“It’s rare to find a holiday book that resists the expectation of comfort. Better Next Year is one such example. These stories sit with estrangement, failed reconciliations, uneasy rituals, and trauma.” Selena Mercuri reviews Better Next Year: An Anthology of Christmas Epiphanies, by JJ Lee (ed.) (New Westminster: Tidewater Press, 2023) $24.95 / 9781990160271
“One of the most compelling aspects of the collection is its counterculture energy. There is a clear rejection of the idea that Canada’s value lies in its utility to the United States, a challenge to a worldview that reduces national identity to geopolitical convenience. The essays ripple with a sense of defiance that is both invigorating and necessary, particularly in an era when political rhetoric often blurs the line between hyperbole and threat.” Jeffrey Stychin reviews Canada Is Not the 51st F**king State! Canadians Face Off Against Donald Trump’s Worst Idea Ever (New Westminster: Cosmic Cranium Press, 2025) $27.99 / 9781069072610
“In some respects, the school already had a number of carefully nurtured traditions tending in that direction. We played rugger rather than the more plebeian soccer. We competed with several minor public schools at cricket and rugger and, although twelve miles from the River Thames, entered one or two rowing eights in the Head of the River races.” Christopher Levenson recalls his schoolboy days in England in the next instalment of his memoir “Not One of the Boys.”
Pondering a world that “has taken an undue turn” and reflecting on his life of experiences as a Brown man, an author composes heartfelt and searing essays that challenge Canadian myths of inclusion. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Hide and Sikh: Letters from a Life in Brown Skin, by Sunny Dhillon (Hamilton: Wolsak & Wynn, 2025) $20.00 / 9781998408320
Please take a moment to contribute to our annual fundraiser at The British Columbia Review. In our 2024 campaign we raised $14,000 from 158 donors, which represents about a quarter of our income, the rest coming from grants, advertising, and partnerships. I hope we can equal that amount again this year. A big thank you to those who have already donated.
“In terms of the development of the disciplines of history and science, as well as the development of the arts and culture in British Columbia, the Okanagan region contributed enormously. Three eminent women come to mind: Margaret Anchoreta Orsmby (1909-1996), Joan Heriot (1911-2012), and Sveva Caetani (1917-1994).” Adriana A. Davies contributes the essay Extraordinary Women of the Okanagan to The British Columbia Review
“That pièce de résistance of mine was a bit outré, a bit de trop no doubt, more a jeu d’esprit than a tour de force. However, it does make the point that great herds of French words are roaming at large through the English language, often with totally different meanings from those they have in French. Etiquette for instance simply means a label in French. How many of these terms are current also in contemporary US or Canadian, Australian, or New Zealand English? I don’t know. I simply am not au courant.” Christopher Levenson contributes the essay On Permanent Loan to The British Columbia Review.
“Kean’s Canada Films was becoming a familiar brand to Vancouver moviegoers. A. D. responded to a limited market by diversifying his subject matter: local industries, the war effort, civic celebrations, and soft news items.” Dennis J. Duffy contributes the essay “The Famous Cowboy Artist”: A. D. Kean in Vancouver, 1913–1916
“When with Jim Wickwire and listening in on the tales of his K2 climb, I was reminded of two Canadians, Jim Haberl and Don Culver who reached the summit of K2 in 1993, Culver dying in the descent. Jim Haberl died when skiing in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in 1999.” Ron Dart recalls his lunch with the accomplished mountaineer, the first American to summit K2, Jim Wickwire.
“Chapter by chapter Dr. Bonnell highlights the slow progression of wildlife use, exploitation, and conservation from the original inhabitants to the fur trade and then the influx of miners and settlers.” Dennis A. Demarchi reviews Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia, by Jennifer Bonnell (Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum, 2023) $34.95 / 9781039900004
“In the late 1990s and 20-naughts, Stan and I lived six blocks apart in Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood. Stan and Janet’s house on South Turner Street became a modern annex to Dorothy Burritt’s Suite Two. There was a guarantee of good company, good talk, and cups of tea—and films to watch in the big back bedroom, the Fox screening room. (I like to think of it as “The Stanley Theatre.”)” Dennis J. Duffy contributes an essay about trailblazing filmmaker, the late Stanley Fox.
“After Andrew gestured to the foyer table where I placed my helmet, I shook his hand and he offered me a glass of water in his kitchen. I fumbled for my questions as I took the glass from him with thanks. At seventy, he still had the kind, calm, and wise visage I knew from his ‘About the Author’ photos. The lines on his face marked a man who had travelled the outdoors, exposed to the elements, and spent a lot of time in the sun.” Non-fiction editor Trevor Marc Hughes contributes a chapter to his motorcycling travelogue about meeting dedicated kayaker and writer, the late Andrew Scott, and their time talking about modes of travel that connect.
“Eventually Maria mentioned that she had touched on some subject or other in a biography that she had written about Emily Carr some years ago. The proverbial light bulb went off in my head. ‘So you must be Maria Tippett?’ I ventured. I can still recall the look on her face – an attractive combination of pride, humility, and pleasant surprise – as she nodded in confirmation. ‘I’m an historian myself and a fan of your work,’ I continued admiringly. She smiled and accepted the compliment gracefully.” Curator and historian Ben Clinton-Baker recalls his meeting and friendship with the late renowned cultural historian Maria Tippett, who passed away one year ago.
“Now You Know Me should serve as guide for everyone on how to learn from each other about what truth and reconciliation really means. The book is uniquely composed, giving voice to both men through alternating passages. It is a perfect composition, touching on many topics in 54 short chapters of roughly 300 pages, that is quick to read.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Now You Know Me: Seeing the Unhidden Truth in Settler Colonialism, by k’ʷunəmɛn Joe Gallagher and John Matterson (Surrey: Hancock House, 2024) $24.95 / 9780888397829
“It identified approximately where Frederich Trump’s Arctic Hotel/restaurant/brothel had been located in 1901. The Arctic had originally been built in Bennett, BC, but when the railroad was completed to Whitehorse in 1900, he dismantled the hotel, moved the lumber to Whitehorse along with all the fixings and rebuilt on a waterfront location facing the White Pass depot and the Yukon River.” Yukon Story Laureate John Firth writes about the connection between an old BC/Yukon business venture and the current president of the United States
“After pushing off from the big bronze statue of a reclining moose, seven turns of my pedals take me to where gravity takes over. Osoyoos Lake awaits, three thousand feet below.” Michael McGovern regales us with his essay on the subject of his two-wheeled perambulations to the Okanagan Valley
“At once entrancing and deeply comforting, Bradbury takes readers on a journey to those places that are so near and dear to our hearts, but which we may have forgotten about in the noise and chaos and pressures of life.” Natalie Virginia Lang reviews Journeys To the Nearby: A Gardener Discovers the Gentle Art of Untravelling, by Elspeth Bradbury (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2025) $22.95 / 9781553807247
“Back Where I Came From, Jaffer and Mouallem’s collection of essays by first- and second-generation Canadian and American writers, offers a view of many of those old countries, providing a smorgasbord of perceptions and images about culture and identity and about what home means to people in places around the planet.” Carol Matthews reviews Back Where I Came From: On Culture, Identity and Home by Taslim Jaffer and Omar Mouallem (eds.) (Toronto: Book*Hug Press, 2024) $29.95 / 9781771669177
“We can look back at our lives and say, look what I survived. We can look back with appreciation and say, look what I discovered by remaining curious, look what joy came my way when I didn’t expect it.” Mary Ann Moore reviews The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections on a Well-Loved Life by Kate Braid (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861623
“The more we are immersed in the life, activism, and writings of Tommy Douglas and Milton Acorn, the more we will be walked into a unique Canadian synthesis of faith, literature, and politics that has still much to commend it.” Ron Dart contributes an essay on the work of the late poet and storyteller, Milton Acorn.