Not only is May 12th our first market day it’s also a special tribute to LitFest NewWest. We have invited seven authors and one book committee to join us at the market. You can find them under the Arts Council of New Westminster tent ready to sell their amazing books. We will also have the authors reading periodically throughout the market.

Check out these talented authors that are joining us this week!

Emily Wight is a writer, science communicator, speaker, and cookbook author. She spends her days parsing the language of neuroscience, and her nights writing recipes and nonfiction. She has a BFA in Creative Writing from UBC, and her work has appeared in Room, SAD Mag, OCW, Vancouver Magazine, in Boobs – an upcoming anthology from Caitlin Press, and online. Her first cookbook, Well Fed, Flat Broke: Recipes for Modest Budgets and Messy Kitchens, was published by Arsenal Pulp Press (April 2015). Her blog is at wellfedflatbroke.com; you can also connect with her on Facebook (facebook.com/WellFedFlatBroke) or on Instagram (instagram.com/emvandee).

Leigh Matthews is a queer, vegan, feminist writer living in Vancouver, BC. She has published three novels and one work of non-fiction, including Don’t Bang the Barista! and Go Deep. Leigh participated in the 2015 and 2016 Queer Arts Festival, Art Song Lab 2015 and 2016, and her work has appeared in Hobart Pulp, Driftwood, and elsewhere. You can connect with Leigh through her website is: http://www.theinkwell.org Twitter: @thetastyvegan or
Ig: Ways.of.knowing.

Claire McCague has spent time playing with focused electron beams, ion beams, femtosecond laser beams, neutron beams and plain, old x-rays.  She has a doctorate in chemistry to support her arts habits, and spends her days trying to save the world through development of nanostructured materials for sustainable energy conversion systems.  Claire performs regularly with the Sybaritic String Band and her other worldly plays have been featured in festivals across Canada.  The Rosetta Man is her first novel. You can connect with Claire http://edgewebsite.com/books/therosettaman/therosettaman-catalog.html FB: claire.mccague.9 Twitter.com/clairemccague

Alan Hill live in New Westminster in Canada. He has been previously published in North America in CV2, Canadian Literature, Vancouver Review, Antigonish Review, Sub-Terrain, Poetry is Dead, Quills, Impressment Gang, Cascadia Review, Event (upcoming) Reunion- The Dallas Review and in a number of anthologies -and in the United Kingdom in South, The Wolf, Brittle Star and Turbulence. His second full collection, The Broken Word (Silver-Bow Press), was published in mid 2013. He is a regular reader of poetry at readings in Vancouver and New Westminster and has appeared at events including  ‘Word on The Street’ and ‘Summer Dreams’ literary festivals, Poetry in The Park (new Westminster) and Poetic Justice (New Westminster)  .https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlanHil

Monica Gartner is the author of Overcoming the Impossible – A Life of Trials and Triumphs. Since writing this book, Monica now works as a civil servant in Human Resources Department, and continues to volunteer her time with the Canadian Assisted Travel Society. She is also on the board for Realwheels Theatre. Monica is available for speaking engagements and is able to talk on a variety of topics such as Ditch Fear and Live in Freedom, Superior Customer Service, Creating a non-profit group and Overcoming the Impossible and much more.

Franci Louann, born in Stratford as Frances Louann Workman, is a poet who comes across as being unconditionally committed to the development of poetry and poetics. The author of ‘innumerable’ collections of poems (some manuscripts published), Franci has initiated and organized poetry reading groups in the Vancouver area for many years. In 2010 she co-founded Poetic Justice, a weekly event in New Westminster.

Yehta Pearl started out on a farm in central Canada, feeling that she didn’t fit in. Yehta now lives with Richard, her husband of more than 30 years, on Canada’s West Coast, enjoying being in the warmth, sun, and sometimes rain. No need to shovel rain! Yehta is passionate about helping all those people who are guided to her to achieve their own personal growth, and attain complete physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. She is truly a warm, compassionate woman who has your best interests at heart.

A Call to Nurse: Memories of Royal Columbian Hospital School of Nursing
Hospital nursing schools in Canada may be gone, but they are not forgotten. Memories of the Royal Columbian Hospital School of Nursing still live on and recently have been gathered in a new book, A Call to Nurse. Compiled by the School’s Alumnae, the book provides an insight into life on and off duty.

Several of the alumnae will talk about the history of the school and will share some of the stories and photographs. Established in 1901, the Royal Columbian Hospital School of Nursing followed the model created by Florence Nightingale, and graduated nurses until 1978. A Call to Nurse is grouped by decade and provides a snapshot of the times along with the reminiscences of former students.