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Add these books by Burnaby authors to your 2023 reading list
Burnaby Beacon Staff
January 09, 2023
Reading enriches the mind and soul! There are tons of great books written by authors that hail from right here in Burnaby. Next time you’re reaching for your next good read, check out these books written by Burnaby authors—from kids’ books to romances, autobiographies, and more! Of course, these are just a few of many. If you think we’ve missed a great book written by a Burnaby author, let us know at [email protected].
“Two ancient tribes. Two precious children. One wicked foster mother who really is a witch. A desperate escape. An evil spell. Three transformations. A kind and generous warrior. A powerful medicine woman. an insightful course of action…”
Kuhl-Harris works as a teacher at Byrne Creek Community School in Burnaby, and this graphic novel melds age-old folk tales from Indigenous and German customs with historical events. According to the Burnaby School District, Nighthawk and Little Elk has been translated into seven languages, including four Indigenous languages.
“On a sunny May morning, social worker Jessica Campbell sorts through her mother’s belongings after her recent funeral. In the basement, she makes a shocking discovery—two dead girls curled into the bottom of her mother’s chest freezers…”
A North Burnaby resident, Lee has published nearly 10 books since 2007—including poetry, kids’ books, non-fiction, and novels for adults.
The Conjoined follows Jessica Campbell as she works through the story of what happened to Chinese-Canadian foster kids Casie and Jamie Cheng—and uncovers dark truths about her own family.
“Every Sunday morning, the Singh family goes off to Gurdwara: the Sikh place of worship. But what for? And why does it matter?”
Burnaby resident and Surrey teacher Harman Pandher never saw someone who looked like him in storybooks when he was younger.
As a Sikh-Canadian student in the mid-80s, Pandher recalls his time at Second Street Elementary school: “When I was in school, … we just weren’t represented in our textbooks, our novels or picture books,” he told Burnaby Beacon in 2021.
Pandher envisions his book as “an anti-racist tool at the most basic level” to teach children how to learn more about each other and foster an environment of acceptance.
“Suffrage in British Columbia—and elsewhere in Canada—is best understood as a continuum rather than a clearly defined right ‘won’ at one specific time. Although white settler women achieved the vote in 1917, after forty long years of activism, it would take another thirty years before the provincial government would remove race-based restrictions on voting rights…”
SFU professor Lara Campbell takes us through the history of how BC’s democracy was shaped, who it left out, and the complex legacy of the suffrage movement.
Published in 2021 by UBC Press, the book won the 2021 Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book on British Columbia and was shortlisted for the B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s medal for historical writing through the BC Historical Foundation.
“Melissa is a brave stuttering superhero who confronts a student who is interrupting her and finishing her sentences. Join Melissa as she goes on a journey trying to cure him of his interrupt-itis and see how she figures out how to stop him in the end…”
When Burnaby resident Kim Block was in school, she thought she was the only person in the world who stuttered.
“I [thought I] was the only one and when you think you’re the only one, you think that there is something wrong with you and that’s why visibility is just so important,” Block told Burnaby Beacon in 2021.
Her children’s series, Adventures of a Stuttering Superhero, follows the stories of children who stutter and how they find a sense of belonging.
“He’s sold more than 25 million records. His live shows fill the world’s biggest stadiums to capacity. He has captured hearts everywhere with his classic style. Now, for the first time ever, Grammy Award–winning singer Michael Bublé offers fans an all-access, behind-the-scenes glimpse at his private life, onstage and off…”
Burnaby’s own Michael Buble pulls the curtain back in this memoir following his journey from a kid singing into his hairbrush in his North Burnaby home to the global superstardom he’s found today.