Editions)
Tanja Bartel is a graduate of both the SFU Writer’s Studio and the University of British Columbia MFA program. She taught high school English for many years. Her debut collection, Everyone at This Party, was published in 2020 (Goose Lane Editions/icehouse poetry). The poem, “Oxygen,” rode BC buses and Skytrains in 2021-22 as part of Poetry in Transit. Her publications also include Geist, The Antigonish Review, CV2, the Puritan, Grain, and the anthology We Are One: Poems of the Pandemic. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC.
Matthew Tomkinson & Geoffrey Morrison
Archaic Torso of Gumby (Gordon Hill Press)
Matthew is the author of poems (Guernica Editions, 2022), Paroxysms (Paper View Books, 2022), For a Long Time (Frog Hollow Press, 2019), and Archaic Torso of Gumby (Gordon Hill Press, 2020), co-authored with Geoffrey D. Morrison. His shorter work has appeared in venues such as Exacting Clam, Anthem Press, The Town Crier, Performance Matters, Sonic Scope, Theatre Research in Canada, and Capacious: Journal for Emerging Affect Inquiry. He lives on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Geoffrey D. Morrison is author of the poetry chapbook Blood-Brain Barrier and coauthor of the experimental short fiction collection Archaic Torso of Gumby. His debut novel, Falling Hour, is out with Coach House Books. He lives on unceded Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh territory.
Ash Winters
Run Riot: Ninety Poems in Ninety Days (Caitlin Press)
Ash Winters is a Gender queer, sober, poet who's work navigates complex and colourful emotional landscapes. They graduated with their BA in English from Lakehead University in 2010. Their poetry and prose have appeared in; Existere, Open Minds Quarterly, The White Wall Review, Free Fall Magazine, and Into the Void. Their first collection of poetry, Run Riot: Ninety Poems in Ninety Days came out with Caitlin Press in January 2021.
Jennie Tschoban
Tales & Lies My Baba Told Me (JTS Press)
In 1944, Jennie Tschoban and her family fled their home in Ukraine while Stalin and Hitler fought for control of Europe during WWII. For over four years, they survived in Displaced Persons Camps in Germany. On February 23, 1949, Jennie and family disembarked ship Samaria in Halifax NS, moved to Lachine QU and for over seven decades enjoyed a life of freedom in Kanada. Together with daughter April Qureshi, they wrote two cookbooks - Kapusta or Cabbage, and MORE KorC. Jennie's memoir, Tales & Lies My Baba Told Me', published in September 2020, is selected for the Gibsons Public Library Book Club and will be featured on August 24, 2023 - in celebrating Ukrainian Independence Day.
2:00 PM – 2:50 PM
Kelly Rose Pflug-Back
The Hammer of Witches (Caitlin Press)
Kelly Rose Pflug-Back is an author, educator and textile artist. Their fiction, poetry, and journalism have appeared before in places like This Magazine, Augur, The Deadlands, Briarpatch, and many others, as well as receiving awards and nominations from the Rhysling Foundation, The P.K. Page Irwin Foundation, This Magazine's Great Canadian Literary Hunt, and the Bisexual Book Awards. Her debut book of poetry, The Hammer of Witches, was published with Caitlin Press/Dagger Editions in 2020.
Margaret Cadwaladr
Food Floor: My Woodward's Days (Madrona Books)
Margaret Cadwaladr is the author of Food Floor: My Woodward’s Days, her short memoir of working as a grocery cashier at Woodward’s Food Floor in Vancouver during the 1960s. She started to write the book in August 2019 but before completion, COVID-19 shone a light on the important role of the grocery store clerks and cashiers. The book is dedicated to their courage and hard work. It is illustrated with black & white and colour photographs, both historical and contemporary. Margaret is also the author of In Veronica’s Garden: the Social History of the Milner Gardens and Woodland and A Secret Garden: the Story of Darts Hill Garden Park. She has had many articles published locally and internationally in magazines, newspapers and journals and has extensive experience as a public speaker. She was born in Vancouver, BC and a special interest in autobiography and life story. She currently lives in Nanaimo.
Claire Eamer
Extremely Gross Animals (Kids Can Press)
Claire Eamer is a journalist, a science writer and editor, and an award-winning author of nonfiction books for children. She has also had several short stories published and is working on a couple of middle-grade fantasy projects. Her most recent book, Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations, was released by Kids Can Press in June 2021.
S.M. Freedman
The Day She Died (Dundurn Press)
Bestselling psychological thriller author S.M. Freedman spent a decade working as a private investigator on the not-so-mean streets of Vancouver before returning to her first love, writing. She's the author of The Faithful (Suspense Magazine's Best Debut of the Year), Impact Winter, The Day She Died, and Blood Atonement (Globe and Mail's Top 100 Best Books of 2022).
Heather Haley
Skookum Raven (Ekstasis Editions)
Vancouver writer, singer and videopoetry pioneer, Heather Haley is the author of “Sideways,” “Three Blocks West of Wonderland,” Skookum Raven” and a novel, “The Town Slut's Daughter.” As AURAL Heather, she released critically acclaimed CDs of spoken word song, “Princess Nut” and “Surfing Season.” Committed to honesty, feeling, craft and a sense of the absurd, her work continues to ask all the tough questions “a nice girl’s not supposed to ask.” Currently Haley performs in the indie folk duo The Pluviophiles.
3:00 PM - 3:50 PM
Christina Myers
The List of Last Chances (Caitlin Press)
Christina Myers is a writer, editor and former journalist. Her novel The List of Last Chances (2021) was longlisted for the 2022 Leacock Medal and shortlisted for the Fred Kerner Book Award. Her next book, Halfway Home: Thoughts from Midlife, a collection of essays, is forthcoming from House of Anansi in 2024. She is also currently at work on her next novel. Her writing has also appeared in magazines, journals, online and in a dozen anthologies, including one that she created and edited. She is a member of Da’naxda’xw First Nation, North Vancouver Island, and lives in Surrey, BC, with her family in a very small, very old house with a big garden.
Jami Lynne Gigot
My Daddy Can Fly (Penguin Random House)
Starboy: Inspired by the Life and Lyrics of David Bowie (Henry Holt & Co)
Jami Gigot is the author and/or illustrator of several picture books including My Daddy Can Fly, Starboy - Inspired by the Life and Lyrics of David Bowie, Imagination Vacation, Mae and the Moon and Seb and the Sun (which was nominated for the Ezra Jack Keats Award). She also works in the vfx film industry as a visual artist and has worked on more than 30 motion pictures such as Marvel's Shang-Chi, and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, she studied digital animation at Vancouver Film School and worked in Los Angeles and London before moving back to Vancouver, B.C., where she now lives with her husband, two children and a big orange cat. In addition to writing, illustrating, or working on films, Jami loves cozying up with a good book and thick socks, and hiking through the rainforest with her family. Visit her at http://www.jamigigot.com.
Lee Edward Födi
Spell Sweeper (HarperCollins Publishing)
Lee Edward Födi is an author, illustrator, and specialized arts educator—or, as he likes to think of himself, a daydreaming expert. He is the author of several books for children, including the Kendra Kandlestar series, The Books of Zoone, and Spell Sweeper. He is an engaging public speaker, specializing in presentations and workshops for children of all ages. He has taught programs for kids in Canada, the United States, South Korea, China, Thailand, and England. In addition, he is a co-founder of The Creative Writing for Children Society (CWC), a Vancouver-based not-for-profit program in which children’s authors, illustrators, and performers help kids publish their own books. Lee studied at the University of British Columbia and has a degree in English Literature and a diploma in Fine Arts. He lives in North Vancouver, with his wife and son.
Alison Acheson
Dance Me to the End (Touchwood Editions)
Alison Acheson has published eleven books from picturebooks to nonfiction, short fiction, middle-grade historical and YA. She has taught in the Creative Writing School at UBC, and now has a newsletter on Substack, The Unschool for Writers: https://unschoolforwriters.substack.com/ Her most recent book, a memoir of caregiving her spouse through ALS, has been released as an audiobook with the voice of Ellen Dubin, nominated for both SOVAS and ACTRA Awards for the work.
Mark David Smith
The Deepest Dig (Owlkids Books)
Mark David Smith has dug many holes but usually unearths rocks, roots, or underground creatures that prefer to be left alone. He is a teacher and writer living in Port Coquitlam, BC.
