A free showcase of the talents of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows writers is coming to The ACT Arts Centre.
Seven local authors will be reading from their latest works during a relaxing evening open to the public.
Author Cathy Ace will be reading an excerpt from her crime fiction work “Criminally Comical”.
Ace, who was born and raised in Wales and migrated to Canada, is the author of the traditional, globetrotting Cait Morgan Mysteries, and the cozy WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries set in Wales.
She is a past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, and is a Bony Blithe, IPPY, IBA, and Editor’s Choice CrimeFictionLover Award winner. Her 30th novel will be published on July 13th this year.
Ronda Payne will be reading a personal essay about realizing, and then going through depression titled “The Pills that Saved Me.”
Payne is a full-time copywriter, freelancer and storyteller.
Jack Emberly, a local author and “Along the Fraser” columnist will be reading excerpts from “Goodbye Chums,” a short story of hope and empathy in a grade three classroom. The story was long-listed in the 2022 CBC Short Story competition.
Bilingual writer Margarita Escobar, who thinks in Spanish and writes in English, will be reading an excerpt from the story “Time Never Forgets” from her short story collection called “Under a Weeping Willow”.
There will be a break before award-winning poet, novelist and children’s writer Annette LeBox takes the stage.
LeBox will be reading her lyrical picture book, “Mother Aspen: A Story of How Forests Cooperate and Communicate.”
Two of her picture books have won the BC Book prize for Illustrated Literature. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and a certificate from S.F.U.’s The Writer’s Studio.
Next is Lynn Easton, whose writing has appeared in a wide variety of periodicals, anthologies and literary magazines including: The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, The Globe and Mail, and most recently Beyond Blue (Caitlin Press), and Better Next Year (Tidewater Press) both published in 2025.
Easton will be reading from her creative nonfiction ‘hermit crab’ piece titled “Missing Purse Alert”.
Finally, Mark McClure, an Appalachian-born author whose short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, including The Threepenny Review, and his novels, Coming to Scratch and The Courier are forthcoming Fall/Winter 2027.
McClure will be reading an excerpt from a first person point of view short story titled “An Honest Man”.
The Golden Ears Writers event takes place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, at The ACT, 11944 Haney Place, Maple Ridge.