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The magic of storytelling on BC Book Day

Featured Top Picks • April 20, 2018 • Michael Despotovic

From the north, from the south, from the centre and from the west, BC books come from all over.

On the evening of Monday, April 23 at the Vancouver Public Library (Alice McKay Room), the public is invited to meet four people from across the province—each with a story to tell in their recently published books.


Sonny Assu in front of "Welcome Those They Did Not Want” at All India Sweets on Main Street (in the Punjabi Market Neighbourhood)
Sonny Assu in front of “Welcome Those They Did Not Want” at All India Sweets on Main Street (in the Punjabi market neighbourhood)

First, there is Sonny Assu, a seasoned, award-winning, interdisciplinary artist with exhibitions in Canada’s top galleries. In the art book Sonny Assu: A Selective History (Heritage House), authors and fellow artists such as Candice Hopkins, Marianne Nicolson, Richard Van Camp, Ellyn Walker, and Janet Rogers provide reflections and insight of Assu’s most influential pieces.

Sonny calls the unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory his home, though most know it as Campbell River.

Mary Theresa Kelly and her partner Daniel
Mary Theresa Kelly and her partner Daniel

Second is Mary Theresa Kelly, author of the memoir On Mockingbird Hill: Memories of Dharma Bums, Madcaps, and Fire Lookouts (Caitlin Press).

Her search for meaningful work, a strong partnership, and a lot of existential wavering is what brings her to a mountaintop near Shuswap Lake, living alongside a fire observer—someone who reports on wildfires from the vantage point of witnessing its first plume of smoke. Mary Theresa Kelly now makes her home in the Okanagan.

Man in a striped onesie standing with a dog in front of a fire lookout hut.
“I felt as though I had a boyfriend doing time, a seasonal prison sentence, so I bought a striped jumpsuit for Daniel and one day he had a hiker take his picture,“ says Mary Theresa Kelly

Then, we have Joanna Streetly, who technically doesn’t live or work on the land, but instead on the sea! As a naturalist guide and sea kayak instructor, Joanna’s everyday experiences with rough waters, deadly cougars, and isolated friends are collected in her new bestselling book, Wild Fierce Life: Dangerous Moments on the Outer Coast (Caitlin Press). She joins us from Tofino.

Joanna Streetly with a kid in a backpack-style harness
Joanna Streetly and child at the float home.

Lastly, we will hear from decades of wisdom accumulated by Gian Singh Sandhu, the Founding President of the World Sikh Organization of Canada. In An Uncommon Road: How Canadian Sikhs Struggled Out of the Fringes and into the Mainstream (Echo 2018), Sandhu documents the numerous human rights victories he achieved while sprinkling memories of Williams Lake in Central BC and his evergreen bond with the lumber industry.

Gian then & now. Left: Gian as a young man in India: “I joined the Indian Air Force in 1960, age 17; training in Bangalore (2,500 kilometres away) gave me a taste of independence.” | Right: Gian today, after receiving the Order of BC in 2002.

Sketched drawing of a seal face by Joanna Streetly
Seal face drawing by Joanna Streetly

At first glance, there seems to be no narrative that connects all four presenters, besides the fact that they live (and have predominantly lived) on the land Canadians call British Columbia. And yet, herein lies the magic of storytelling, especially when drawn from true experience.

Instead of pointing to our quintessentially BC products, like our wine, or our marijuana, or even our sky-high real estate, an event like BC Book Day should remind us that BC is so much more than its resources. We don’t need to live in the same area or work in the same industry to create amazing experiences—experiences that we can turn into art, culture, and anything else that we can pass on to our kids or pass over to our neighbours.

Come to the Vancouver Public Library on April 23 at 6:30 pm and step into the lives of these four storytellers. You won’t regret it.

http://www.readlocalbc.ca/event/bc-book-day-2018-vancouver/