Ann Pearson grew up in Suffolk, England, did an Honours degree in French at the University of London before moving to Vancouver where she completed a Ph. D in French literature. Subsequently, she taught French for a number of years before joining the Arts One programme at the University of British Columbia. When she is not at her desk, she is happiest in muddy jeans and wild hair tending her garden, or pursuing Stendhal and other characters down the byways of Europe in the company of her historian partner, Allan.
She is currently working on a second Napoleonic era novel, set in Cornwall this time.
A graduate of Vancouver College, Canadian author Anton Von Stefan spent his childhood growing up in Vancouver and Richmond, British Columbia. After working for forty-two years at the Pacific Grain Terminal on Vancouver’s waterfront, the author became a full-time writer. In his spare time, he briefly worked for the Herald and Times, a West Side newspaper and the City Drive News, an East End newspaper which unfortunately folded in late 2002.
For ten years, he organized murder mystery weekends at Mayne Island’s Springwater Lodge for Vancouver’s Pacific Ski Club. At precisely midnight on the first night the author would read one of his completed ghost stories. Since then, he has held author’s readings at Cole’s Books in Langford, Western Sky Books in Port Coquitlam and at his home in Delta, British Columbia, in North Sydney on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia; and twice in the author’s birth city of Vienna at Shakespeare and Company.
The author is currently in negotiations to bring A Very Strange Christmas! to the world stage and is working on his third book, The Curse of Count Louie Vincenti. You can read about the author and his work at: www.antonvonstefan.com
Gloria Allan began writing as a cub reporter in Toronto. Gloria married, raised five children and indulged her love of bridge, golf and travel. Never forgetting her love of writing, over the past several years she has written a novel and several short stories. While browsing in an antiquarian bookstore in London, England, she discovered a small book about Sisi, the beautiful and tragic Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Hungary. She immersed herself in Sisi’s story, researching and gathering material for her second novel, A Walk on Broken Glass. She lived in Montreal and now resides in West Vancouver.
Johnny May was born in London, Ontario. There, his love of music blossomed into a successful song-writing career that he balances with his love of telling stories, his work as a physician in Guelph and his volunteer service at medical outreach clinics in Guatemala. He recently released an album entitled Alone In This Together, which is available on iTunes and at www.johnnymaymusic.ca.
His quirky animal characters, inspired by friends and family and influenced by his earlier career as a biologist studying small creatures, were invented to entertain his two young sons. These yarns eventually became the Magnath Chronicles.
Living in the coastal village of Bamfield, B.C., Canada, Louis Druehl is the editor of The New Bamfielder, and is best known for his passion for seaweeds. A professor of marine botany at Simon Fraser University for 36 years, Louis conducted kelp research at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, which he was instrumental in establishing in 1968. His immense contributions to kelp research earned him the honour of having a diatom genus and a kelp species named after him. The revised issue (with Bridgette Clarkson) of his best-selling book Pacific Seaweeds Updated and Expanded has won numerous awards.
A Professor Emeritus from SFU, he is continuing to support kelp research as well as harvesting and exporting seaweed products globally with his wife Rae Hopkins.
Louis turned to serious, non-scientific writing after his retirement in 2000. His first novel, Cedar, Salmon and Weed, has earned a place on BC Book’s Map of Literary Fiction.
Jim Elliot was born in a coal-mining town. He attended eleven different schools as his family moved from mining camp to mining camp. Following six years at the University of Alberta, Jim graduated and was ordained as a United Church minister. The next forty years were split between Alberta and British Columbia as he worked in rural areas, suburbs, First Nations communities and finally as head of a large inner-city mission in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. On retirement he moved to the Sunshine Coast, spent some time volunteering with the local hospice community and then joined a writing group. He and his wife, Geniene, have five children and eight delightful grandchildren.
Conrad Romuld was born in 1926 on his parents’ farm in west-central Saskatchewan. The ninth of ten children born to Norwegian immigrant parents, he was young enough to be aware of the hardships and uncertainties that beset his elders during the “dirty thirties,” but was still old enough to enjoy the vibrant community life of rural Saskatchewan. He obtained his Grade Twelve standing largely through independent home study and went on to study English Literature at the University in Saskatchewan and at Leeds University in England. After University, Romuld enjoyed a long and varied career in public education. He and his wife Rita have three daughters and three granddaughters. They currently live in Saskatoon.
Louis Druehl is a splitter of firewood and whacker of brush. He is also the editor of The New Bamfielder newspaper and author of Pacific Seaweeds (Harbour Publishing). As a marine botanist, Dr. Druehl was involved in establishing the Bamfield Marine Station, where he also taught and conducted research.
He created Cedar, Salmon and Weed in his office located in a small shed on the waterfront, looking up each morning to see a young First Nation worker boat by. They would wave to each other and slowly the young man became the novel’s character, Ben.
Dr. Ted Hunt is a third-generation Vancouverite. He attended the University of British Columbia where he completed studies in Kinesiology and English. He played three years for the BC Lions before moving across the border to attend the University of Washington, where he earned advanced degrees in History. He has interviewed Alexander Kerensky, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, Dr. Lister Rogers of Stanford and Czech President Vaclav Havel.
With admiration and respect, we remember the remarkable life of Dr. Hunt, a celebrated athlete, educator, and author whose achievements and character left a lasting impact on all who knew him.
A celebrated athlete, educator, and author, Ted excelled in numerous sports, earning inductions into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, Canadian Rugby Hall of Fame, B.C. Rugby Hall of Fame, and U.B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. His athletic achievements include playing for the Vancouver Burrards lacrosse team, being named to the 1952 Canadian Olympic Ski Team, and leading B.C.’s rugby team to a historic victory over the British Lions in 1966. Ted also made a mark in football, being named Western Conference Rookie of the Year in 1957 and Most Valuable Canadian in 1958.
After retiring from contact sports, Ted became an avid golfer, forming a notable friendship with Sean Connery. A dedicated educator, Ted held five university degrees and served as a Vancouver School Board Trustee. He was a prolific writer, contributing to various publications and authoring several books.
Ted is survived by his wife of 65 years, Helen, his daughter Shelley, grandson Wesley, and many cherished family members and friends. Remembered for his kindness, love of animals, and zest for life, Ted leaves behind a legacy of inspiration and achievement.
Johnny May’s Biology degree, his years at IBM as a programmer analyst, and his three decades as a practicing Medical Doctor uniquely qualify him to write this book. He knows people, he knows science and he knows computer systems. He also has a boundless imagination.
As a singer songwriter he has written songs for well known Canadian artists and has released two CDs and a recent single “This Way” which is popular on YouTube.
His time is divided between his rural farm property near Toronto and the south of France.
Bruno Huber was born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland. He immigrated and settled in Canada, first in Nelson, BC and then in 1990 he moved to Granthams Landing, Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast near Vancouver, BC.
He is the winner of the Hohnharter Prize for Literature with a subsequent book of short stories published by Ullstein GmbH.
He was the owner of Coast Books in Gibsons from 1990 to 1995, and was also the owner of a French Restaurant in Vancouver’s Westend from 2010 to 2012.
He has been a film technician for 25 years.
Luther Schuetze was born to German immigrant parents in Brazil, educated in basic medicine and theology in Germany, and worked for years on farms on the Canadian prairies. He was married with three sons and another on the way when he was called by the United Church to be a minister in Little Grand Rapids. He and his family later moved to Oregon, then to B.C. Luther lived in retirement in Penticton until his death in 1979.
