Interview with Aaron Williams
One of my first encounters with Aaron Williams was at a Halloween party in 2009.
BC
Echoes from The Other Valley: An Interview with Scott Alexander Howard
Despite it being a beautiful Saturday on a long weekend, a full house gathered at the Gibsons & District Public Library on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia to hear Scott Alexander Howard read from his first novel, The Other Valley (Scribner Canada, 2024).
Not That Kind of Place by Michael Melgaard
In May 1997, eighteen-year-old Laura McPherson left her house for a run and didn’t return …
Tauhou by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall
Tauhou is an inventive exploration of Indigenous families, womanhood, and alternate post-colonial realities by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall, a writer of Māori and Coast Salish descent.
Bill Arnott’s Showcase, a Visit With Bestseller Eve Lazarus
Bill Arnott interviews Eve Lazarus, author of the book, Cold Case BC.
Bill Arnott’s Beat: Disguised as Prose
Bill Arnott shares a passage from his instant bestseller, A Season on Vancouver Island.
Sombrio by Rhonda Waterfall
Vulnerable and hallucinatory, Rhonda Waterfall writes an alarming and vivid West Coast novel. Set in the rainforest on the outer coast of Vancouver Island, Sombrio takes us into the dark heart of lost childhoods.
Return to Solitude: More Desolation Sound Adventures with the Cougar Lady, Russell the Hermit, the Spaghetti Bandit and Others by Grant Lawrence
It’s been over a decade since renowned broadcaster and indie rock musician Grant Lawrence launched his writing career with the award-winning Adventures in Solitude, yet some things never change―including the winding Sunshine Coast Highway, close calls at the BC Ferries ticket office and carsick children. But this time, Lawrence returns as a husband and father, not as the vomiting and nerdy kid dragged along by his athletic and unflappable parents.
Fool’s Gold: The Life and Legacy of Vancouver’s Official Town Fool by Jesse Donaldson
In Fool’s Gold, Donaldson explores the legacy of Joachim Foikis. On April 1, 1968, a tall, bespectacled, 35-year-old former social worker named Joachim Foikis received $3,500 from the Canada Council for the Arts in order to finance a unique, self-imposed mission unseen since Elizabethan England: reinvent the vanished tradition of “Town Fool.”
Indie Bookstores: Connecting Communities
Independent bookstores are a story of perseverance and connection, Bill Arnott says.
Finding the Daydreamer by Estella Kuchta
Estella Kuchta’s stark and stunning depiction of an escape through the Canadian wilderness.
When daydream meets intuition, a young ranch wife’s life turns upside down. Fleeing a dangerous husband, she steals away with her young daughter on a wild and unexpected adventure through Depression-era cowboy country in central British Columbia.
Chiru Sakura-Falling Cherry Blossoms: A Mother & Daughter’s Journey through Racism, Internment and Oppression by Grace Eiko Thompson
At eight years old, Grace Eiko Nishikihama was forcibly removed from her Vancouver home and interned with her parents and siblings in the BC Interior. Chiru Sakura–Falling Cherry Blossoms is a moving and politically outspoken memoir written by Grace, now a grandmother, with passages from a journal kept by her late mother, Sawae Nishikihama.
A Journey Back to Nature: A History of Strathcona Provincial Park by Catherine Marie Gilbert
A fascinating account of the century-long effort to define, access, preserve, develop, and exploit the uniquely beautiful area of rugged wilderness now known as Strathcona Provincial Park on Central Vancouver Island.
Pinkerton’s and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot by Geoff Mynett
Pinkerton’s and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot throws new light on the extensive manhunt for an accused murderer in northern British Columbia in the early 1900s. After a double murder in 1906, Gitxsan trapper and storekeeper Simon Gunanoot fled into the wilderness with his family. Frustrated by Gunanoot’s ability to evade capture, the Attorney General of BC asked Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency in Seattle to assist in the pursuit.
The Fire: A Poem by Cynthia Sharp and Timothy Shay
[Note from Cynthia Sharp and Timothy Shay: “The Fire is our response to the forest fires that devour the Cascadia region in the overly hot summers resulting from climate change. It’s submitted exclusively to The Miramichi Reader with permission from both authors.”] What was the name of the blaze that warmed you burned you …
