BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Finalist, ReLit Award
Twenty-first century metalheads; twelfth century troubadours and their female counterparts, the trobairitz - what could they possibly have in common? The creation of an often misunderstood and at times reviled genre for one; for another, a kin preoccupation with the questioning of structures set up by class, gender, and religion.
Praise for Trobairitz:
BC Books in BC Schools Pick
"Owen pounds out sombre love, transcendent rhythms, and gender-bending boldness ... Trobairitz starts the heart like the thud of a bass line and opens the mind like a scream, poem after poem." (Quill & Quire)
"In this subtle but gripping blend of time and place and sexualities, Catherine Owen has created a modern epic in which a contemporary female voice from the metal scene reclaims the troubadour tradition, imagining the equality of the sexes in even these most heavily male-dominated musical worlds. Part love story, part musical proclamation of independence, Owen moves us through time and space to explore how women who go first' may struggle, but are not alone and in fact, are part of a long, long tradition." (Kate Braid, author of Turning Left to the Ladies)
"Describing metal fans as raw birds, eyes banged out of their heads,' Owen's loving scorn allows her to walk a fine line between paying homage to the subculture and dissecting its darkness." (Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press)
Catherine Owen is a Vancouver poet and writer, the author of nine collections of poetry. A book of essays and memoirs, 'Catalysts: Confrontations with the Muse', was published earlier this year. Catherine's work has appeared in periodicals throughout Canada, Austria, New Zealand, and Australia. Her books and poems have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Gerald Lampert Award, the BC Book Prize, the ReLit Award, the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness In Literature, Short Grain, and The Earle Birney Prize. Her last book of poetry, 'Frenzy' (Anvil), won the Alberta Literary Award in 2009. She has a Masters degree in English and plays bass in the metal bands Inhuman and Helgrind.