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.
“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.
“If you have dreams of going offshore for an extended voyage, this is the book for you. It’s a well-written, at times poetic, true account of what it takes to traverse the mighty oceans.” Marianne Scott reviews Cape Horn Birthday: Record-Breaking Solo Non-Stop Circumnavigation, by Peter Freeman (Melbourne, FL: Seaworthy Publications, 2018) $26.95 / 9781948494045
“The Yeadon-Jones have drawn the routes they used to explore the region which are helpful, especially for novices to these waterways. Each entry includes text explaining the particulars of the locality.” Marianne Scott reviews The Broughtons and Vancouver Island – Kelsey Bay to Port Hardy, by Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $49.95 / 9781990776991
“In fact, gratitude is something I believe was on display in this enclave in the Coastal Room at the Gibson Public Market, an appreciation for the array of literary talent on the Sunshine Coast and across the province. That was certainly the message relayed by several literary award judges at this fifth annual event.” Trevor Marc Hughes reports on the recent Art & Words Festival events held in Gibsons this past weekend.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! A book with swimming places either a few minutes away or no more than a half day’s drive! I know: I am blessed with where I live, and this book confirms it. As you can guess, an important criterion for a place to live or visit is where I can immerse myself in water and swim. So, this book delivers in many ways.” Christina Johnson-Dean reviews Swimming Holes and Beaches of Southwestern British Columbia, including the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island, by Alex McKeen and George Harwood Smith (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2025) $26.95 / 9781778401336
“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.
“For people interested in these journeys, perhaps 20 individuals at most in any given year, this book will be an essential starting point for their research. Perhaps the biggest market for this book will be people who just want to read about the region and visit it vicariously. These people will be well rewarded by this book, and ultimately it may be these dreamers who get the most value from it.” Glenn Woodsworth reviews Coast Mountain High Routes: A guide to 46 high route and alpine traverses in the Coast Mountains, by John Baldwin (Vancouver: John Baldwin, 2025) $59.00 / 9780991947966
“Phil, as we knew him back in law school, was a lovely man. His career path saw him become a Crown prosecutor and then a BC Provincial Court Judge. By all reports, he was very good at both. And very dedicated—as it turns out, to a fault.” Richard Butler reviews No Judgment and Other Busking Stories, by Philip Seagram (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861616
“In these pages we meet smugglers, rumrunners, and largely forgotten explorers, and learn of disastrous voyages, horrendous outbreaks of disease, and early maritime maps that reflected political motives more than geographic precision.” Tom Koppel reviews Who Shot Estevan Light? and other tales from the Salish Sea and beyond, by Douglas Hamilton (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $26 / 9781773861531
“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
“Paul Zizka’s compelling and creative images in The Canadian Rockies: Rediscovered are in the highest reach of ‘A’ level evocative photographs. The front cover of the book, ice climber ascending, soft purple northern lights backdrop, focused light on the climber a definite promise and hint of visual beauties to come—such creatively distinct approaches to the Rockies summon forth, for those who have lingered long in such enticing grails of the soul, a longing to return to deeper places.” Ron Dart reviews The Canadian Rockies: Rediscovered, Photographs by Paul Zizka (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2025) $40 / 9781771607391
“Arnott’s storytelling has some of the qualities of Mark Twain floating down the Mississippi or Walt Whitman strolling the Great White Way. Lord Byron, too, comes to mind with his peripatetic Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. But perhaps this travel memoir is more akin to John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. More like Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods.” Ron Verzuh reviews A Season in the Okanagan, by Bill Arnott (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2025) $20 / 9781771607247
“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
“Dombrowski’s passion for nature is evident throughout, making it clear that this book is as much about inspiring families to explore as it is about providing practical information.” Amy Tucker reviews Family Walks and Hikes of Vancouver Island, Volume 2: Nanaimo North to Strathcona Park (Revised Edition) by Theo Dombrowski (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2025) $22 / 9781771607438
“At a time when Canadians are cancelling their vacations to the US at a rate never before seen in history, and looking for alternatives, Pacific Palate is the answer. It’s a foodie guidebook for one of the most beautiful places in Canada. It’s an invitation to slow down, sip, savour, appreciate, ask questions, and indulge your curiosity.” Rebecca Coleman reviews Pacific Palate: Food Artisans of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands (2nd edition), by Don Genova (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2025) $28 / 9781771514262
“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
“Books are involved, of course; but there’s a lot about compassion, charity, about how one becomes beloved. Wosk is an ordained rabbi: you don’t share these stories without knowing how they are practiced.” Trevor Carolan reviews New Life Joke Shop: Travels and Observations by Yosef Wosk (Victoria, Ekstasis Editions, 2025) $ TBA / 9781771715805
In which a university student from the burbs changes jobs in the heart of Montreal during the year of the Olympic Games.— “A Sound Education,” by E.R. Brown
“What Todd has written and photographed is a riveting, honest book which Bruce Kirkby aptly states in his introduction – examines ‘mortality, meaning and connection’ with a ‘ruthless honesty (which) reminds me at times of Anthony Bourdain on two wheels.'” Isabel Nanton reviews Inside the Belly of an Elephant: A Motorcycle Journey of Loss, Legacy and Ultimate Freedom by Todd Lawson (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023) $30 / 9781771605755