Ellen Schwartz: Book Launch | Jewish Book Festival

Join the JCC Jewish Book Festival and Heritage House for the launch of Ellen Schwartz’s memoir, “Galena Bay Odyssey: Reflections of a Hippie Homesteader.”
Tuesday, May 2, 7:00pm
In the Zack Gallery
moderated by Calvin Wharton
• FREE
• Please register via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/…/book-launch-ellen-schwartz…
• Book will be available for purchase
• Author will be signing books after the event
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What compelled a nice Jewish girl from the suburbs of New York to spend a decade of her life as a hippie homesteader in the BC wilderness? Galena Bay Odyssey traces Ellen Schwartz’s journey from a born-and-raised urbanite who was terrified of the woods to a self-determined logger, cabin-builder, gardener, chicken farmer, apiarist, and woodstove cook living on a communal farm in the Kootenays.
Part memoir, part exploration of what motivated the exodus of young hippies—including American expatriates, like Ellen and her husband, Bill—to go “back to the land” in remote parts of North America during the 1960s and ’70s, this fascinating book explores the era’s naivety, idealism, and sense of adventure.
Now, nearly half a century later, Ellen reflects on what her homesteader experience taught her about living more fully, honestly, and ecologically.
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ELLEN SCHWARTZ is the author of eighteen award-winning books for children, as well as one non-fiction book for adults, a collection of profiles of women singer-song-writers. In addition to writing books, Ellen works as a corporate writer and editor and as a freelance magazine writer who has published hundreds of magazine articles. She has taught creative writing classes for many years at the college and university levels and currently live in Burnaby, BC.
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Moderator CALVIN WHARTON has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies in Canada, the United States, Wales, Sweden, and Denmark. He is a former chair of Creative Writing at Douglas College and writer in residence at the University of Wales. His books include a collection of short fiction, “Three Songs by Hank Williams – The Song Collides”; and an Alfred Gustav Press poetry chapbook: “The Invention of Birds.” His most recent book is “This Here Paradise” (Anvil Press, 2022).