Who’s Who
Alyssa Hall
A is for Alyssa
What if the past refused to stay behind? Alyssa Hall returns to her recurring investigator in You Can Never Go Back (FriesenPress $17.99), a mystery that follows Joe Parrott as he grapples with the aftermath of a case that continues to unsettle both him and those around him. Based in Langley, BC, Hall has built a steady body of work earning multiple Literary Titan and Readers’ Choice awards. In this latest novel, she weaves psychological tension with shifting relationships, as characters confront trauma, change and the possibility that revisiting the past may come at a cost. 9781038357977
Lisa Brideau. Photo by J. Josue Photography
B is for Brideau
Lisa Brideau’s debut novel, Adrift (Sourcebooks Landmark $25.99) is a suspenseful climate fiction novel set in Haida Gwaii and Nanaimo. The story takes place in a near-future world struggling with climate change where a woman wakes up alone on a sailboat in a remote area of Haida Gwaii. She has no memory of who she is or how she got there; she only has a cryptic note which ends with the warning: don’t look back. The story follows her as she struggles with the choice to heed the advice and move forward into a new life, or try to reclaim the person she once was. Adrift is simultaneously a thriller, a character-driven odyssey and an unsettling, plausible picture of what our future could be. Margaret Cannon of the Globe and Mail said, “I was as transfixed by Brideau’s vision of the future as Ess’s survival. This is, in many ways, a very scary book. “Adrift was nominated for a Strand Critics Choice Award, a Crime Writer’s of Canada Award and won the 2024 Evergreen Award. Brideau was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia but has called Vancouver home since 2004. A former aerospace engineer, she now works as a municipal sustainability specialist on climate policy and climate justice. 9781728265681
Calvin White
C is for Calvin
What does it mean to exist, fully and attentively, in a fragile and shifting world? Calvin White’s Existence In All Its Uncoverable Beauty (Now or Never Publishing $19.95) continues his exploration of human experience through poetry that engages with nature, consciousness and the complexities of being. A Salmon Arm–based writer with more than 130 essays published in major Canadian newspapers, White brings a journalistic sensitivity to observation alongside a poetic lens shaped by earlier collections such as Facing the Sweating Horse (Now or Never Publishing, 2022). In this latest work, he reflects on both the natural world and inner life, inviting readers to consider the interplay between perception, identity and connection. 9781989689981
David Ly
D is for David
Vietnamese creation myths echo through David Ly’s debut fantasy novel Not All Dragons (Poplar Press $24), a myth-rich tale of memory, destiny and becoming. When Rhys washes ashore in the land of Lanilia with mystery wounds and no past, his search for identity unfolds through prophecy, dragons and an uneasy alliance with Delia, a mermaid who knows he does not belong. Blending epic fantasy with questions of selfhood and transformation, Not All Dragons extends Ly’s long-standing literary interests into speculative terrain. 9781998408429
Eliza Gordon
E is for Eliza
Love doesn’t arrive neatly—it crashes in when everything else falls apart. Writing as Eliza Gordon, Jennifer Sommersby returns with Wish Upon a Rosie (SGA Books $23.99), a novel that follows a woman rebuilding her life while helping others face loss, only to confront the secrets she’s been avoiding herself. A bestselling author with more than a dozen titles across genres, Sommersby has seen her work top charts on major platforms including a #1 debut for this release in Amazon’s Hot New Releases. Alongside her fiction, she works as an editor and mentor to writers through her publishing ventures in British Columbia, bringing an insider’s understanding of storytelling to a book that explores grief, trust and the difficult act of choosing oneself. 9781989908082
Andrea Fritz
F is for Fritz
The extinct Salish Woolly Dog was integral to Coast Salish people including as a source of wool as Andrea Fritz tells in her picture book, Woolly Dog Warms His Family (Orca $21.95) for ages 3 – 5. Using her skills as a Coast Salish artist and storyteller, Fritz describes Sqwiqwmi’ a wooly dog who sets out to gather natural fibers for his human family including mountain goat wool, nettle stalks and fireweed fluff. Fritz also describes the skill of weaving, which takes enormous amounts of time and wool to create a blanket for just one person, making blankets an important item in Coast Salish culture. Some Hul’q’umi’num words are employed. 9781459836303
Christopher Gaze
G is for Gaze
Founder of Bard on the Beach, Christopher Gaze reflects on five decades of theatre in The Road to Bard: A Legacy of Shakespeare on Canada’s West Coast (Harbour Publishing $40.00). In The Road to Bard, Gaze traces his journey from England’s Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to Canada in 1975 and from the founding of Vancouver’s Shakespeare festival in 1990 to its growth into a major cultural institution welcoming approximately 88,000 visitors annually. Along the way, he recounts unexpected detours—waiting tables, driving cattle in Montana, fundraising and steering the company through the COVID-19 shutdown—while offering a personal history of Canadian theatre over the past half-century. 9781998526284
Lesley Hebert
H is for Hebert
The Heart of Japan (Ace of Swords $26.99), a travel memoir that follows Hebert’s journey through Japan with her family as she navigates both cultural discovery and personal connection. A retired ESL teacher based in New Westminster, BC, Hebert draws on a lifelong fascination with language and culture, shaped by travels across Europe, Asia and the Americas. In The Heart of Japan, encounters with places like Tokyo, Kyoto and Fukushima unfold alongside a quieter effort to bridge distance with her daughter-in-law, offering a narrative that blends observation, reflection and cross-cultural experience. 9781834320212
Roy Innes
I is for Innes
Crime returns to Vancouver’s waterfront in The False Creek Murder: An Inspector Coswell Mystery (NeWest $23.95), the fifth instalment in Roy Innes’s long-running series. In The False Creek Murder, a routine drug bust ends in tragedy when a young constable is killed, pushing Sergeant Janet Bostock into leadership of the narcotics squad. Reunited with RCMP homicide division head Inspector Mark Coswell, the pair must unravel three seemingly unrelated murders. As Coswell navigates shifting alliances and mounting pressure, Innes once again explores the human dimensions of crime through characters praised by Louise Penny as “alive, likable, and flawed.” Now based on Gabriola Island, BC, he balances city life and the outdoors, drawing on his varied interests—from classical music to hunting—to shape the texture and setting of his fiction. 9781774391389
Johanna Wagstaffe
J is for Johanna
Meteorologist and science host Johanna Wagstaffe brings her passion for earth science to Little Volcano: The Science of Earth’s Eruptions (Orca $21.95), illustrated by Julie McLaughlin, a children’s book that follows Stevie, an underwater volcano discovering her identity while introducing young readers to volcanic science. A familiar voice from CBC Vancouver and CBC News Network, Wagstaffe builds on her background in seismology and geophysics to make complex natural phenomena accessible. Blending narrative with diagrams, real-world examples and safety insights, Little Volcano reflects her ongoing commitment to science education, shaped in part by personal histories of displacement and encounters with natural disasters that inform her perspective on the power of the Earth. 9781459844223
Marty Kramer. Photo by Jason Payne.
K is for Kramer
He has photos with his arm around Ringo Starr (of The Beatles fame) and holding boots given to him by John Entwistle (bass player for the Who). They are just two of the many famous rock & roll musicians from the 1960s into the 21st century that Richmond-based Marty Kramer worked for as a tour manager and “fixer.” Now 78, Kramer shares his stories in his memoir Road Boss (Mosaic $24.95) written with David Wolinsky. This backstage glimpse into music history includes Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, Tina Turna, Neil Young and Kramer’s good buddies, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (The Guess Who). 9781771618083
Linda Brierly
L is for Linda
“I not only lost track of where I was, but I lost track of time. I don’t remember being afraid or worried.” A sense of curiosity and trust runs through Linda Brierly’s Edge of the Ledge: A Memoir of Adventures Lived and Lessons Learned (Friesen $25.99), a reflective account of a life shaped by travel, faith and cross-cultural experience. A nurse and longtime globetrotter, Brierly recounts journeys alongside her husband Bill, from remote living in British Columbia to community development work in Guatemala, where they co-founded a non-profit supporting the Pokomchi people. Blending personal narrative with spiritual reflection, Edge of the Ledge explores risk, resilience and the search for purpose across cultures and landscapes. 9781038340641
Stuart Morse
M is for Morse
Addiction is the starting point for Stuart Morse’s work, shaping both his personal journey and his approach to understanding recovery. A certified addictions coach with more than three decades in the technology sector, Morse brings an analytical perspective to his book The Science and Spirituality of Addiction: A Healing Guide for a Broken World (Resource Publications $49.99), where he examines addiction as a disruption of connection rather than a moral failing. Born in England, he draws on early experiences within a culture shaped by alcohol, as well as a varied career that includes forestry, music and software development. In The Science and Spirituality of Addiction, he explores how neurochemical processes, emotional wounds and social environments intersect, while emphasizing recovery as a process of reconnection—with self, others and community. 9798385264704
Rosalie Nyce. photo credit: James Nyce.
N is for Nyce
Navigating grief and friendship as a neurodivergent kid is the core inspiration behind the picture book The Crow and the Garden (Orca $21.95), by author and educator Rosalie Nyce. Nyce, a mother, teacher, school counselor and writer, currently lives on Gitxsan territory. Her book tells the story of Maeve, an autistic girl who loves crows and talks to the ghost of her late aunt and her friendship with Fern, a new student mourning the loss of her father. Through their connection, Maeve’s origami crows and Fern’s drawings of her father’s favorite plants bloom into living magic, cultivating a magical garden and an even more magical connection. Nyce has formal degrees in music, psychology and education and previously spent several years on the spoken word poetry festival circuit. 9781459840072
Cathalynn Labonté-Smith
O is for Outsider
As an atheist teenager growing up in a Mormon community, Cathalynn Labonté-Smith was an outsider. Then she fell in love with a Mormon boy. What’s a lovelorn girl to do but join the Mormon church, a decision Labonté-Smith recounts in I’m Not a Mormon (Anymore): An Outsider’s Journey in Loving & Leaving the Church (Caitlin $26). She draws from the journals of her youth and includes conversations and interviews with former schoolmates, including Mormons, ex-Mormons and non-Mormons—some of whom were bullied. Labonté-Smith, who now lives in Gibsons, also explores why she ultimately left Mormonism. 9781773861814
bronwyn preece
P is for preece
Written in wet tents and along rugged trails, bronwyn preece’s hiking beyond: poems from the trail (Caitlin Press $24.00) gathers reflections shaped by solo backcountry journeys and the realities of living in a body marked by injury and genetic disorder. A Whistler-based, site-sensitive artist and community-engaged practitioner, preece draws on her interdisciplinary background in applied theatre and performance to create work grounded in place, ecology and lived experience. This second book continues her exploration of movement, resilience and connection to land, weaving geology, botany and personal narrative into a poetic practice that centres awareness, responsibility and small acts of repair. 9781773861845
Christine Quintana
Q is for Quintana
Set in a Mexican resort, the lives of Sarah, a cynical Canadian wedding guest, and Adriana, a perfectionist hotel floor manager, intersect in unexpected ways in Christine Quintana’s latest play, Espejos: Clean (Playwrights Canada Press $19.99). Sarah’s pessimism and Adriana’s quest for order mask deeper anxieties, which come to light as their parallel realities collide. Through poignant and often humorous monologues, the bilingual play delves into themes of female strength, solidarity, and the struggles each woman faces in navigating her world. Speaking directly to the audience, their stories reveal both contrasts and commonalities, magnifying their shared pain and resilience. The play was adapted and translated into Spanish by Paula Zelaya-Cervantes. 9780369104588
Harley Rothstein
R is for Rothstein
Author, historian and retired educator, Harley Rothstein has studied alternative education for half a century. His title, Alternative Schools in British Columbia 1960-1975: A Social and Cultural History (FriesenPress $30.99) tells of BC’s burgeoning alternative school movement by profiling ten schools—from downtown Vancouver to remote communities. Challenging then-dominant educational approaches, these schools went about it in different ways. A few flourished while others struggled, but collectively they helped reshape mainstream education. Rothstein examines the emergence of alternative schools with insights from more than 350 interviews he conducted with students, parents and teachers. Includes images from news articles of the day and traces the movement’s origins back to the late 18th century. 9781039135574
Shari Green
S is for Shari
In this ode to the delights found in a summer’s day, readers of all ages are invited to notice, savour and linger in life’s small moments. Shari Green’s Savor the Day (Sleeping Bear Press $27.99) follows a young girl and her grandfather on a beachside outing, where sensory pleasures—from cool ocean water to ripe fruit and warm sand—unfold through rhythmic, lyrical text. An award-winning author of novels in verse, Green brings her poetic sensibility to this picture book, pairing gentle storytelling with illustrations by Gabby Grant to reflect her deep connection to nature. Based on Vancouver Island, BC, she draws inspiration from coastal landscapes that shape a story centred on presence, memory and shared experience. 9781534113534
Troy Wilson
T is for Troy
A lifelong storyteller, Troy Wilson brings quiet humour and emotional insight to Still Friends (Orca $21.95), a tender picture book about an unlikely bond between a dog and a silent stone girl in the park. Told from a dog’s point of view, the story gently explores friendship, difference, patience and the comfort of simply being there for one another. What begins as dismissal turns into trust, as the dog learns that companionship doesn’t always look the way we expect it to. Wilson grew up immersed in books, comics and drawing, a love that carried him through an eclectic working life that has included everything from radio production and library work to caregiving and education. 9781459842571
Ryan Uytdewilligen
U is for Uytdewilligen
Raised on a family farm in Alberta, Ryan Uytdewilligen acted in after-school productions, later worked in radio and print journalism and then attended Vancouver Film School to study creative writing. Working with illustrator Charlotte Cho, a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Uytdewilligen created the picture book The Next Big Pigs (Heritage $12.95), for ages 7 – 9, about Mikey, a farm kid who wants to perform. Lucky for Mikey he discovers his three pigs can talk and even dance. Together, the foursome plans a Broadway show. But will they get off the farm in time to avoid the evil Mr. Baconmaker? 9781772035766
Veronique Darwin. Photo: credit: Antoine Marcheterre.
V is for Veronique
Veronique Darwin makes her debut with Mom Camp (Assembly Press $23.95), a collection of interconnected fiction that philosophically explores modern female archetypes and divided selves. Framed through parallel narratives and a novella, Mom Camp follows women of different ages negotiating the roles they inhabit—sister, friend, server, lover and the tension between who they have been and who they are becoming. A runner-up for the 2024 Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence, Darwin lives in Rossland, BC, where she writes, teaches and make theatre. 9781998336319
Veronica Woodruff
W is for Woodruff
Raised in a family affected by addiction and later working in environments where alcohol was central to social and professional life, Veronica Woodruff traces how drinking becomes normalized—from Prohibition-era attitudes to today’s sober curious movement. Woodruff’s debut, Blind Drunk: A Sober Look at Our Boozy Culture (Tidewater Press $24.95), a memoir-driven examination of North America’s drinking culture through both lived experience and research. Based in Pemberton, BC, on Lil̓wat Nation territory, her work in environmental science and leadership informs a broader lens on behaviour, systems and social change, grounding Blind Drunk in both personal insight and cultural analysis. 9781990160462
Mary Fox
X is for Fox
Renowned potter Mary Fox shares her knowledge of glazing in Developing Glazes: Low-Fire Reduction and Oxidation (Harbour Publishing $44.95), a guide that encourages ceramic artists to experiment with confidence. Rather than relying on ready-made glazes, Fox invites potters to explore the use of minerals and clay slips, offering step-by-step instructions and techniques for low-temperature firing. All royalties are donated to the endowment fund for the Legacy Project, which supports the careers of emerging potters through apprenticeships, residencies, studio space and a library of instructional videos. A self-taught exploratory potter, Fox moved with her family to British Columbia in 1966. She has worked exclusively as an artist since then, developing an international reputation for her sculptural ceramic vessels. In Developing Glazes, she extends this mentorship to readers, blending her creative philosophy with practical techniques to help others discover joy and freedom in the glazing process. 9781998526253
Monica Yuzak
Y is for Yuzak
Her first love, travel, carried Monica Yuzak far beyond her childhood in a small northern Saskatchewan town and into a life shaped by movement, medicine and motherhood. Yuzak traces her journey from newly minted doctor and young mother to a woman living and working across Papua New Guinea, the Northwest Territories and New Zealand, always chasing experience and perspective in Never Still (Tellwell $19.99). When her daughter became a teenager, Yuzak kept a promise to settle in Vancouver, discovering that restlessness can evolve into a deeper way of seeing—one rooted as much in attention as in geography. Part memoir, part reflection on belonging, Never Still captures a life defined by curiosity, courage and continual motion. 9781779620644
Ernie J. Zelinski
Z is for Zelinski
Life coach and career coach, Ernie J. Zelinski has sold over a million books including his signature title How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (Visions International, 2003). Zelinski’s latest guidebook, Great Friends Rock: How to Find Them—and Keep Them! (Visions International $21.95), provides advice on such topics as discovering new places to meet new friends, enhancing the friendships you already have (including how to avoid arguments with friends), lowering the risks of bad friendships, getting rid of toxic friends and becoming a better friend yourself. Zelinski splits his time between Vancouver and Edmonton, Alberta. 9781927452127
