Many Canadians say that British Columbia is the zaniest political province. It's too diverse, too polarized - geographically, demographically and ideologically. But the British Columbia political arena is lively, and it has often led the way in electing women to parliaments - as respected spokespeople for the public and as equal people.

In Seeking B …

In Ken Belford's fifth book of poetry he takes us on a journey through Canada's roadless north where he has discovered a third world gaze, looking out at industrialism and its impact on a region abundant in resources and natural beauty. Lan(d)guage is an unsentimental and non-reactionary perspective, a deep investigation of the psychology of both t …

Finding Ft. George is the poetic record of Rob Budde's growing love of Prince George and the Cariboo north-central region of BC. The poems are an act of discovery and they describe the various social, political, historical and environmental systems that Budde encounters with the eye of a patient, astute observer. Engaging in the language of locatio …

Marita Dachsel's debut collection is a visceral exploration of the moments of life that stand out in the pages of a family album and the intervals of memory. She playfully and poignantly documents first crushes, first times, weddings and trips across town, across water, and across continents. Dachsel perceptively sprinkles these moments with the de …

"What a wonderful, fresh voice Gillian Wigmore brings to the page. These wise poems know the push and pull within family. They reveal the tender truths behind the rough edges of small-town life. Her voice resonates with authenticity, and whether she is writing about a near drowning or ice fishing, she is ultimately writing about the complications o …

The reflective poems in Threadbare Like Lace comment on the world as Jacqueline Baldwin has experienced it. She is an expatriate New Zealander who has lived and worked in such far-flung places as Montreal and the remote Robson Valley in the Canadian Rockies. Her poems are a mediation between the private and public worlds and are reminiscent of many …

Set in the wild and wonderful Kootenay region of British Columbia, this novel probes the on-going battle between environmentalists and loggers over the forests both groups love -- but for very different reasons. Author Steve Anderson has evenly divided the debate, allowing his characters to fully present their perspectives and the reader to decide …

In her second volume of poetry, acclaimed writer Jacqueline Baldwin examines life in the North as a poet, feminist and environmentalist.

Beginning his medical practice in the wild frontier town of Williams Lake, the author reflects on his life, which takes him through northern Canada, Alabama, Africa and Central America.

The Adventures of Grey-Dawn is the first in a series of books that brings the knowledge and wisdom of ancient native legends into a new era with renewed life. Metis legends come alive in this tale of courage and perseverance. Grey-Dawn--an outcast from his people because of his eye colour--and his friends Eagle, Moose and Owl make the journey to th …

Bal Sethi pens his reflections on all that is happening around him with wisdom and a (sometimes) heavy heart. An example is the poem "Home for the Holidays" where the narrator discovers that his wife has been unfaithful. Yet Bal never seems to lose hope for the world. This is a truly beautiful compilation of poetry concerning all that matters most …

Young, idealistic but frightfully naive, Kevin and Joanne decide to leave the urban streets of Toronto to homestead in the Peace River country. Life on the norther frontier, they learn, is far removed from anything they had experienced in the past. Even being jobless in the mean streets of a large city has nothing to compare with the troubles of ho …

Cree Adelaide McCauley and her two children witness the shooting of their Metis husband/ father by a crazed white miner. She attempts to nurse him back to life but he dies after several painful days. This tragedy takes place in the Robson Valley and the nearest court of justice is 300 miles away, over treacherous mountain trails, in Golden, BC. Ade …

After moving in with her grandparents in the small close-knit community of Dearing Bay, on the east coast of Newfoundland, Patience discovers what really is the key to happiness. Patience of Dearing Bay is a poignant story of growing up in rural Canada which offers a fond portrayal of a vanishing way of life.

In a series of short stories based in her native Britain, as well as in her adopted country of Canada, Margaret Thompson delights us with her pictures of ordinary life... or is it so ordinary? Sometimes brittle, sometimes gentle, she delivers telling shots at individuals and society's foibles.

"Can you type?" asked the colonel. So began young Sue Ward's induction into army life. She joined the army ' the first ever Canadian Women's Army Corps ' hoping to go overseas to entertain the troops fighting World War II. Instead, she spent the next four years travelling from coast to coast, entertaining the home troops and, as lieutenant, looking …

These poems span fifteen years of life in the northern industrial output of Prince George, BC. They portray family, friendship, sex, death, health, work, love and human hope as subjects of a harsh social, economic, and bureaucratic system that is itself trapped in its own contradictions and ironies. The Centre is McKinnon's first full-length book s …

These wildly funny articles, observations of life in the tiny village of Nazko in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, were first published in the Quesnel Cariboo Observer. Just about everyone in the Cariboo started out as babies when they were quite young, which gives Kishkan a lot of material right there. The other subjects of these real-life stories range fro …

In this twenty-year retrospective of Barbara Munk's work, she pays close attention to the world around her: the man who rustles through garbage cans and dumpsters for his food, the undertaker who wants his ashes spread outside the Elks hall, a robin outside the window. And she invites the reader to look at the world in new ways.

While Munk's poetry …

Poems by Barbara Munk, George Stanley, Barry McKinnon and Ken Belford try to dispel the cultural myth that the north is a work hard, die young region with no room for poetry. This first ever northern anthology explores the beauty, tradition and life in the North.