Very happy to announce my newest book from Pajama Press written by the talented author, Jennifer Maruno. I've worked with many writers over the years and find half the pleasure of doing a book is aligning myself with their humour or outlook. With Jennifer her sensibility and humour were aligned with mine from the start. Then working with Pajama Press I was allowed a lot of freedom to follow what I wanted to do which is always wonderful.  It's coming out Aug. 27/24. From the reaction I've been getting (and preorders) there's a lot of excitement. 

I got an invitation from these folks 

https://shepherd.com/best-books/the-first-peoples-of-the-west-coast-for-children

to talk about 'P'eska and the First Salmon Ceremony' published by #groundwoodbooks I was able to link 5 of my favourite books that relate in terms of theme or topic. As a Canadian creator I'm always reminded how lucky I am to be in such great company. #pajamapress #harbourpublishing #tundrabooks

 I'm excited to have a new book with the wonderful Pajama Press coming out October 10 2023. Zander Stays was so much fun to illustrate thanks to the clever and funny writing of Maureen Fergus. 

Zander the goos is trying something new this winter. He's not going to go south. Zander is going to stay!

 CBC Interview

Well here's something I haven't tried before so we'll see if it works. I had a nice interview with Sheryl MacKay on CBC's North by Northwest for my new book Tug. I'm proud of this book so I'm very happy for it to be getting some attention. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-43/clip/15902371  My segment starts at 16:00 minutes. 

Hope you enjoy!

 Everybody loves tugboats so I'm very happy to see Tug! A Log Boom's Journey released this month. Thank you Groundwood Books and Rick Smith for your wealth of information. Rick was invaluable in getting the details right because he was a logger and a tugboat operator.  The story is about the journey a log boom takes, from start to finish - all under the watchful eye of a little boy who learns there are dangers, and adventure when you're towing tons of logs through open water. 

I was also asked to curate a list of books that all, in some way, relate to the beautiful Pacific Northwest coast. https://49thshelf.com/Lists/Members/2022-09/Scot-Ritchie-Pacific-West-Coast

Stanley Park, Coyote Town

In Vancouver we have the world's longest uninterrupted waterfront path or as we call it when we're in a hurry, the Seawall. https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/seawall.aspx I live right next door so I get out quite a bit. Yesterday I went for a ride. About halfway around I look up and see a coyote. I'm just registering “Oh, coyote.' when suddenly he's chasing me. I pick up speed and he's running alongside on the upper path. I guess he doesn't like the seawall so he's staying up there, or I think he is anyway. Within seconds the trees cut him off from view. I'm peddling fast now and soon realize that he's given up – hopefully thinking a squirrel will be easier to get. There's been more than 35 coyote attacks in Stanley Park this year, so it makes you a bit jumpy. Guess I'll bring my whistle tomorrow.*

*Artist rendering due to not being able to get off my bike and take a pic.

 Who knew tea towels would be a sideline business but here we go with a new design. People liked the bird's eye view I did of Vancouver's West End so thought I'd follow it up with Stanley Park. I thought I was just going to be drawing trees and raccoons but there's a surprising amount of things going on there. And an incredible history. I wanted to be sure to acknowledge the ancestral lands that Stanley Park sits on. X̱wáýx̱way (in English it sounds a bit like Whoiwhoi) was a First Nations village site.  Before Europeans arrived there were many inhabitants including the Squamish, Musqueam and Tseil-waututh. It's history now but great to see the awareness growing. 

Here's the first image that got me started. 

Depending on the reaction I get I'm thinking of either Yaletown or Kitsilano next.