The Killer Whale Who Changed the World by Mark Leiren-Young Vancouver: Greystone Books with the David Suzuki Institute, 2016 $29.95 / 9781771641937 Reviewed by Daniel Francis First published Oct. 17, 2016 * My most memorable encounter with a killer whale occurred in 1987. Newly returned home after sixteen years living in eastern Canada, I thought…
Read more #26 A whale named Moby Doll
by Mark Stanton and Allan Twigg Jim Douglas called himself “just a book pedlar.” At age 15, he started in the book biz in Edinburgh delivering books to bookstores by peddling his bicycle. He became the most influential publishing presence in B.C. during the 1970s and early 1980s. Here [below], The Ormsby Review is pleased…
Read more #25 Remembering Jim Douglas
Mike Agostini: The Usain Bolt of 1954by Glinda Sutherland *Introduction: The Bannister-Landy Miracle Mile at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954 is the subject of perhaps the most famous photo ever taken in BC, capturing that poignant moment when Landy looked over his shoulder as he was being passed by Bannister. The world’s first…
Read more #24 Mike Agostini: The Usain Bolt of 1954
by Ron Dart * “I want to catch some kind of Haig-Brown essence with the halo slightly askew.” — Al Purdy, 1974 Al Purdy was one of Canada’s most prolific poets and writers, but when his many published books are listed, one volume, Cougar Hunter: A Memoir of Roderick Haig-Brown, is often omitted. Cougar Hunter…
Read more #22 Haig-Brown & Al Purdy
ESSAY: Arts of the Dreamer: Dane-zaa Communities Remember Charlie Yahey by Robin Ridington First published September 24, 2016 * First Nations literature, as indeed all literature, begins with oral narrative. Writing has never entirely replaced orality as a narrative genre, even in cultures that have produced written documents for millenia. For many First Nations, oral…
Read more #20 Master orator Charlie Yahey
ESSAY: The Reddest Rose: Trade Unionist Harvey Murphy by Ron Vurzuh First Published: September 22nd, 2016 * Harvey Murphy is not a name that echoes loudly throughout the annals of 20th-century British Columbia labour history. In fact, the tireless trade union organizer, negotiator, and active Communist Party of Canada (CPC) bureaucrat has almost disappeared from…
Read more #19 The Reddest Rose
First Published: September 19th, 2016 — by James Paley Ann Eriksson’s fifth novel The Performance (D&M $22.95) contrasts the worlds of elite classical piano with urban homelessness. Hana Knight, a privileged and talented young pianist, develops a tenuous friendship with Jacqueline, a homeless woman who collects empty bottles and cans to buy tickets to Hana’s…
Read more #18 The pianist and the knitter
First Published: September 17th, 2016. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, on May 25, 1935, William Patrick (Bill) Kinsella invoked the assisted dying provisions of Bill C-14 and died at Hope, B.C. at 12:05 p.m. on September 16, 2016. He had been a type 2 diabetic for most of his adult life. W.P. Kinsella was born in…
Read more #17 W.P. Kinsella (1935-2016)
Significant B.C. literature to 1997 by Alan Twigg First Published: September 16th, 2016 * There is no critical study of B.C. writing to date, no critical overview; no statistics. Here then, to mark the tenth anniversary at B.C. BookWorld in 1997, here is a checklist for 200 of the most significant B.C. books of the…
Read more #16 Significant B.C. literature to 1997
First Published: April 27th, 2015 — compiled by K. Jane Watt In 1944, Sylvia Thrupp expressed her belief that knowledge of local history is “essential for any one who professes to have a realistic approach to the political problems of the day.” Consequently UBC historian Sylvia L. Thrupp penned an article [below] in which she…
Read more #15 Thruppence for your thoughts
An extract from Dead Ends: BC Crime Stories (University of Regina Press $19.95) by Paul Willcocks First Published: April 08th, 2015 * The first terrorist killing in B.C. happened in 1924. The case remains unsolved. The Kettle Valley train was on its daily run west through the mountains from Nelson, on the leg from Brilliant to Grand Forks….
Read more #14 BC Crimes Stories: Train Bomb
An extract from Dead Ends: BC Crime Stories (University of Regina Press $19.95) by Paul Willcocks First Published: April 08th, 2015 * Everything about Ian Thow was big. The investment adviser’s house was a $5.5-million waterfront mansion outside Victoria, with four bedrooms and seven bathrooms. There was a dock on the Saanich Inlet for his yacht,…
Read more #13 BC Crime Stories: The Big Con
An extract from Dead Ends: BC Crime Stories (University of Regina Press $19.95) by Paul Willcocks First Published: February 17th, 2015 * They called him Crazy Eddie in the Okanagan Valley. Eddie Haymour complained constantly that powerful forces were conspiring against him, plotting to steal his land and his dreams, ruining his life. The provincial government, police, and…
Read more #12 BC Crime Stories: Rattlesnake Isl.
First Published: October 14th, 2014 — compiled by Allan Twigg Born in 1880 on a farm in Indiana, Alys McKey began flying in 1912 in Los Angeles after answering an ad: “Wanted: young lady to learn to fly for exhibition purposes.” The ad was created by Fred Bennett and John Bryant of the Bennett Aero…
Read more #11 Pioneers: Alys McKey Bryant
First Published: August 11th, 2014 — compiled by Allan Twigg The following article about early aviation in B.C. is excerpted from a long article written by Frank H. Ellis and published in the British Columbia Historical Quarterly in October of 1939. It describes how and when William (“Billy”) M. Stark made Canadian aviation history. Before…
Read more #10 Pioneers: Flying Billy Stark
David Thompson’s cartography, his endurance, his consistent respect for Aboriginal peoples, his pathfinding, his versatility in at least six languages and his prodigious literary legacy qualify him as the most under-celebrated hero in Canadian history. First Published: August 10th, 2015 — compiled by Allan Twigg The second in a planned three volumes of David Thompson’s…
Read more #9 David Thompson
First Published: April 12th, 2015 — compiled by Allan Twigg B.C.’s maven of children’s literature, Judith Saltman, has designated Ann Blades’ self-illustrated Mary of Mile 18 (1971) as the “breakthrough” illustrated title by a B.C. writer for children. The published-from-Montreal story is based on Blades’ experiences as a novice teacher in northern B.C. Her second…
Read more #8 Ann Blades
“Should any of you boys visit the Sandwich Islands, look up the burial place of my college mate.” Botanist John Goldie (1793-1886) reflecting on David Douglas’s grave First Published: April 04th, 2014 — compiled by Allan Twigg One of the most prominent of the roving fraternity of nineteenth-century plant hunters who scoured North America for…
Read more #7 How the Douglas fir was named
First Published: April 09th, 2015 — compiled by Allan Twigg In Shore to Shore: The Art of Ts’uts’umutl Luke Marston, Suzanne Fournier profiles First Nations artist, Luke Marston, who created the sculpture at Brockton Point (at left), and describes his journey to Portugal to research the work. The title “Shore to Shore” references Marston’s great-great-grandfather,…
Read more #6 Suzanne Fournier
In 1872, a sturdy man, nearly 70, steps onto his front porch, jump rope in hand. He skips for a time, then heads inside to pen a note to his daughter away at school in England to chase away “the cobwebs of colonial training.” He is James Douglas, former governor of Vancouver Island and new…
Read more #5: James Douglas doted on Martha