Sophomore story collection has “a finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary life and delivers trenchant criticisms of human foibles.”
—Candace Fertile reviews Last Woman, by Carleigh Baker (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2024) $24.95 / 9780771004148
“So, why doesn’t Canada have an official bird yet?” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews The Canada Jay: The National Bird of Canada? by David Bird (ed.) with foreword by Robert Bateman (Surrey: Hancock House, 2022) $9.95 ISBN 9780888397171
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
“Menzies, scion of the Scottish Highlands, also a restless colony not quite out of English Imperial influence, is a descendent of Ontario settlers on treaty land.” Linda Rogers reviews Meeting My Treaty Kin: A Journey towards Reconciliation by Heather Menzies Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023 $29.95 / 9780774890663
“If British Columbia is the edge of Canada, then Tofino and its surrounding waters and islands are the outer limits.” Robin Fisher reviews Tofino and Clayoquot Sound: A History by Margaret Horsfield and Ian Kennedy (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023) $34.95 / 9781990776601
“The fibre arts are like a ‘life preserver’ Lee says and as the knitting and stitching kept both editors going, they wondered if others had the same experience.” Mary Ann Moore reviews Sharp Notions: Essays from the Stitching Life edited by Marita Dachsel & Nancy Lee (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023)$32.95 / 9781551529257
“Not only does she tell us the history of the horse, but more particularly she describes the wild horses that roam the plains of North America and how their existence is under threat as the environment around them is changing.” Valerie Green reviews Wild Horses Running Free by Linda L. Richards (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2023) $24.95 / 9781459825598
Memoirist’s debut novel traces one man’s life-altering experiences in northern BC. —Theo Dombrowski reviews A Season in Chezgh’un, by Darrel J. McLeod
(Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023) $24.95 / 9781771623629
“Writer Pierre Berton called him a ‘quite ordinary naval officer.’ Novelist Margaret Atwood called him ‘a dope.’ McGoogan argues that he was ‘a well-meaning plodder.'” Ron Verzuh reviews Searching for Franklin: New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery by Ken McGoogan (Madeira Park, BC, Douglas and McIntyre, 2023) $38.95 / 9781771623681
“With the research aspects of this book the specialist in bear scholarship will feel right at home but there’s plenty of interest here for the general reader with a desire to know more about these great hairy creatures.” Steven Brown reviews Grizzly Bear Science and the Art of Wilderness Life: Forty Years of Research in the Flathead Valley by Bruce McLellan (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023) $32.00 / 9781771605656
Praise in a minor key for this year’s ‘best of’ in short fiction.
Jessica Poon reviews Best Canadian Stories 2024 by Lisa Moore (editor)
(Windsor: Biblioasis, 2023) $23.95 / 9781771965668
“George belongs to the Tsleil-Waututh people, the People of the Inlet, who for thousands of years have lived along Burrard Inlet, the site of present Vancouver.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews It Stops Here: Standing Up for Our Lands, Our Waters, and Our People by Rueben George with Michael Simpson (Toronto: Penguin Random House/Allen Lane, 2023)
$34.00 / 9780735242807
“Soderstrom prefaces each chapter with a poem, song, or memory that personalize the warnings of the book…” Ryan Mitchell reviews Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters, by Mary Soderstrom (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2023) $26.99 / 9781459750487
Buoyant debut novel ponders manhood and Indigeneity…
Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Beautiful Beautiful, by Brandon Reid
(Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023) $24.95 / 9780889714540
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023 $34.95 / 9781771648165 Reviewed by David Milward * “The true measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members.” The quote has been attributed to both Mahatma Gandhi and former American Vice…
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Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World’s Most Vulnerable Placesby Christopher Pollon Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023$39.95 / 9781771649124 Reviewed by Alexandra Pedersen, PhD * The term “sacrifice zones” conjures images of a toxic landscape left permanently barren by rapacious capitalism; consumed until there is nothing left with no possibilities, no hope for the future. Billionaires,…
Read more What should we extract?
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…
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Poems with ‘immediacy, tactility, and general imaginative freshness’…
Christopher Levenson reviews Crushed Wild Mint, by Jess Housty (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2023) $19.95 / 9780889714502
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…
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Wayi Wah!: Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education by Jo Chrona Winnipeg: Portage & Main Press, 2022 $32.00 / 9781774920466 by Kenneth Favrholdt * Jo Chrona uses a rallying cry for her book: Wayi Wah! (Let’s go; it’s time!) It is time to make education a force in reconciliation. This is the…
Read more Educating educators