Drama, theatre, film

BC Review Annual Fundraiser, 2024

A note from Richard Mackie, publisher, The British Columbia Review. *  Dear friends, supporters, and readers, On behalf of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board of The British Columbia Review, I must mention our pressing need for continuing financial support from our reading community. We make this request for private donations annually to keep the…
Read more BC Review Annual Fundraiser, 2024

Snuggle into the armchair

“…understanding how everything in a way has life. Inanimate objects, human made things, people of course, and everything else as well. This is how Marks extends her ideas. It’s an incremental change of many philosophical ideas.” Thomas Girard reviews The Fold: From Your Body to the Cosmos, by Laura U. Marks (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024) $29.95 USD / 9781478030119

Adieu, Pnina! Well, maybe

“What an odyssey her life has been! When you think of her beginnings in mid-century Romania and Israel, her narrow escape from perilous situations, and her good fortune, which she has fully utilized, it is one of those stories that can be told again and again.” Christina Johnson-Dean looks back on the life and art of Vancouver-based Pnina Granirer.

Knowing the country: the unfilmed Ethel Wilson

“The intermittent chronicle of British Columbia filmmaking offers many examples of motion pictures that could have been made, but somehow never were.” British Columbia film historian and archivist Dennis J. Duffy ruminates on the films based on B.C. literature that got away, such as Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson, in his essay Knowing the Country: The Unfilmed Ethel Wilson

Magic from a movie

“The topics covered in this book cover many issues: portraying girls as full individuals and the theory that anything is possible, sexual awakenings, political activism, and advocating for safe abortions.” Valerie Green reviews The Time of my Life: Dirty Dancing by Andrea Warner (Toronto: ECW Press, April 2024) $19.95 / 9781770417410

Hello Oscar, eh!

“Since the Oscars began in 1927, Canadians have been getting nominated and sometimes winning in most of the categories. Some have even been from British Columbia.” Ron Verzuh writes the essay Hello Oscar, Eh! The Canadian and BC Legacy at the Academy Awards.

When Hollywood calls – an essay

“…plenty of other BC writers are available to adapt novels and short stories, the latter being a great source of filmable material.” Ron Verzuh writes When Hollywood Calls: An Essay on How Books Get Made Into Movies in BC.

Velocipedes, elephants, and other mysteries

Circus-set kids book showcases adventure, mystery, and the fight for women’s equality. —Alison Acheson reviews Ephemia Rimaldi, by Linda Demeulemeester (Toronto: Red Deer Press, 2023) $14.95 / 780889957299

Labour disputes and love stories

Two plays give “readers a welcome new perspective on BC community life.” —Ron Verzuh reviews The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat, by Elaine Ávila (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2023) $19.95 / 9781772014471

No. 2000 for the BC Review!

When we launched The British Columbia Review — then The Ormsby Review — in September 2016, little did we expect that seven years later we’d post our 2000th review. I’m grateful to everyone — reviewers, publishers, authors, booksellers, and readers — for making it such a success and promoting BC writers, writing, and culture. It…
Read more No. 2000 for the BC Review!

What is the role of art?

The Compassionate Imagination: How the arts are central to a functioning democracyby Max Wyman Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2023$19.95  /  9781770866997 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * What is the point–honestly–of putting a lot of energy into discussing the connection between “art” on the one hand and society on the other?  Well, Plato seemed to think it…
Read more What is the role of art?

1975 Ghoulish K-pop teen horror!!

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng New York: MacMillan/Roaring Brook Press, 2023 $26.99 / 9781250864994 Reviewed by Zoe McKenna * All that glitters is likelier ghoul than gold in Linda Cheng’s K-pop-inspired debut novel, Gorgeous Gruesome Faces.  Cheng was born in Taiwan, though much of her adolescence was spent moving between different cultures and continents….
Read more 1975 Ghoulish K-pop teen horror!!

1970 Calling Graduate Liberal Studies

Attention students in Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University! * Since 2018, students in the Graduate Liberal Studies programme at Simon Fraser University have contributed numerous essays, memoirs, poems, and book reviews to The British Columbia Review. We at the BC Review are delighted to maintain a productive collaboration with the GLS community, as…
Read more 1970 Calling Graduate Liberal Studies

1935 United through art

Bloom Where You Are Planted: 50 Conversations with Inspiring British Columbians by Beka Shane Denter Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 2022 $39.95  /  9781772034295 Reviewed by Valerie Green * This book by Beka Shane Denter is an inspirational collection of interviews in the form of Q&As with photographs, of a group of fifty (forty-nine women and…
Read more 1935 United through art

1920 A word for the wise

Story Lines: How Words Shape Our World by J. Edward Chamberlin Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023 $26.95  /  9781771623513 Reviewed by Gary Geddes * Stories not only keep us alive, but also help us make sense of the world and our place in it. From creation stories and cave drawings to the epic poems…
Read more 1920 A word for the wise

1853 Trust the tale not the teller?

Storylines: How Words Shape Our World by J. Edward Chamberlin Madeira Park, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023 $26.95  /  9781771623513 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * British novelist D.H. Lawrence once quipped that readers should trust the tale and not the teller. What did he mean? Prof emeritus J. Edward Chamberlin offers some possible answers in…
Read more 1853 Trust the tale not the teller?

1848 Share and share alike

Inheritance: a pick-the-path experience by Daniel Arnold, Darrell Dennis, and Medina Hahn Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2022 $24.95  /  9781772013627 Reviewed by Trevor Marc Hughes * There was an opportunity to post this review on National Indigenous Peoples Day, but then, I got to thinking: why do we have to pick just one day to look at…
Read more 1848 Share and share alike

1820 Caring ferociously

A Sentimental Education by Hannah McGregor  Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University, 2022 $24.95  /  9781771125574 Reviewed by Suzanne James * In her introductory “Author’s Note,” Hannah McGregor half-apologizes/half-explains this work, a collection of essays which blends memoir, “collective feminist meaning-making” and – most significantly – a discourse on what it means to care “deeply” and “ferociously.”…
Read more 1820 Caring ferociously

Pin It on Pinterest