A “lively musical and political education” for readers young and old. —Ron Verzuh reviews Rise Up and Sing!: Power, Protest and Activism in Music, by Andrea Warner (illustrated by Louise Reimer) (Vancouver: Greystone Kids, 2023) $26.95 / 9781771648981
Debut author blends memoir, mall history, and critique with a “self-effacing love letter to her hometown’s most famous institution.” —Logan Macnair reviews Big Mall: Shopping for Meaning, by Kate Black (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2024) $23.95 / 9781552454725
“Talking about specifics of typeface choices in a world where even typographic choices like serifs, italics, and double spacing can seem daunting enough, is a challenge.” Where is type going?
An Essay by Thomas Girard.
The second in a series of essays on the subject of typography.
“…maybe we should live and let live and allow people to do things their own way.” Sheldon Goldfarb reviews Best Canadian Essays 2024, edited by Marcello Di Cintio (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2023) $23.95 / 9781771965644
An ‘excellent gift for anyone kinky in your life.’
Carellin Brooks reviews Transland: Consent, Kink & Pleasure
by Mx. Sly (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023) $24.95 / 9781551529318
Captivating essays trace authors’ careers from childhood onward…
Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Off the Record, by John Metcalf (editor) (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2023) $26.95 / 9781771965453
“In [Duthie Books’] paperback cellar Binky Marks was both a lovable eccentric and the possessor of the most prodigious knowledge of books accumulated over the last quarter century…” * Flying Binky Home, an essay by Mark Stanton
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!
Essay: The Way We Were: Two Friends, Two Historians by Robin Fisher * Earlier this year I flew down to New Zealand to spend a few days with my lifelong friend and gifted historian Kerry (K.R.) Howe. It was springtime in British Columbia but winter was coming in New Zealand. We both knew that it…
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Essay: History of typography by Thomas Girard * It would be hard to discount typography without first addressing its roots in the way we live. I was first drawn to the design history reference of stone tablets being carved into with lettering, and that lettering, at the very beginning, at least according to Megg’s, being…
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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
ESSAY: Canadian Mountain Culture and Mountaineering by Ron Dart * And sliding on the mountain snow, Dear Friend, we’ll let our worries go. -Alexander Pushkin, “Winter Morning” Great things are done when men and mountains meet; this is not done by jostling in the street. -William Blake, Gnomic Verses The…
Read more 1947 Canadian mountain culture and mountaineering
Mr. Mindbomb: Eco-Hero and Greenpeace Co-Founder Bob Hunter – A Life in Stories edited by Bobbi Hunter Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023 $30 / 9781771606240 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * “A Life in Stories,” explains the subtitle, but it might also have been called a love story, one carefully selected and edited by Bob Hunter’s…
Read more 1893 Not just an environmental love story
How to Clean a Fish and Other Adventures in Portugal by Esmeralda Cabral Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, May 16, 2023 $27.99 / 9781772126556 (paperback) Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb * Well, first of all, you won’t learn how to clean a fish. Secondly, … But let’s start at the beginning. Esmeralda Cabral is a writer living…
Read more 1876 A reluctance to join in
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
Welcome Trevor and Brett by Richard Mackie * On behalf of the Board of the Ormsby Literary Society and our Advisory Board I’d like to welcome Trevor Marc Hughes and Brett Josef Grubisic as interim editors of The British Columbia Review for the year May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024. The position was made possible…
Read more 1813 Welcome Trevor and Brett
Two books reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb: Best Canadian Essays 2021 edited by Bruce Whiteman Windsor, Ontario: Biblioasis, October 19, 2021. $22.95 / 9781771964371 (paperback) * Best Canadian Essays 2023 edited by Mireille Silcoff Windsor, Ontario: Biblioasis, November 15, 2022. $22.95 / 9781771965033 (paperback) * What makes a good essay? For that matter, what makes an…
Read more 1811 What makes a good essay?
Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart. A Memoir by Jen Sookfong Lee Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (McClelland & Stewart), 2023 $24.96 / 9780771025211 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * A rather unfortunate acquaintance of mine suffers, periodically, from foot in mouth disease. It’s not her fault — but it’s not not her fault, either…
Read more 1788 Chinese daughters and mothers
ChatGPT and me by Larry Hannant * The media today is agog with artificial intelligence and its boundless possibilities to expand mere mortals’ striving towards perfection, or to relegate them to the scrap heap. The intensity quickened on March 14, with the release by OpenAI of version 4 of ChatGPT. In a thoughtful Globe and…
Read more 1773 ChatGPT and me
Home is where the street is: Commercial Drive photos and poems by Rodney De Croo * I’ve lived in East Vancouver for thirty-five years. East Van is where I rented my first basement suite apartment after living on the streets as a young man struggling with addiction. It was in the basements of churches and…
Read more 1767 Home is where the street is