bill bissett 2007 - BC BookWorld

FREEYOUR GUIDE TO BOOKS & AUTHORS • DISTRIBUTED BY 700 OUTLETS IN BCTHANK YOU TO OUR READERS & DISTRIBUTORS•1987-2007BCBOOKWORLDVOL. 21 • NO. 3 • AUTUMN • 2007th wun nd onleebill bissettWinner of the George WoodcockLifetime Achievement Award. SEE P. 13IshmaelBeahfrom SierraLeone toKitsilanoFINDMORE THAN8500B.C. AUTHORSwww.abcbookworld.comLAURA SAWCHUK / TRIPLE AAA PHOTOPublication Mail Agreement #40010086RECKONING200716 ESSAYS INSIDEFINDMORE THAN20thB.C. AUTHORSANNIVERSARY ISSUE

3 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007CONTROVERSYWHO DO YOU THINK WE ARE?The name of British Columbia is no longer relevant—if it ever was—so why don’t we have aconversation about changing it? It’s a literary issue that a mature society ought to be able to consider.If you’re a Chinese British Columbian, or someonefrom one of our First Nations, or, let’s say, someonewho has Japanese or German or Dutch or Bengaliancestors, does the name British Columbia sit wellwith you? As Peter Newman has observed, roast beefis now an ethnic dish.HAVE FIVE GENERATIONS OF ANCESTORSIwho have approved of the name BritishColumbia—but increasingly I askmyself why other places on the planethave seen fit to jettison that adjectiveBritish, rejecting their colonial namesand redefining themselves, whereas wehaven’t even talked about it.✍The archaic name of British Columbiais not a burning issue. It doesn’t hauntanyone’s dreams.Of course it would be costly to changeit. And we’d have difficulty deciding ona new name.But it’s a literary issue that has intriguedme for decades. Anyone interested inonomastics—the study of names and namingpractices—might be entertained bya brief enquiry into the origins of ourprovince’s name.Before we consider getting a newname, it’s a good idea to understand howwe got the old one.✍To understand the genesis of thename British Columbia, you can consultJean Barman’s The West Beyond The Westor perhaps the Akriggs’ British ColumbiaChronicle 1847-1871.Or you can contact the experts onnaming things, the folks who are membersof the Canadian Society for theStudy of Names or the American NameSociety founded in 1951.But it’s a lot quicker to Google theanswer from Wikipedia.You’ll discover that the Columbia inBritish Columbia is NOT derived fromChristopher Columbus.Yes, Queen Victoria reputedly chosethe name British Columbia by joiningthe adjective British to the northerly portionof the Columbia fur trading district.Yes, the Columbia fur trading district,in turn, derived its name from the ColumbiaRiver.Yes, the river was named on May 12,1792 after the ship Columbia Rediviva,that belonged to the American sea captainRobert Gray, who was allegedly thefirst ‘white’ man to navigate up themouth of that river on May 11, 1792 (aSpaniard got there before him, but that’susually overlooked).But Gray’s ship was not named inhonour of Columbus, the explorer, asmost people would guess.According to Wikipedia: “ColumbiaRediviva was a privately owned sloop underCaptain Robert Gray. The ship isusually known in history simply as theColumbia, which was sent to the PacificNorthwest to trade for fur.“The ship is named for one of thethree patron saints of Ireland, St.Columb, or St. Columba, a great Irishsailor who had the gumption to found amonastery on the island of Iona in Scotlandin the sixth century A.D.”✍Most British Columbians don’t know,and they couldn’t care less, that a Britishmonarch combined an adjective thatReckoning 07ALAN TWIGGconnotes imperialism with a noun derivedfrom an Irish saint to define whereand who we are.America, after all, is named for theItalian merchant Amerigo Vespuccisimply because a German cartographernamed Martin Waldseemuller produceda world map in 1507 that namedthe newly discovered continent afterVespucci’s first name.The name of the Pacific Ocean is similarlyludicrous. After Magellan successfullynavigated those straits near thebottom of the Americas, he happenedto reach the new ocean on a day when itwas unusually calm, or ‘passive,’ hencethe name Pacific was born—an absurdityif you’ve ever ventured very far fromthis coast in any kind of boat.✍So names are often nonsensical. Butin 2007, can we at least have some discussionabout the name of our province?The very idea of possibly changing thename of British Columbia is culturalheresy in some people’s minds but surelyit’s about time for some sober reflectionon this issue.✍“I think it is unlikely Queen Victoria(who was 39 in 1858 and given to strongopinions on such issues as naming andprotocol) wanted to name the newcolony after an American ship or an Irishsaint,” writes Howard White, publisherof the Encyclopedia of British Columbia.“I think she had in mind that Columbiawas appropriate because it was the nameused by geographers for allof the new lands discoveredby Columbus, (it wascommonly used as a rhetoricalname for the US).“Sticking ‘British’ infront was consistent withthe naming method usedall over the empire, as in ‘British East Africa,’‘British Guiana,’ ‘British Honduras,’etc. As the Akriggs wrote, ‘Itpreserved the name of the empire lost tothe Americans and at the same time itserved as a reminder that a portion of ithad been saved, to grow and mature inanother tradition.’“I am sure this is closer to the Queen’sthinking and that of her advisors thanthe idea she was naming it after the ColumbiaRiver or the Columbia District,which by this time had been formallyceded to the US. So I think it is a bit of ashort circuit to say B.C. was named afteran American ship and an Irish saint.There is a connection, but it is not themain one.”✍Okay, okay.The name of British Columbia is acceptableif we want to respect the wishesof a British queen who never saw theplace.But is that good enough?Do the majority of BritishColumbians want to be defined as a Britishpost-colonialists?Let’s have a vote.As this year’s Shadbolt Fellow at Simon FraserUniversity, Alan Twigg is mandated to generatesome healthy debate on public and socialmatters, and to serve as a bridge betweenacademia and the general public. His forthcomingbook is Full-Time: A Canadian Soccer Adventure(Douglas Gibson Books/M&S), availablein the spring of 2008.BCVol.BOOKWORLDPublisher/ Writer: Alan TwiggEditor/Production: David LesterPublication Mail Agreement #40010086Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: BC BookWorld,3516 W. 13th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6R 2S3Produced with the sponsorship of Pacific BookWorld NewsSociety. Publications Mail Registration No. 7800.BC BookWorld ISSN: 1701-5405Advertising & editorial: BC BookWorld, 3516 W. 13th Ave.,Vancouver, B.C., V6R 2S3. Tel/Fax: 604-736-4011 • Email:available on request. Annual subscription: $19.08Contributors: Grant Shilling, Mark Forsythe, Sheila Munro,Joan Givner, Louise Donnelly, Hannah Main-van der Kamp,Heather Ramsay, Cherie Thiessen, Shane McCune.Writing not otherwise credited is by staff.Photographers: Barry Peterson, Laura Sawchuk.Proofreaders: Wendy Atkinson, Betty Twigg.Design: Get-to-the-Point Graphics. Deliveries: Ken ReidWe acknowledge theassistance of CanadaCouncil and the Province ofBritish Columbia, through theMinistry of Community,Aboriginal, and Women’sServices.Autumn Issue21, No. 3All BC BookWorld reviews are posted online atw w w . a b c b o o k w o r l d . c o mINDEX to AdvertisersAnnick Press...35Arsenal Pulp Press...16Banyen Books...35BC Book Prizes...41BC Historical Federation...33Bolen Books...20Book Warehouse...29Caitlin Press...26Crown Publications...20Douglas & McIntyre...2Douglas College/EVENT...35Ekstasis Editions...28Ellis, David...33Federation of BC Writers...33Friesens Printers...42George Ryga Prize...23Galiano Island Books...40Granville Island Publishing...42Harbour Publishing...44HarperCollins...26Heritage House...4Hignell Printing...42Jardine, Lori Beale...35Lammar Printing...43Leaf Press...33Literary Press Group...8, 35, 40Maa Press...39McArthur & Co...15McKee Screenwriting...35New Society Publishers...22New Star Books...35, 37, 40NeWest Press...35, 40Now or Never Publishing...8O’Keeffe, Toni...33Oolichan Books...16Orca Books...24Penguin Books...18People’s Co-Op Books...40Playwrights Canada Press...37Positive Connections...40Printorium...42Ronsdale Press...7TO ADVERTISE CALL 604-736-4011Royal BC Museum...8Salal Press...40Save-On Foods...20Self-Counsel Press...26SFU Writer’s Studio...38SFU Writing & Publishing...15Sidney Booktown...37Sono Nis Press...12TalonBooks...10Thistledown...35, 37Thomas Allen...30, 33Thomson, Ann...40Timeless Books...40UBC Press...8U. of Toronto Press...33Vancouver Desktop...42Vancouver Writers’ Festival...18Wayzygoose SFU...42Woewoda, James...42Wood Lake Publishing...30Yoka’s Coffee...20

5 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007FIRST NATIONSFIRST FIRST NATIONS BESTSELLER: GEORGE CLUTESIAnephew of Tseshaht artist and author GeorgeClutesi, Randy Fred founded Canada's firstAboriginal-owned and operated publishingcompany, Theytus Books, in 1980, based inNanaimo. Here Randy Fred shares memoriesof his Alberni Valley uncle who wrote Son ofRaven, Son of Deer, a ground-breaking work published byGray Campbell, the province’s first trade publisher.REMEMBER UNCLE GEORGIE WAS SO VERYIgentle. His voice had a bit of a raspdue to tuberculosis from his youngeryears.He was quick to smile. His humourwas subtle. He hated politics. He was notone to attend Band meetings as theytended to be so confrontational. Heknew there was corruption in our officeand felt powerless so avoided the issueas much as possible.His wife, Margaret, on the otherhand, was always very forthright in heropinions. She was not afraid to call acrook a crook. Nevertheless, she, too, feltpowerless and avoided the politicalarena.Margaret was simply honest. I usedto chuckle to myself when I would visither and she would be sitting in her chairknitting or weaving. With her handsmoving steadily on her craftwork shecould slam somebody quite harshly inher gentle voice.✍Uncle Georgie andAuntie Margaretlived in an unusualhouse for an Indianreserve. It mayhave appeared normalfor a middle to high class neighbourhoodanywhere else other than an Indianreserve. It had a long graveldriveway coming off the Pacific RimHighway, which we used to know asSproat Lake Road.Past the entrance to the driveway wasa small shed where George used to paint,write, and meditate. The yard was quitelarge with a well-manicured lawn, anabundance of fruit trees, berry bushes,and flowers. The house was always immaculatelyclean.I always felt intimidated walking alongthe driveway up to Uncle and Auntie’shouse. It seemed so out of place; so differentthan the other houses and yardson our reserve.✍My first real encounter with UncleGeorgie was in the Alberni Indian ResidentialSchool in the early 1960s. By thetime I attended, the school was massivewith a half a dozen or so large outbuildings,but it was a much smaller buildingduring his schooldays.Being a creative soul with agreat sense of humour, UncleGeorgie left the traditionalTseshaht markon the school. Betweenthe boys’ side and the girls’ sidewas an auditorium capable of holdingmore than 300 people. There was a foyeroutside the auditorium door. This iswhere the rope was to pull the large bellto signal for mealtimes, church times etc.On the foyer floor George created abeautiful motif using the floor tiles. Itwas an image of a whale with athunderbird on its back. This motifwithin a circle is what our tribe, Tseshaht,still to this day use as our logo. I believeReckoning 07RANDY FREDit was Uncle Georgie’s way of markingthe spot as traditional Tseshaht land. Thatpiece of property has since been returnedby the United Church ofCanada to the Tseshaht tribe.✍Uncle Georgie could see what theIndian residential school was doing toour culture. He was okay about teachingkids from other nations our songsand dances. Later he started a dancegroup on our reserve.I recall Uncle Georgie asking meonce why I had not joined up with hisdance group. He told me I was Tseshahtand the dance group sang and dancedto Tseshaht songs, my songs and dances.I was dumbfounded. I knew I loved thesongs and dances. I did not know then Iwas feeling shame about being Indian.He never pressured me.Today Tseshaht people appreciatewhat Uncle Georgie did. However, inthe beginning they ostracized him forhis cultural work.Our people felt he was selling out ourculture. This feeling extended further tohis published works. When Son of Raven,Son of Deer was first published he wasfar from being a hero onour reserve.I admire him. He persevered.He publishedmore books and got intoacting and did well at it.Despite his fame henever looked down on anyTseshaht person. He was always welcoming.He was also forgiving.Slowly, the feelings of Tseshaht peoplechanged up to the point of pride forhis accomplishments. Now it is well understoodhe was instrumental in preservingand promoting Tseshaht culture.Uncle Georgie’s trailblazing allowedme to work in communications. By thetime I started Theytus Books Ltd. muchof the jealousy towards him and thenegative feelings about his work had diminishedsufficiently. It was no longertaboo to share our culture.✍Like many creative people, Georgeand Margaret had both been ripped offat times. It took a lot of convincing tofinally get them to agree to allow me andTheytus Books Ltd. to publish The Artof George Clutesi.What a nightmare! George had entrustedall his written collections andarchival materials to a supposed writer,a non-Native who had gained Georgeand Margaret’s trust. That project neverdid reach publication.She lied to us about her progress withthe writing of the book. Like an unseasonedpublisher fool I believed her tothe point of mocking up a book andadvertising it. What a heartbreaker! Idon’t even know if she ever returned thematerial to the Clutesis.I was glad Uncle and Auntie didn’thold anything against me for the failureof the project. Instead, our relationshipdrew closer. After that, I never felt intimidatedentering that long driveway.George Clutesi“In 2005 Randy Fred received the GrayCampbell Distinguished Service Award for hisoutstanding contribution to the development ofwriting and publishing in B.C. He recently returnedfrom the BC Disability Games in PowellRiver, where he won the gold medal for B-1 VisuallyImpaired Lawn Bowling. He lives in Nanaimo.Today Tseshaht peopleappreciate what UncleGeorgie did. However, in thebeginning they ostracizedhim for his cultural work.”— RANDY FRED

6 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007HOW THE WEST WAS WRITTENAs the author of The West Beyond the Westand numerous other history titles, Jean Barmanhas energetically served as a vital catalystfor historical and heritage endeavors inB.C. for 25 years. In preparation for the Reckoning07 conference at Simon Fraser University,we asked her to look over her shoulder and describehow she evolved into one of the province’s leading historians.HEN PELÉ CAME TO VANCOUVER INW1972, only our family showed upat the airport to see him.Having lived in Brazil while my husbandRoderick, a newly-arrived UBChistorian, was completing his doctorate,we were among the soccer star’s devotedfans. Pelé didn’t seem to mind that weconstituted the city’s unofficial welcomingcommittee and chatted amicably.At the far edge of the soccer universe,Vancouver was a very different place ageneration ago, as that anecdote indicates.And I was different, too. A sense ofdetachment toward my new home echoedthe city’s apparent lack of curiositytowards newcomers.My expertise in Russian foreignpolicy seemed a world away, and I wascomfortable with my childhood stereotypeof totem poles set against theRocky Mountains, as featured in theNational Geographic.I had little notion then I would reinventmyself as a B.C. historian.✍New journals and books first tweakedmy attention. BC Studies, which I wouldlater co-edit, began in 1969, and theRaincoast Chronicles and Sound Heritageseries three years later.Robin Fisher’s landmark Contactand Conflict: Indian-European Relationsin British Columbia, 1774-1890, waspublished by UBC Press in 1977.Rolf Knight’s counter-narrative, Indiansat Work: An Informal History ofNative Indian Labour in British Columbia,1858-1930 appeared from NewStar in 1978.That same year Peter Ward’s innovativeWhite Canada Forever: Popular Attitudesand Public Policy toward Orientalsin British Columbia appeared fromMcGill-Queen’s University Press.✍The 1980s were a turning point forBritish Columbian history.About the time UBC Press acceptedmy first book, Growing Up British in BritishColumbia: Boys in Private School, I wasinvited to ‘integrate’ the Vancouver CentennialCommission established to celebratethe city’s 100 th anniversary in 1986by becoming its first female member.The Literary Arts and History ResourcesCommittees, which I chaired,became vehicles not only for encouragingwriting and publishing but for spearheadingthe BC Book Prizes.The Literary Arts Committee reformeditself in its entirety, except forme due to a possible conflict of interest,to initiate the prizes, which from 1985onwards annually honour the best ofB.C. writers, writing, and publishers.The beginning of BC BookWorld twoyears later consolidated the tremendouschanges underway.✍The complexities of writing and publishingBritish Columbian history camehome to me as the decade was drawingto a close.With the emergence of B.C. publishers,the past was being regionalized,whereas previously it was mostly tackedonto the history of the nation.Having been invited to write a distanceeducation course on B.C. history,I decided to seek publication and foundmyself having to choose between a leadingB.C. publisher I much admired andUniversity of Toronto Press.To publish in B.C. foretold a regionalhistory, whereas emanation from Torontowould insert the province’s historyinto a national canon. The ambivalencewith which I opted for nation over regionhas been lessened by the appearanceof The West beyond the West in athird edition this year, having gained anational audience.✍A new dilemma arose: History is usuallywritten by the winners. Their livescomprise the archival collections, andhistorically these have been white menenjoying political and economic privilege.So long as we relied on the materialsat hand, we were telling the same oldstories.My appreciation of RaincoastChronicles and Sound Heritage, togetherwith my experiences co-editing threevolumes on Aboriginal education andserving almost a decade on the board ofBC Heritage Trust, turned my attentionto the potential in everyday sources ofinformation, ranging from letters to oraltestimony in the form of humanmemory.The consequence has been, in mycase, several books, as well as articles,focusing on the workings of gender andReckoning 07JEAN BARMANrace in British Columbia’s past. Havinglearned from The West beyond the West,I sought to ensure, as we all need to do,that publishers reflect the books’ intendedaudiences.Constance Lindsay Skinner: Writingon the Frontier, which follows a B.C.writer to early 20th-century Los Angelesand New York, and Sojourning Sisters:The Lives and Letters of Jessie andAnnie McQueen, about two youngMaritimers come west, went to Universityof Toronto Press to ensure that BritishColumbian history continues to bemainlined. In order to return their storyhome, Leaving Paradise: Indigenous Hawaiiansin the Pacific Northwest, 1787-HISTORY1898, co-written with Bruce Watson,was published by University of Hawai’iPress.In other cases, a B.C. publisher mattered.Good Intentions Gone Awry: EmmaCrosby and the Methodist Mission on theNorthwest Coast, co-written with JanHare, appeared with UBC Press as a reminderthat the entire province is integralto British Columbian history. MariaMahoi of the Islands was placed with NewStar and The Remarkable Adventures of PortugueseJoe Silvey and Stanley Park’s Secret:The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi,Kanaka Ranch and Brockton Point withHarbour so that descendants whose oraltestimonies made the three books possiblewould have maximum access and allBritish Columbians would know their storiesmatter.✍The transformation in writing andpublishing British Columbian history overthe past three decades hasbeen possible only becausemany, many persons havedecided this place matters.Our publishers have repeatedlydemonstrated their sensitivityto the province’shistory. By writers opting topublish regionally, as well as nationallyand internationally, British Columbia’spast has become far better known than itwas a generation ago.But we still have a long way to go.British Columbian history is all of ourresponsibilities.Jean Barman is working on two bookmanuscripts, tentatively entitled “Lost BritishColumbia: A history of Aboriginal interraciality”and “Taming Aboriginal Sexuality: Gender,power, and race in 19th century British Columbia.”She and Bruce Watson are also in the midstof a research project tracking the French-Canadianand Iroquois contribution to the fur tradeand to the making of the Pacific Northwest.Thirty-five years ago, when Pelé came to Vancouver, only the Barman family showed up to greet him.

9 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007ORIGINSHOW OUR ENCYCLOPEDIA WAS BORNIf the Golden Age of BC book culture has been reached,the Encyclopedia of British Columbia, published in 2000,was arguably its summit. Here its editor Daniel Francisrecounts the origins of one of the most culturallyimportant books from and about B.C.HE EBC BEGAN AS THE GERM OF ANTidea shared between the publisherHoward White and myself during a freaksnowstorm on the highway south of Vancouver.(This is my version of the story,of course; Howard will have his own.)Howard and I had been to White Rockon an errand of a completely differentsort. We had been visiting an elderlyunion organizer whose memoirs I wassupposed to be ghosting and Howardwas expecting to publish. But I turnedout to be insufficiently communist forthe old firebrand’s liking, and the projectdied on his living room rug. While weinched our way down the slippery highwayback to the city, we began to cookup another scheme.At that point—it was 1990—Howard and I were not the good friendswe subsequently became. We had beenstudents at UBC at the same time duringthe 1960s but had not met there.Following university, I married andmoved to eastern“Canada to live.When we finallydid meet, it wasin the offices ofthe Stern Galleryin Montreal in1986. I was livingin the cityand Howie wasthere on business.I commissionedan article fromhim for themagazine I wasthen editing. When I returned to thecoast the following year, I began performingfreelance editorial chores forHarbour.As we made our snow-impeded wayin from White Rock that fateful day, itturned out that both Howie and I hadbeen mulling over a similar idea, somesort of a compendium of informationabout British Columbia. This kind ofproject seemed to flow naturally frommy own recent involvement in MelHurtig’s various incarnations of the CanadianEncyclopedia. Meanwhile,Howie had been contemplating a sortof traveller’s guide to the province, inspiredby a California guidebook he hadseen. From this basis, the EBC began totake shape in our minds as a one-stopguide to all things British Columbian;as Howie put it in his foreword to thebook, “everything from BC soup to BCnuts,” or, as it turned out, everythingfrom abalone to George Zukerman.As I say, it was 1990. Lookingahead, I calculated that in 1992 muchfuss would be made about the 200thanniversary of Captain Vancouver’sarrival on the coast. The public cofferswould open, I thought, to support commemorativeprojects, of which ourscould be one. Here I made two rookiemistakes. The first was to think that BCwould celebrate the great explorer’scoastal survey. As it turned out, 1992passed with hardly a ripple of attentionpaid to the bicentennial. The secondmistake was to think that I could compilean encyclopedia, singlehandedly, intwo years. In the event, it would take ten,and the assistance of many contributors.Naiveté and hubris notwithstanding,by the time Howie and I reached Vancouver,the idea of the Encyclopedia ofBritish Columbia was born. It threatened,however, to be a still birth. Thinkingit might be nice to have some fundingin place before we began, I wasted a lotof time contemplating ways of raisingthe cash. This was not going to be anordinary book; it would have to befunded in extraordinary ways. We wereaware that Hurtig’s company had runaground on the shoals of his encyclopediaprojects and Howie did not want tosee Harbour suffer a similar fate. But aftermonths ofI don’t really knowwhat mixture ofblind confidenceand pigheadednessmade me thinkanything was goingto come of it.”— DANIEL FRANCISfruitless talkingand thinking, itoccurred to methat fund raisingwas neithermy strength normy job. Thatresponsibilitybelonged to thepublisher. I decidedto getstarted on thecontent.I began bytreating it as a harmless hobby. As otherpeople might play golf or press stampsinto an album, I compiled brief articlesabout people, places and things. I hadtold writing students in the past, when asubject seems so large as to be intimidatingbegin by biting off a small piece andstarting to chew. In the case of the EBC,I followed my own advice. I simply beganwriting entries. There was nomethod to my approach. If somethingcaught my attention in the morning paper,I followed it up. So-and-so inductedinto the BC Sports Hall of Fame? Itracked down enough information towrite a biography. The latest census released?I downloaded population figuresfor every city, town and village. Anotherlumber company bought or sold? I betterget going on a list of pioneer loggers.One thing always led to another and asthe months, then years, passed, the pileof finished entries on a table in my officereached toward the ceiling.I don’t really know what mixture ofblind confidence and pigheadednessmade me think anything was going toReckoning 07DANIEL FRANCIScome of it. Somewhere along the way Iread the biography of James Murray,editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.The image of him pigeonholing his worddefinitions in the great iron Scriptoriumhe had built for the project seemed depressinglyapt. When Murray embarkedon the project in 1879, its promotersexpected that the OED would take tenyears to complete. Five years later he andhis team had reached the word “ant.”When the famed editor died in 1915,the dictionary was still not finished. Ihoped to live long enough to see the endof the EBC, but there was no guarantee.Periodically I would drive up to seeHowie in Madeira Park to have anotherplanning session. The entries were in mycomputer, of course, but I made printoutsand took them along to impress himwith my progress. As the number ofboxes of paper I heaved out of my trunkgrew, so did our realization that maybe,just maybe, the book might become areality.At one point I received a letter fromthe writer Daphne Marlatt. I had writtena short biographical entry about herand had sent it out for fact checking.JOSEPH FARRIS ILLUSTRATIONShe wrote back with some minor corrections,but mainly she wrote to tell methat she had noticed from my letterheadthat I was living in the same house inNorth Vancouver that she and her familyhad lived in when they immigratedto Canada in the early 1950s. She recalledparticularly the large sawdustburningfurnace in the basement andleaping into the pile of sawdust as a kid.Daphne said that it gave her a great dealof pleasure to think that an Encyclopediaof British Columbia was now beingproduced in the house where she spentpart of her childhood. Whenever thewhole project seemed larger than myability to complete it, I used to recall thisletter, and the coincidence it evoked,and be reassured that therewas an audience of peoplewho shared an experienceof the province and wantedto know more about theirplace.Haphazard as my approachwas, there seemedto be no other way. So long as we hadno money to pay contributors, I couldnot bring myself to ask anyone for help.As time passed, I overcame this inhibitionand discovered to my surprise thatmost people were more than willing tobe a part of the project for nothing. Dozensof writers, some of whom werefriends, many of whom were strangers,agreed to add to my own output. Thenwe assembled a group of knowledgeableadvisors to help sort out the essentialfrom the incidental. There was a limit tohow big a book it could be and we werefast approaching it.Finally it looked like we would beready to publish on BC Day, 1999. Butat one of the Madeira Park meetings theeditorial team decided that we bettertake another hard look at the material.The one thing an encyclopedia has tobe is dependable. There were still someholes to fill. And were we certain thatthe information was as reliable as wecould make it? So we delayed for anotheryear and submitted the entire text to anothervetting.Finally, in the year 2000, we celebratedthe new millennium by launchingthe book with a huge party at theVancouver Public Library, inviting all thepeople who had contributed to the finishedproduct. The book was such a successthat it made us all look like we knewwhat we were doing. In fact, most of thetime we were flying by the seat of ourpants. As I said on the night the bookwon a pair of BC Book Prizes, Howieand I both sensed from the beginningthat if we waited to raise the necessarymoney, to set up the editorial committees,to consult all the experts, and todraw up the flow charts and databases, we’d never get the damn thingdone. Instead, we just went ahead anddid it.I do not recommend this as the best way,but it seems to me to be a typically BC way.And it worked.Daniel Francis’ history of the VancouverAquarium’s involvement with killer whales willbe published in the fall of 2007.

11 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007BOOKSELLINGREMEMBERING R2B2: A NAÏF’S STORY“The sign in my window said Come On In. We’ve Raised OurPrices but I never did,” says Renee Rodin. Here she recalls herdays as an idealistic bookseller who organized poetry readingswith free beer, smoked pot with Roy Kiyooka and put up withvolatile types like P.X. Belinsky and Bill Hoffer.In the mid-eighties I worked at Octopus West, a wonderful used bookstorein the 2100 block of West 4 th inKitsilano. “Brownie” (P.R. Brown) andher partner, the late Jules Comeault,had bought the store in the seventiesfrom Bill Fletcher.On my first day, when another staffperson went for coffee, a customer cameto buy some paperbacks in the window.Their prices, 25, 35 or 50 cents, wereclearly marked on their covers. So that’swhat I sold them for. I soon discovered Ihad sold someone’s private library ofhighly collectible pulp fiction, broughtin for display purposes only, for next tonothing.When Brownie decided to sell OctopusWest to concentrate on her otherstore, Octopus East, on CommercialDrive, near where she lived with herbaby, Rosie, I wanted it. Brownie offereda generous instalment plan for paymentsand I bought the store in the fall of l986with poet Billy Little, who had been aclose friend of Jules’ and had also workedat Octopus. We changed the name to R& B Books because of our names butwe were open to interpretation aboutthe initials.In December, just before the Christmasseason, which we were dependingon, a fire broke out in the apartmentupstairs. I was alone in the store and hadno idea the building was ablaze, thoughsmoke could be seen across the city.Someone came in to get me out.The person upstairs was not so lucky. Apioneer recycler, Barry had piled massesof newspapers on top of what becamea faulty extension cord. I learned laterhe had also been an ethical marijuanadealer and there were many high schoolkids, including mine, at his funeral.Most of our stock and the store werewater-damaged. Our insurance just coveredour move to a tiny spot at 2742West 4 th Avenue in January of l987, nextto the Naam restaurant, and in the sameblock as Ariel Books, run by MargoDunn.Billy, who remained involved in thestore for its first couple of years, suggestedchanging our name to R2B2Books to signify our second time around.Even though we carried little science fiction,the name stuck.✍Poetry was as vital to my generationas music and movies. As a baby beatnikin Montreal in the early sixties I’d lovedgoing to readings in small bookstoresand at coffee houses.I’d visited Vancouver before butmoved there in 68. In the sixties and seventiesI attended memorable readings atMilton Acorn’s Advanced Mattress andat Intermedia. I also remember readingscurated byTrudy Rubenfeld at See Site,the photography workshop she ran withRhoda Rosenfeld. There were readingsat Mona Fertig’s LiteraryStorefront, where I worked for awhile. Jules and Brownie hosted eventsat their stores, too.For me having readings was part andparcel of having a bookstore so I starteda weekly series as soon as R & B Booksopened. I have yet to unearth who gavethe first reading in October 1986. Butit was interrupted by P.X. Belinsky withwhom I’d just ended a relationship.P.X. Belinsky, a brilliant writer andalso the enfant terrible of the Vancouverliterary scene, had a compulsion todisrupt readings when he got drunk.He heckled many poets includingAllen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley,who were part of a series organized byWarren Tallman at the Italian CulturalCentre.The series at R2B2 kept attractinggreat writers because of the writers whoread there. Some of the participantsReckoning 07RENEE RODINwere bill bissett, Robin Blaser, GeorgeBowering, Carole Chambers, JudithCopithorne, Margaret Dragu, MaxineGadd, Gladys (Maria) Hindmarch,Avron Hoffman, Jam Ismail, CaroleItter, SKY Lee, Billy Little, DorothyLivesay, Lee Maracle, DaphneMarlatt, Al Neil, Miranda Pearson,Stan Persky, Helen Potrebenko, JamieReid, Lisa Robertson, RhodaRosenfeld, Tom Sandborn, GeorgeStanley, Goh Poh Seng, SharonThesen, Warren Tallman, Ed Varney,Victoria Walker, Betsy Warland, CharlesWatts and Fred Wah.As well, writers such as DionneBrand, Di Brandt, Nicole Brossard andDavid McFadden came from differentparts of Canada, and writers came fromAustralia, Britain and the United States,including Diane di Prima. The audienceswere extremely attentive so it wasa good place to try out new work.The readings were often socrowded that on four separateoccasions audience membersfainted from lack of air. Afterthe poor person who hadpassed out was attended to,sometimes by ambulance attendants,the reading wouldresume. For bp nichol, we satout back on a patch of grass. bp read bycandle, star and moonlight. It wasmagic.The fantasy is that you can sit andread in a bookstore but there was alwayswork to be done. If you think sellingpoetry books is hard, try selling usedpoetry. There were more requests for themusic tapes I played at the store, whichweren’t for sale, than for the books.Still there were lovely interludes suchas when Roy Kiyooka, who read at thestore several times, dropped by once aweek before he died. We’d talk and tokeup. Browsers either enjoyed the sightand smell of the grass or fled.✍In the nineties the economy was verytight, I had no cushion to ride out therough times and it was impossible tocompete with the bigger stores. After Idecided to pack it in, ten other smallVancouver bookstores, most of them runby women, folded.Mainly because of the series’reputation, I was able to sellR2B2 in l994 to Denise andTrent Hignel who renamed itBlack Sheep Books. They continuedthe readings for the nextthree years before they sold it toGeorge Kroller who continuedfor another three years.So theweekly series went on for 14years in all. It was fabulous andI miss it.My events were free but Isold beer at them, which helpedpay the rent. After the readings,when lively literary discussionsturned into lively parties, I’d endup giving the beer away becauseI didn’t like selling to friends andfellow partiers.My greatest pleasure as abookseller was when someonefound an out-of-print bookthey’d been searching for orI turned someone onto a bookI loved no matter how little itcost. Occasionally I had collectibleitems that could havefetched serious money but I hadno idea of their value. Once BillHoffer, the late antiquarianbook dealer, swooped in and gotsome great deals. Later he saidif he found my mistakes it washis prerogative to buy the booksno matter what. Fair enough.The sign in my window said“Come On In. We’ve RaisedOur Prices” but I never did.Renee Rodin’s work of narrativeprose, Ready for Freddy (NomadosPress, 2005), was preceded by a bookof poetry, Bread and Salt (Talonbooks,1996).

13 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007POET & PUBLISHERThe life and times of bill bissettAFTER 45 YEARS AS A WRITER AND PUBLISHER,bill bissett is the first recipient of the GeorgeWoodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for outstandingcontributions to literature in B.C. tobe presented on Friday, September 14 at SimonFraser University (downtown). For more information,call 604-736-4011.FROM A LITERARY AND HIStoricalperspective, bill bissett tookoff in British Columbia where EarleBirney left off. Fundamentally LeftCoast, but more recently bi-coastal,bissett has written more than 60 booksthat are immediately identifiable by theincorporation of his artwork and his consistentlyphonetic (funetik) spelling.As an energetic “man-child mystic,”bill bissett is living proof of WilliamBlake’s adage “the spirit of sweet delightcan never be defiled.” His idealistic andecstatic stances frequently obscure hiscritical-mindedness, humour andcraftmanship.bill bissett was born in Halifaxon November 23, 1939. He spent muchof his teen years in hospital for treatmentof an abdominal condition, peritonitis.His mother died when he was 14 in1953. During this period he becamedeeply immersed in movies, to the consternationof his father, a judge, whohoped his son would follow in his footstepsand become a lawyer.While attending Dalhousie Universityin 1956, bissett ran away with apreacher’s son to join the circus, endingup in Vancouver in 1958 (“either 1958or ’59”).In the early 1960s, bissett worked atthe Vancouver Public Library and UBCLibrary. With Lance Farrell andMartina Clinton, he began experimentingwith language and drugs. MartinaClinton was bissett's partner for muchof the 1960s, from 1961 to 1967, andbecame the mother of their daughter,Oolijah, born in 1962.While the TISH poetry movementwas forming at UBC, bissett, accordingto his Talonbooks publisher KarlSiegler, was “universally recognized asone of the grooviest, stonedest, weirdfreaks—one of the great Olympians ofthe Kitsilano hippie scene.”While attending UBC in the early1960s, bissett was influenced by theWashington state-born poetry professorWarren Tallman who broughtAmerican poets to the campus. Duringthis period he also met fellow poetssuch as Patrick Lane, JudithCopithorne, Jim Brown andMaxine Gadd.LAURA SAWCHUK / TRIPPLE AAA PHOTOThe public isinvited to “Meetbill bissett” onThursday,Sept. 13, 7pm,GuildfordLibrary, 15105 -105th Ave.,Surrey. Toregister or formore info call:604-598-7366."bill bissett is my astral twin"—MARGARET ATWOOD"bill bissett is a one-man culture...he is a lesson to us all."—JAMES REANEY"The greatest living poet today"—JACK KEROUAC ON BILL BISSETT,PARIS REVIEWIn 1962, encouraged by fellowwriters Robbie Sutherland andLance Farrell, bissett randomlypicked the name for hismimeograph publishing imprint,blewointmentpress, by blindlypicking a word from the dictionary[dicksyunaree]. The ointmentdescribed in the dictionaryentry was a medication for thetreatment of crab-lice. The firstissue of his blewointment poetrymagazine appeared in 1962.Other early literary cohorts includedKurt Lang, with some supportfrom Earle Birney andDorothy Livesay.In 1965, bissett cofoundedVery StoneHouse with Lane, Brownand Seymour Mayne. In1966, he published hisfirst two books, fires in thetempul OR the jinx ship nothr trips (Very Stonecontinued on page 14

14 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007continued from page 13House/blewointment) as well as we sleepinside each other all (bp nichol's GangliaPress).In 1966, after speaking out againstthe Vietnam war on a CBC-TV documentary,bissett began to be followed.He claims he was beaten up and harassedby police. Two social workersbought $800 worth of his paintings andadvised him to leave town or else he andMartina Clinton wouldn't be allowed tokeep their daughter.In 1968, bissett co-founded a cooperativeart gallery, Th Mandan Ghetto,with Joy Long and Gregg Simpson.After he was busted while taking marijuanato a Powell River commune, hespent a few weeks in the winter of 1968-69 at the Oakalla prison farm, plus sometime in jail in Powell River, Vancouverand Burnaby. He was fined $500 butfederal authorities vowed to appeal theruling, wanting a stiffer sentence.During this period he also released a12-inch vinyl LP, produced by JimBrown, in conjunction with his bookentitled awake in the red desert(Talonbooks).The major disaster—orturning point—in bissett’s life occurredat a Kitsilano house party in 1969.Having performed earlier in theevening at a concrete poetry show, bissettfell through a folding door that was supposedto be latched shut—and plummeted20 feet to the concrete floor in thebasement, severely injuring his head. “Orat least that’s what they tell me. Thosebrain cells have gone.” (The door hadbeen unlatched to let the cat downstairsfor its milk. A two-year court case was wonby the insurance company and bissettnever received any compensation.)bissett was paralyzed and catatonic,and about to be sent to Riverview forelectric shock treatments, when an interningneurologist rescued him by correctlydiagnosing his inter-cerebralbleeding.After an emergency operation, bissettcouldn’t communicate and he sufferedfrom edema and aphasia (memory loss).“So I was like a write-off.” A young neurologistwas the only person who believedhe might recuperate. bissett confoundedolder physicians by relearning bodymovements and speech, aided by theyoung neurologist who brought himballs to squeeze, taught him the alphabetand insisted he try to paint again.Gradually his combination of aphasia,edema, paralysis and epilepsy abated.This second long-term hospitalizationheightened his appreciation for life andalso spared him from returning to prison.When federal authorities arrived atthe hospital to serve notice of appealwithin a prescribed 30-day period, thehead nurse advised them bissett wouldbe dead within a week. The case wasdropped.bissett’s poetry was the subjectof a six-month brouhaha in Parliamentin 1977-78 over the fact thatLAURA SAWCHUK / TRIPPLE AAA PHOTOtaxpayers were subsidizingallegedlyprofane poetry. Anucleus of Conservativesled byFraser Valley WestMP Bob Wenmancomplained to theCanada Councilabout grants tobissett’s main publisherssince the mid-1970s, Talonbooks.The controversyarose from materialin a book by CJORhotliner Ed Murphycalled A Legacy ofSpending in whichbissett’s work was reprinted without permission.“I'm a taxpayer, too,” bissett later responded,“but I don't tell an engineerhow to build a bridge.”The defence of bissett and Talonbookswas a galvanizing factor in the emergenceof the literary culture in British Columbia.Hundreds of supporters lent theirnames to a full-page ad in the VancouverSun. bissett recalls, “th censorios n akusingbuzzards wer kept at bay 4 ovr 2 yeerswarren tallman held a yeer uv hugepoetree reedings dfending my self n othrpoets n blewointment n othr small pressesn great lawyr friend sid simons preparedwrits 2 serv.”To silence their critics, bissett andTalonbooks filed suit in the SupremeCourt of B.C. on June 23, 1978 againsteight Conservative MPs, seven newspapersand 13 others for libel and violationof copyright.Neither bissett nor his own press receivedany funding from Canada Councilin the year of the upheaval. EventuallyCanada Council reduced funding supportfor blewointmentpress by 42% in1982. Two friendspaid off bissett'screditors and keptblewointment afloaton an interim basis.After 20 years ofVancouver-basedactivity, the press wasmoved to Ontario.It has re-emergedback in B.C. asNightwood Editions,chiefly managedby SilasWhite.bissett comments“now publishing inbc is huge,” he says,“totalee multifasitidvigourous n prinsipuld n tho th forcesagainst art n kultur may try 2 stamp usout we continu on with sew maneevoices sew manee platforms ull uv wchis totalee necessaree 2 a civl n demokratiksocietee without support uv th arts acountree will sink in2 brutalitee.... th ritewing nevr sleeps.”bill bissetthas humourously writtenthat he was “on th firstshuttul uv childrn fromlunaria 2 erth i was withth othr childrn combingth orange lite evreemorning the main soursuv enerjee on lunaria icame 2 b heer on erthas part uv a reserchteem 2 undrstad erthwayze iuv bin heer 300yeers in lunarian time nam getting nowher...”As much a painter as he isa poet, bissett has largely supported himselfsince the 1960s by selling his paintingsand by reading poetry. TheVancouver Art Gallery hosted an extensiveone-man show of bissett’s art,curated by Scott Watson, in 1984,called fires in th tempul. “The magicalworld of the child,” wrote Watson, “withall his libidinal precociousness, is whatbissett is after in his painting...”That’s a bit much. Sometimes he’s tryingto make a buck or two in order toeat. But there’s no question that bissetthas been one of the most original andwidely appreciated poets Canada hasever produced.Since the 1990s, bissett has dividedhis time between the West Coast and“a civl ndemokratiksocietee withoutsupport uv tharts will sink in2brutalitee.....”—bill bissettOntario (which he calls Centralia), wherehe was the vocalist for a rock group, TheLuddites. He has released at least five CDswith various collaborators.bissett’s first collected works appearedas NOBODY OWNS TH EARTH(House of Anansi, 1971), selected byDennis Lee and Margaret Atwood. Asecond collected edition was Beyond EvenFaithful Legends, Selected Poems 1962-1976 (Talonbooks, 1980). He has twicewon the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (in1993, for inkorrect thots, and in 2003,for peter among th towring boxes) and hereceived the Milton Acorn People’s PoetAward in 1991. Capilano College devotedits 25th anniversary issue to bissettin 1997, edited by Patrick Friesen, inconcert with a tribute at the VancouverWriters Festival.Following an art exhibition and performanceof bissett’s concrete poetry entitledThe Writing on the Wall, curatedby Lenore Herb, in Vancouver in 2004,editors Jeff Pew and StephenRoxborough solicited poems for a tributevolume about bissett entitled radiantdanse uv being (Nightwood, 2006),a blewointment book.Also in 2006, bissett was the subjectof a Bravo film, heart uv a poet, writtenand produced by Maureen Judge.Powers-that-try-to-bein Canada, and literary critics such as AlPurdy, have often looked askance atbissett, damning with faint praise, as ifhe can’t be for real, but when he’s gone,we’ll safely pronounce he was a nationaltreasure.That’s why he’ll become the 14th recipientof the province’s lifetime achievementaward for authors (formerlyknown as the Terasen Award) whenliterati gather for the Reckoning 07 conferenceat SFU Downtown on September14th.

17 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007PERIODICALSGRAPE GRIPEOneman’s version of whythe Georgia Straight oncespawned a rival undergroundnewspaper called The GrapeThe Georgia Straight has been hugely influential in the B.C. literary scene. Thelist of writers who have found their way into print via its Vancouver-based pagessince 1967 is staggering.New Star Press, for example, evolved directly from the Georgia Straight Writing Supplements.BC BookWorld’s publisher Alan Twigg and designer David Lester met whileworking for Dan McLeod’s Georgia Straight prior to starting BC BookWorld in 1987-1988.This essay by Pierre Coupey on the origins of the Georgia Straight first appeared inThe Grape weekly newspaper, an offshoot of the Georgia Straight, in March of 1972(Issue #8, March 8, pages 12 and 13). Retyped by long-time Straight worker Korky Day on Pierre CoupeySeptember 6, 2006 and proofread by Day and Coupey on September 11, 2006, it hasalso reappeared in print at http://www.rickmcgrath.com/georgia_straight/staffers.htmlCoupey’s historical summary opened with a preface. “NOTE: In writing this, my purpose is not tomalign Dan McLeod. My essential purpose is to describe the beginnings of the Straight, and as best Ican the circumstances that led to our decision (Tony Grinkus’, Milton Acorn’s, Peter Hlookoff’s, RickKitaeff’s, and mine) to leave the Straight in November 1967.”All the formatting and capitalization are as in the published original. The many spelling typos andone hyphen were corrected by Korky Day.N FEBRUARY AND MARCH 1967 THE VAN-Sun/Province mounted a cam-Icouverpaign against the youth culture, “hippies,”and “drug use.” It was designedto misinform and frighten the public,and to twist the “drug” issue into a coverfor police suppression of the developingsocial and political energies of the Vancouveryoung. Remember The AdvanceMattress? 4th Avenue? The Sound Gallery?Vietnam? I felt strongly that weneeded a voice in order to expose andresist this harassment and misinformation:the idea of starting a radical freepress flashed to me one night in March. Ispoke first to Rick Kitaeff about startinga paper, and he liked the idea. Wecalled up Milton Acorn, and the threeof us met at Rick’s to discuss the ideafurther. We agreed it should be a communitypaper, and that to arousecommunity interest and participation,we should call an openmeeting at Rick’s house. We alsoagreed I should write a statementannouncing the need for a freepress in Vancouver, the aims of thepaper, and an invitation to anopen meeting. I wrote the statement,dated 30 March 1967,showed it to Rick and Milton, gottheir approval, had it run off (asI recall) on bill bissett’s press,and set out to distribute it inVancouver. The statement invitedall those interested in discussing“the aims of a free press,its name, the means to set it up,its floating editorial board, itsstance and scope,” to come to 883Hamilton, Sunday 2 April 1967,at 7:30.Although I don’t rememberexactly when I met Dan McLeod,it was certainly after the statementwas written, and probablyjust before the meeting was held,or perhaps at the meeting itself.There was a large group at thefirst meeting, too many for me torecall everyone. Those I rememberas the most active in the discussionwere Milton Acorn, RickKitaeff, Peter Hlookoff, Tony2Grinkus, Kim Foikus, Claude Jordan,Gerry Gilbert, John York, Peter Auxier,Stan Persky, John Mills, Barry Cramer,and Dan McLeod. The consensus of thegroup was that a free press was needed,that it should be supported by and responsibleto the community at large, andthat it should be co-operatively producedby as many interested people aspossible. At no time was the paper conceivedto be a private enterprise, ownedby anyone or any one group. On thecontrary: it was to be against privateownership and for communityinvolvement. We discussed many namesfor the paper (“Gastown Press,” “TerminalCity News,” etc.), and finally arrivedat the name Georgia Straight, proposed(as I recall) by Dan McLeod, though itmay have been Glenn Lewis’ or GlennToppings’ idea. The group atlarge undertook to contribute andraise money to get the paper going,again with the understandingthat the community shouldsupport its own paper. Eventuallywe raised enough to print the firstissue, the major contributioncoming from Milton Acorn, some$200. The consensus of thegroup agreed on having an editorialboard and two co-ordinating editorswho would oversee the productionof not more than two consecutiveissues. We felt this principle necessary toprevent the paper from being controlledeven editorially by any one individual,so that the paper would remaintruly a co-operative. Since Dan McLeodand I were most concerned to get thepaper going, we were authorized to actas the first two co-ordinating editors, toactivate an editorial board and staff, andto get the first Georgia Straight out.LAUGHING ON THE WAY TO THE BANKTo do that, we solicited material, assumedfunctions, searched for aprinter. I made a poster announcing thepaper, its contributors, the deadline fornew material and ads, and when the firstissue would be out (see copy of posterattached). At this point the paper wasfunctioning co-operatively: Dan, Rick,Peter, Tony, Eric Freeman and I wereall working closely together, not to mentionMilton and many others. We alsohad to open a bank account, and here’swhere I made one of my biggest1 57 83 101213417146Staff photo of Vancouver’s rebel underground press The Georgia Grape in 1972: 1. Mick Lowe,2. Tony Tugwell, 3. Irving Stowe, 4. Mike Quigley, 5. Korky Day, 6. David Garrick, 7. Peter Burton, 8.Rick McGrath, 9. Robert Sarti, 10. Jeff Marvin, 11. Ken Lester, 12. Eric Sommer, 13. Sylvia Hawreliak,14. Brad Robinson, 15. Lori Rosenthal, 16. Shelley Reitberger, 17. Ellie Waldman, 18 Dara Culhane.1518169mistakes. As I recall it, Dan and I wentto the Toronto-Dominion Bank, cornerof 4th and Burrard, to open an accountin the name Gastown Press. I didn’t thinkthis action important at the time. I suggestedto Dan that he handle the money,since I neither liked nor understoodmoney matters. I didn’t think of havinga joint account, with both of us responsiblefor signing cheques, and Dan didn’tsuggest it or resist my own suggestion. Asa result, through my antipathy to money,my ignorance, and my naive idealism,Dan had sole signing privileges on theaccount, and, as I later found out, a legalclaim to the paper’s assets. It neveroccurred to me that Dan might latercapitalize on the trust of all those whosemoney we were putting into the bank.Perhaps Dan didn’t understand the implicationsof the moment either.DETERIORATIONAlthough I worked for almost 8months full time on the Straight (withoutdrawing a salary) from the time westarted it to the time I left, I, and mostof the other founding editors, had madeit clear from the beginning that we didnot intend to work all our lives on thepaper. We intended to maintain theprinciple of rotating co-ordinating editors,and accordingly I passed on my ownposition to Peter Hlookoff for the secondissue. We idealistically expected everyone,including Dan, to follow thisprinciple, and also expected a continuousinfusion of new talent into thepaper. All of that was too much toexpect. Dan’s willingness toassume responsibility formany of the daily demandsof the paper suited, at thetime, my own desire togradually disengage frommajor activity and to returnto my own work, eventhough I was disturbed athis reluctance to step downas an editor in favour ofsomeone else, and at his unwillingnessto encourage11others to participate in thepaper’s production aseditors. In short, we allowedDan to assume a more primaryrole partly because wewanted to pursue our otheractivities, partly because wewanted to maintain the cooperativeprinciple and allowothers beside ourselvesto play important roles inputting the paper out. Aswe can see now (and as I suspectedby the time of the 3rdand 4th issues), these twopurposes were mutually contradictory,and aided Dan ingradually assuming moreand more editorial powerwithin the paper, and minicontinuedon page 18

continued from page 17mizing the co-operative nature of thepaper.THE NOVEMBER 67 SPLITBetween the appearance of the 1stissue and the 7th, a vortex of events surroundedthe Straight, too many to recounthere. The license suspensionbrought down by Milt Harrell and TomCampbell was, however, the most importantevent, for two reasons. First, insteadof crushing the Straight, it virtuallyestablished, by itself, the Straight as a permanentfixture in Vancouver. In becominga major censorship issue, thesuspension vaulted the Straight into nationalprominence, and the media in itseagerness to exploit the issue did what itusually does: simple-mindedly identifiedthe Straight with one personality,Dan McLeod. Dan, of course, musthave been pleased with the nationalpublicity he was getting as the courageouseditor of a cruelly suppressed radicalpaper. So the second reason the eventwas important was this: as so often happens,as the national media establisheda clear identification of the Straight withDan McLeod, so Dan himself began tobelieve the publicity and identified himselfas the only person responsible for theStraight.At the same time as this was developing,dissension within the Straight wasgrowing, a situation that was only aggravatedby Dan’s media-encouraged personalitycult. I, and others, werebecoming more concerned that Dan wasnot respecting the original principles ofthe Straight, and that he was assumingdictatorial control over a paper that wasmeant to be co-operative. This understandingemerged in 3 areas: in the editorialpolicy of the paper, in the financesof the paper, and in the total control ofthe paper. The last, the issue of control,is the same issue that has come to lifeagain in the last months, almost 5 yearslater. Between the 5th and 7th issues, webegan to suspect that Dan was takinglegal steps to put the Georgia Straight inhis private possession, steps that wouldrationalize his growing psychological belief,encouraged by the national media,that he was in fact the Georgia Straight.One of the surface rationales Dan alwaysraised whenever doubts were expressedwas that he had done “all” the work, arationale that is not very gracious whenone considers how many people contributedtheir time and energy to the paperup to that time. No one can deny thathe did a large amount of work on thepaper, or that he fought hard for thepaper’s continuance. But to say that isnot to say that he did all the work, thatthe paper depended solely on his presencefor its continuance, or even thatthere would have been a paper at all hadhe, in fact, been alone in putting thepaper out. Nonetheless, his attitude hadbecome one of “L’etat c’est moi,” an arroganceDan had no right to assume, thearrogance of an aristocrat or a capitalistboss who sees the efforts of others as nothingmore than extensions of his will. Thisattitude on Dan’s part showed itself moreand more, to the point where one sawhim treat with contempt everyone workingat the Straight, especially those whofawned on him. In short, it had becomeclear that Dan had so far abandoned theco-operative spirit, that he was alreadyconsidering all those who worked on thepaper as his employees (unpaid), and notas equal co-workers in a communitypaper: the Georgia Straight was becominga private enterprise, both psychologicallyand factually. We wanted this tostop.As to finances, there was a further aggravatingdoubt: by the 5th issue, theStraight’s circulation had risen to over60,000 per issue. Even before then noneof us knew what was happening to themoney the Straight earned, for Dan hadcomplete control over the bank accountand the finances, and he never sharedinformation on the paper’s finances. Butwhen the Straight was selling 60,000copies an issue, its gross earnings, at tencents a copy (the Straight sold for 15cents a copy then, the vendor keeping 5cents), was $6,000 per issue, or $12,000a month. And remember, no one at theStraight was earning a salary at that time.Now, $12,000 is an ideal figure, so let’sdo some subtraction: subtract the valueof 20,000 papers a month as lost, stolenor seized. That’s minus $2,000; only$10,000 left now. Next, subtract thegenerous figure of $7,500 a month toallow for printing costs, office equipment,office rental, legal costs and incidentalexpenses. That still leaves $2,500a month profit, even at the above generousfigures. Unfortunately, I was neverable to find out what happened, andwhen we tried to get Dan to give us someidea, he was evasive in the extreme, andnever gave a satisfactory response. Obviouslywe suspected a measure of financialmismanagement.We also began to question Dan’s editorialdirection of the paper. He wouldarbitrarily reject articles for the paperafter they had been accepted by othereditors. He discouraged talented newpeople who wanted to work on theStraight, especially if they were local andindependent. He relied too heavily onUPS American reprints, discouraging inthe process the development of accuratereporting on local and national politics.Politically, the paper was becoming sotepid, a kind of hippy liberal/NDP mix,as to fail to offer any real alternative tothe politics of the Vancouver Sun/Provincecomplex. All of these dissatisfactions:Dan’s editorial policies, hisfinancial vagueness, his arrogance towardStraight editors and workers (heeven had a private office!), and his assumptionthat he now “owned” theStraight, built up to the point whereMilton and I especially, and PeterHlookoff in a more detached way,wanted to confront Dan and air theissues. But Dan became elusive, evenmore uncommunicative than he usuallywas, and did his best to avoid committinghimself to a meeting.Finally, we were able to force a meetingof the editors just before the 7th issue(Nov. 10, 1967) came out. Presentat that meeting were Milton Acorn, PeterHlookoff, John Laxton, Dan andmyself. A few others may have beenpresent, but they were not essential tothe discussion. John Laxton was supposedto act as an unbiased mediator,but as it turned out, Dan was at times soincapable of speaking for himself, thatLaxton did much of his arguing for him,and seemed to be acting on Dan’s18 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007

19 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007behalf. The three basic issues wereraised: editorial policy, control of finances,and control of the paper, but thelast was obviously the mostimportant. We began by discussingDan’s attitudes, the fact that he nowacted openly as a dictator, and that heassumed he “owned” the paper (becausehe had done “all” the work, and had thebank account in his name). Laxton supportedDan’s assertions that he had done“all” the work, and that on that basis, hedid “own” the paper. We reminded Danthat the paper had started as a co-operativeand was never meant to be anyone’sprivate possession. We proposedthat we form a co-operative non-profitsociety under the B.C. Societies Act, aswe should have done right at the beginning,and, better late than never, legalizethe co-operative nature of the paper,and thereby eliminate capitalism at theGeorgia Straight. Dan refused the proposal,which was supported by Milton,Peter, and myself,and asserted that hedid not have to considerthe paper a cooperativesince henow “owned” thepaper. In refusing,however, Dan andLaxton offered whatthey considered a“just” and generouscompromise: theyhad the nerve to propose that ownershipof the Straight be shared betweenDan, Peter, and myself—Dan to have50%, Peter and I to have 25% each. We,of course, refused such a deal. TheStraight was formed as a community cooperative,and did not belong to Dan,nor could it belong to Peter or me. Werefused to have anything to do with privateownership, a corporation, or anythingless than a true co-operative. In theprocess of this discussion we had demandeda public audit of the GeorgiaStraight books (if there were any) in orderto discover what had been happeningto Straight money, and to discoverwhere the paper was financially. Dan refusedto consider an audit, and deniedthat he had to. In short, Dan was totallyintractable, and Laxton supported himso strongly in his mediation, it becameapparent it was futile to try to achieve aworkable arrangement with Dan, andthat it was equally futile to try to workwith the Straight under his control. Therewas no point, given that most of theStraight staff at that time was composedof McLeod lackeys who had no vision ofthe paper, who had not been around atthe time the Straight started, and hadbeen chosen by Dan precisely becauseof their subservience to him, in trying toform a staff revolt. There was no point,in view of Dan’s insistence, and Laxton’ssupport of that insistence, that he“owned” the paper “legally” in trying toforce him out of the Straight without goingto court, and we simply did not havethe resources to take such action. And,in spite of everything, we did not wantto have to make such an either/or choice.We had hoped Dan would be openenough to recognize he had violated thefundamental spirit and principles of theStraight’s founding group and of thecommunity the Straight was responsibleto. We had hoped he would cease his“We refused to haveanything to do withprivate ownership, acorporation, or anythingless than atrue co-operative.”— PIERRE COUPEYarrogant assumption of ownership, andrecognize he was part of a communitylarger and more important than himselfalone. But, given his refusal to recognizethe Straight’s origins as a co-operative freepress, given his obstinate and arrogantassumption of ownership, given our powerlessnessat the time to force him out,we chose to break with him and theStraight rather than to continue in thesham of presenting the Straight as a freepress when it was being subsumed andrun by one who apparently did not believein a free press at all.In the 7th issue (on which I had alreadydone much of the layout, andwhich carried a collage of mine on theback cover), Dan announced that “Foureditors—Pierre Coupey, Peter Hlookoff,Milton Acorn and Tony Grinkus—haveresigned from the paper. They are goingto form a new (and different) paperand we have agreed to lend them oursupport. The growth of the fifth estatemedia is necessary inorder to keep allcommunication linesopen andhonest.” The announcementwas dishonestfor severalreasons: 1) it impliesthat we asked forDan’s “support” tohelp us set up TheWestern Gate, somethingwe never did ask for; 2) it neglectedto mention that we resigned in protestof Dan’s refusal to maintain the paper asthe co-operative it was originally intendedto be; 3) the last statement is especiallysuspect in view of the fact thatDan’s communication lines with us at thetime of our meeting and before were certainlyless than “open and honest.” DanMcLeod’s co-opting of the Straight culminatedin his forming, without thestaff’s knowledge, Georgia Straight PublishingLimited, at the end of November1967, with himself as owner.It is interesting to note that Dan hasonce again graciously offered assistanceto a “new and different paper,” this timeThe GRAPE. Slick, but empty PR work.WHY I SUPPORT THE GRAPEI supported the co-operative’s effortsto reclaim the Georgia Straight, becausethe paper was founded on the principleof co-operative ownership, tried to returnto that principle in November1967, and needs to return to that principlenow. Since leaving the Straight inNovember 67, I recognize I have nopersonal claims on the paper at all, anddon’t wish to make any. In this accountof my own involvement with theStraight, however, I meant to reaffirmthat at the time the Georgia Straightstarted, the spirit of the group foundingthe paper militated absolutely against itsprivate ownership by any person orgroup. At no time did the group thatfounded the Georgia Straight, or thecommunity from which it derived itsresources, authorize the private ownershipof the Georgia Straight, or give consentto its being anything but aco-operative.Pierre Coupey is a writer and painter whofounded The Capilano Review in 1972. He haspublished several books of poetry.A SWEEPING NOVEL OFMARITIME MUTINYSet in a turbulent time of rapid change—as 18th century England embarks on a war withRevolutionary France—Under Enemy Colorsannounces S. Thomas Russell as a master ofhigh-seas adventure.“[Russell] creates characters and situationsthat stay in the reader’s memory even asmemories of broadside and cutlass-duels fade.ENTHUSIASTICALLY RECOMMENDED.”—NEAL STEPHENSON, New York Timesbestselling author of Cryptonomicon andThe Baroque Cyclepenguin.caS. THOMAS RUSSELL—a lifelong sailorwith a passion for nautical history—lives onVancouver Island in British Columbia.

21 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007WOMEN & WORDSMOTHER & DAUGHTER REUNIONWhen Emily Givner died suddenly in 2004of an allergic reaction, at the age of 38, sheleft a considerable amount of writing,edited by Sean Virgo, and endorsed byAlice Munro, for her posthumous collection, A Heart InPort (Thistledown $16.95). We invited biographer, criticand novelist Joan Givner to comment on bringing herdaughter’s book into the world. 1897235321URING THE PAST YEAR, I’VE OFTEN BROODED ON THEDfollowing paragraph from the jacket of one ofmy own books:These stories are about women, about daughters relatingto mothers, mothers to daughters. In Of Woman Born,Adrienne Rich observes that “the loss of the daughter tothe mother, the mother to the daughter is the essentialfemale tragedy. We acknowledge Lear and Hamletand Oedipus as the embodiments of the human tragedy,but there is no enduring recognition of motherdaughterpassion and rapture.”Those words, besides providing a striking exampleof art’s tendency to prefigure life, describe thefocus of much of my work.In several essays, I took issue with Rich’s statement.I argued that women have written endlessly aboutmother-daughter passion and rapture (rupture?),but their preoccupation has not always been discernedby readers. In my fiction, I wrote obsessivelyabout mothers who lost their daughters in variousways.Emily touched on the same subject often enoughto describe our overlapping stories as “this bizarreconversation,” and always from the daughter’spoint of view. In Private Eye, she wrote about themother of a runaway daughter.Before I left, she was working on a collection ofshort stories. Mishaps it was called. I found myselfin several of the stories, transparentlyveiled by a different name. I betshe was spinning a story this veryminute, and I would getcaught in the mishap like ablack fly.It is a not-so-veiled referenceto my Unfortunate Incidents.For years, Emily feltbitter about the resemblanceshe discerned betweenherself and myfictional characters.That changed whenshe became a writerherself, and ourmother/daughterrelationshipevolved intoone of writingcolleagues.Then she understoodthe imperativesthatgovern a writer’schoice ofmaterial. She acknowledgedtheundeniable authenticityof writing grounded inautobiographical experience,and she learned tomaneuver a creative distance sothat characters become autonomousand lead their own lives.There were greater changesthan the personal ones, however,in the quarter centurybetween my first book of fictionand hers. One is evidentin the photograph of“Emily’s desk that I keepon my own desk. Shetook a computer forgranted, where I beganwith minimal typing skills.Cutting and pasting was ascissors-and-Scotch tapejob,and I ironed out rejectedmanuscripts literallywith an iron set for delicatefabrics over a piece of abrown grocery bag.That difference is not sotrivial as it might seem, for itis emblematic of the hugetechnological advances inthe production and disseminationof our writing. I’mambivalent about the computer I now use, feelingthat what is gained in efficiency in lost in some indefinableway. I don’t altogether trust the slick, mechanicalprocess.I have no ambivalence, however, about anotheraspect of those early days—that is the excitementin the air. The women’s movement, FeministCriticism, and the emergenceof Women’s Studiesgave a huge impetus towomen’s writing. Women’slives had always beenthe “stuff of fiction” writtenby men, but we changedthe landscape. We wereengorged with new storiesto tell, or new points ofview from which to tell the old stories. Feminist Criticismevolved into Literary Theory, Gender Studiesand Identity Politics, each wave renewed the originalimpetus.Many of us are still writing, and the autobiographiesand memoirs are pouring out thick and fast.But the sheen is off them, and the hunger for themFor years, Emilyfelt bitter about theresemblance shediscerned betweenherself and myfictional characters.has dried up. More shocks are needed to make animpact—the sure sign of an exhausted genre. As aseptuagenarian, who has been writing for fortyyears, I have the sense of being at the end of anera.There’s plenty of ink spilled these days on establishingthe guilt for the indifference to literary fiction.Favourite culprits are reviewers, review editors, thecritical establishment, the academy, the corporateworld, and a celebrity culture that values humaninterest stories over good writing. It is as if literature isin its death throes, and we have to find out whokilled it.I do not believe that literary fiction is dying. For,as I consider the above changes—in technologyand women’s writing—in the context of literary history,I’m struck not by their singularity but by theirpredictability and their cyclical nature. The industrialrevolution happened when women wereemerging as prominent writers for the first time; thetwentieth century leap into the machine age sawwomen achieving the status of artists. So it seems tome that we are in alull before anothersurge forward.Naturally I wonderhow Emily would havenavigated the transitionto the next stage.Already, she was turningin a new direction.Whereas my literaryterritory was limited to North America and WesternEurope, her work in Asia and Eastern Europe hadgiven her a wider global perspective. I suppose shewas a creature of a time characterized by globalization,cosmopolitanism, and cultural identity in thecontext of ever-expanding transnationalism—allthose isms and entities in which Pico Iyer saw the newpromise of Canadian fiction, and others denouncedas a fatally ahistorical North Americanism.Between writers of different generations, a delicatetug-of-war takes place between resistanceand affirmation. Emily was not entranced by mybrand of literary feminism—after all she grew up withit and took it for granted. In this, too, we were probablyemblematic of our times. But she found herReckoning 07JOAN GIVNERown compulsion to write about women’s livesthrough her soujourns in Korea and Poland, wherean unattached female and a free spirit was regardedwith suspicion.Another subject on which we differed was theneed to publish. I’ve always believed in getting workritualized in print, and learning from the feedback.She, on the other hand, quoted my own literaryforemother, Katherine Anne Porter, back at me—“I thinkit is the most curious lack of judgment to publishbefore you are ready.” I worried that by the timeshe published, I might not be around. Perhaps thatfear prompted me one day to write to her (in anexcess of maternal pride):“I can’t tell you how much it means to me toknow that you have turned into such an accomplishedintelligent writer, full—it seems to me—of maturityabout your work and full of wisdomabout writing. And with your own distinctivevision and sort of inner centre toit. The getting published part comparedwith that is insignificant (tome of course but understandablynot to you).”When I walked into Emily’sroom a few days after herdeath, I found that fragment,torn from the letter I wroteand set aside. It pleased meto think that she had got myvote of confidence.Joan Givnerlives in Mill Bay,Vancouver Island, andcontributes regularlyto BC BookWorld.

As winner of the4 th annual Ryga Award,Harold Rhenisch (right)receives The Censor’sGolden Rope, aunique piece ofsculpture recreatedannually byArmstrong sculptorReg Kienast (left),at Vernon’sPowerhouse Theatre.Rhenisch winsRyga AwardThe winning book for this year’s GeorgeRyga Award for Social Awareness in BCLiterature is The Wolves at Evelyn: A JourneyThrough A Dark Century (Brindle &Glass) by versatile poet, essayist and fictionwriter Harold Rhenisch.“I’m not surprised at all,” says JohnLent, Ryga Prize co-coordinator and NorthOkanagan College Dean. “Harold Rhenischis increasingly recognized as one of the best writers in the country.”Runner-up manuscripts were Nobody’s Mother, edited by LynneVan Luven with a foreword by Shelagh Rogers, and Red LightNeon: A History of Vancouver’s Sex Trade, by Daniel Francis. Thisyear’s final judge was professor Sharon Josephson, who teachesCommunications and Media Studies at Okanagan College.“The Wolves at Evelyn: Journeys Through a Dark Century is historyabout home and family, about colonialism and labour, about land,AWARDGEORGE RYGAFor Social Awareness inBritish Columbia Literatureearth and nation, about Germany, BritishColumbia and Canada,” says Josephson.“It is about Rhenisch’s journey to find thefreedom to re-imagine a way of being inthe world.”The George Ryga Award is sponsored byThe GeorgeRyga Centre,OkanaganCollege, BCBookWorldand CBC Radio One, Kelowna. The presentationon July 27th was hosted byCBC Daybreak’s Marion Barschel.✍For more information onHarold Rhenisch and George Ryga,visit www.abcbookworld.comGeorge Ryga (1932-1987)Sponsored by the George Ryga Centre (Summerland),(Kelowna) and Okanagan College.Information: jlent@junction.net23 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007

PUBLISHINGHere Harbour Publishing’sHoward White, whorecentlty received the Orderof Canada, recalls starting up hispublishing company in the 1970s.Reckoning 07HOWARD WHITEARBOUR PUBLISHING WAS IN SOME WAYS AN AC-or a series of accidents, though theyHcident,were accidents that allowed my wife, Mary LeeWhite, and me to do something we dreamed ofdoing. We just never thought we would really beable to make it happen here in BC in the 1970s.We were both English majors from UBC and wewere both looking for something worthwhile doingwhen we found ourselves stopping over in myhome town of Pender Harbour in the fall of 1970.The first hippies and back-to-the-landers werecoming in and the local police were beating themup, putting dogs on them and illegally trying tobanish them from the Sunshine Coast—“get outof Dodge City by sundown” type of thing. Oursense of outrage was aroused so we started a oneissuenewspaper to compare the cops and the localrednecks to southern US segregationists.We were surprised at how much support wegot and how much even those who disagreed withus appreciated having a local voice. We called thepaper the Peninsula Voice and kept publishing ituntil 1974. At first we printed it in Vancouver,but after a couple years my dad and I built a buildingand I bought a printing press and taught myselfhow to print while Mary mastered thedarkroom, typesetting and bookkeeping. Maryand I both came from families where the motherand the father worked as a team running smallbusinesses so it came naturally to us. I did all thedreaming and Mary did all the ordering of suppliesand collecting of bills and meeting of schedules.We were a good team.Almost immediately people began comingaround with books they wanted us to print. Theywanted us to print them, but they didn’t expect topay for it. Somewhere they all had picked up thisidea that it was immoral for writers to pay for havingbooks printed and looked at me very askancewhen I brought the subject of payment up. I beganprinting books about building floor looms,tuning dulcimers and Chinook Jargon without payment.When the bills for the paper came in, Ifound myself knocking on bookstore doors tryingto sell copies of Dulcimer Tuning and Floor Loombooks because it turned out the writers also felt itwas immoral to have anything to do with selling,though they certainly expected a share of whateverwe sold.This was how we became book publishers.In 1972, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, whowas a bit of a hippie himself, began giving all ourhippie friends grants to experiment with chickenraising or make composting toilets, or whateverthey happened to be doing, so we got a grant todo what we were doing, only we had to make itsound good so we proposed turning our newspaperinto a journal about the coastal area we wereliving in, and so in October 1972 we publishedthe first issue of a perfect-bound, 56-page publicationcalled Raincoast Chronicles, which we saidwould explore BC Coast character. I have oftensaid it was inspired by a very popular magazineTHE LONG & WINDING ROADFROM PENDERHARBOUR TOOTTAWASilas White (right), now publisherof Nightwood Editions, withHoward White in the mid-1970s.from the Ozarks called Foxfire, but in fact I hadnever seen a copy of Foxfire, I had only heard aboutit from some American hippies. What I had seenwas Canada West, a little staple-bound journal thathad for several years been published inSummerland by Bill Barlee.Bill wrote about the ghost towns of the Boundarycountry that I loved exploring myself, and Iwanted to do for the coast what he was doing forthe interior. The name Raincoast was my personalreaction to the name of the place I lived, which areal estate promoter had dubbed the SunshineCoast even though it is cloudy 10 months of theyear. I wanted our journal to sound a contrastingnote of realism and truthtelling. We were playingaround with various combinations of “rainforest”and “coast” and it was a poet named ScottLawrance who finally made the obviousagglutinization “Raincoast.” We were the first touse the name. Raincoast Books and a host of otherenterprises followed our example, which we alwaysfelt complimented by. When someone explainedto us we also needed an imprint name for our publishingoperation, we chose “Harbour” becauseeverything in Pender Harbour was Harbour thisor Harbour that—Harbour Diesel, HarbourHairdressing, Harbour Septic Tank Pump-outService, etc. Unfortunately there was also a HarbourPub, and our deliveries still get confused.Raincoast Chronicles was right for the times andby the third issue we were printing 10,000 copiesper issue. Even then we ran out, and by issue fivewe were in the position of having a publicationthat was in great demand but no stock. I got theidea of putting all five out in one bound editionand tested the idea on the only book publisher Iknew, Jim Douglas. He said, don’t do it. Peoplehad already bought the journals in softcover for$1.25 and were used to the low price. Followingup a paperback edition with a hardcover was justsomething you didn’t do in book publishing. Itwas conventional wisdom, the type I might give toa young publisher myself today, but we had fallenin love with the idea of a big handsome Christmasbook and decided to go ahead anyway. RaincoastChronicles First Five came out in November 1975in a hardcover 272-page edition priced at $12.95.It sold out by Christmas, won the Eaton’s BC BookAward and is currently in its 14th printing.That is the event that committed Mary and meto a life in book publishing, though it was five moreyears before we quit our day jobs and dared to referto ourselves as publishers. For years we never reallybelieved book publishing would support us and ouranticipated family over the long haul, and were continuallysurprised when it did. But the First Fiveproved to us that there was a very strong market inBC for regional non-fiction if it was well-written,well-produced and well-marketed. We followed thatdiscovery with a series of books like Now You’re Loggingby Bus Griffiths, Keepers of the Light by DonGraham, Spilsbury’s Coast by myself and JimSpilsbury, and Fishing with John by Edith Iglauer,all of which sold over 10,000 copies. Many of thesebooks were expansions of subjects we had first essayedin Raincoast Chronicles.Over the 32 years since First Five was publishedwe have published approximately 500 books allexploring aspects of BC character and all addressingthat regional-interest market we first tapped in1975. From the avails Mary and I raised two sonswho are now well established in their own literarycareers and we currently employ 15 people whoseem to take it as the most natural thing in the worldto work in book publishing in Pender Harbour.Howard White is only the fourth British Columbian towin the Leacock Medal for Humour. He is also a member ofthe Order of British Columbia.25 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007

26 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007Start & Run aReal Home-BasedBusiness• Make good moneyworking from home• Market yourprofessional skill ortalent online• Stop dreaming –start doingStart & Run aCoffee Bar• Start your ownsuccessful café• Learn the secrets ofespresso success• Create customerloyaltyStarting a SuccessfulBusiness in Canada• Written forCanadianentrepreneurs• Perfect for smallbusiness enterprises• Discover practicaltips for successThe EntrepreneurialItch: Don’t Scratch UntilYou Read This Book!• Find out what noone will tell youabout starting yourown business• Know what you aregetting into beforeyou start yourbusinesswww.self-counsel.comLUST FOR RISK:HOW BC PUBLISHERSSURVIVE & THRIVEAs Director of the Canadian Centre for Studiesin Publishing at Simon Fraser University andits Master of Publishing program, RowlandLorimer has focused his research for ten yearson the publishing industry, mass media andonline technology. Here he provides a personalizedview of the rise of B.C.’s publishing industry.HEN I ARRIVED IN B.C. IN THE FALLWof 1968 on a propeller-drivenTrans-Canada Airlines-operated Viscount,Simon Fraser University was beingvisited by the RCMP anxious to makethe acquaintance of a fair number of USand UK radical professors and students.It never occurred to me to leaveschool when there were more possibledegrees to be earned—so I watched thelibrary sit-ins by day from my office inthe Academic Quadrangle and readabout what happened in the newspapersthat night—The Vancouver Sun was thenan evening paper—with a good deal ofmy naiveté.I was taken aback by the lack of highculture in Vancouver compared to myhometown, Winnipeg,where I was used to yearroundtheatre, ballet, symphonies,European films,art galleries and so on, butI was equally surprised bymale tolerance of differenceon the West Coast.Going into a bar as a young man inWinnipeg meant conforming to rigiddress and behavioural norms, such asnever making eye contact with a frequentpatron and ensuring that yourhair was no longer than a half-inch. InVancouver no male bar patron appearedto pay any heed to any other previouslyunknown to him.My initial task was to transform myselffrom an educational psychologist toa communications professor with a specializationin books and publishing.The first book research I undertookin the later 1970s examined the contentof school texts of British Columbian andother Canadian elementary school students.Two elements stood out—restrictivesex-role stereotyping, most notablein portrayals of adult women, and a lackof any sense in the texts of culture andplace.There was virtually no Canadian content,and certainly no sense of the distinctivenature of Canadian, let alone,British Columbian, culture anywhere inthe school curriculum including “social”studies.✍In 1990, some 22 years after my arrival,I had my first chance to look atBC trade book publishing in somedepth—not the content, but the natureof the industry. It was a small industrycomposed of some 22 firms that hadpublished some 220 books in 1989 witha total value of $16 million. Workingagainst their potential success, and unexplainablefrom a public policy perspective,only one British Columbianfirm appeared to have access to provincialbusiness-based assistance.National statistics showed that 97percent of the Ontario market wasserved by firms based in that provinceand Ontario was the dominant Canadiansupplier for all other provincialmarkets except Quebec. From a businessperspective, book publishing in BC wasnot just risky, it was well nigh impossible.But from the point of view of civilization,at the end of the rainbow therewas the potential satisfaction to be gainedfrom publishing the next great novelistReckoning 07ROWLAND LORIMERor poet, or publishing an exposé of anestablished corporation, governmentpractice, business sector, or institutionthat would bring power begging at thealtar of public forgiveness.My contribution was to deliver to theprovincial government a foundation ofinformation about the industry and arecommendation for funding which therelevant bureaucrats and politicianswould see as appropriate. My recommendationfor support of this $16 millionindustry, which the government ofthe day accepted, was $500,000 perannum.That was the beginning of a formulabasedprovincial industry support forBritish Columbia beyond the culturalsupport of certain types of titles.Provincial support has lasted, anddeveloped somewhat, to this day. Thedifficulty, until 2003, was that the fundsprovided to the industry did not growin any appreciable manner. SuccessiveBC governments seemed to see the sumas a temporary annual subsidy to helpthe industry stabilize after which it couldbe withdrawn. Growth of the industryappeared to be viewed by governmentsas confirmation that their support wasnot crucial.Being blessed with mountains, forests,ocean, sea life, minerals, all combininginto a spectacular scenery and a sublimeclimate unmatched anywhere else in theGreat White North, the hunter-gatherer

27 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007PUBLISHINGLAURA SAWCHUK / TRIPPLE AAA PHOTOgovernments ofSupernaturalBC saw no reasonwhy theyshould not alsobe blessed with abook industry aswell as other culturalindustries.In part, theywere right. Thisgarden of books“and authors, untendedby them,grew year afteryear.By 2000, atime of fiscal difficultycaused byan Rowland Ontario distributorLorimerwhoseproblems, inturn, were causedby an ongoing transformation of bookretailing, BC book publishing consistedof 64 firms doing nearly $100 million inbusiness annually, a size that representeda growth-rate from 1990 onward thatoutstripped the national norm by aboutone-third.Most surprisingly, given BC history,in February 2003 the ever-persistentfortune-seeking book publishers of BritishColumbia, and hence their authors,and hence readers, struck gold. A ministerof Community, Aboriginal andWomen’s Services, George Abbott,whose responsibilities included the culturalindustries, followed in the footstepsof Peter Lougheed who once allocated$8.37 million in provincial oil royalties,when $8.37 million was a huge amountof money, to a heritage educational publishingproject.George Abbott found a receptive earin the premier and British Columbiaagreed to all-but-match federal governmentbusiness grants to BC publisherson an annual basis. The publishers’ lustfor risk had finally yielded a rich andsubstantial vein of support even if it wasnot exactly the motherlode.True, as some have claimed, it mightbe a plot to keep the literati happy duringthe sell-off of British Columbia’spublic resources and services such as BCBC has boastedNorth America’s andperhaps the world’sfastest-growingon-demand servicebook publisher.”— ROWLAND LORIMERHydro, a cleverlyrenamedBC Gas, BCFerries, and soon, but the literarydividends interms of wondrousauthorsand stupendousbooks have beenconsiderable.As of 2005,(a Harry Potteryear), BritishColumbiaboasted revenuesof $175million carriedon by 206 activepublishing establishments.Ofthose, the topthird most likelyaccounted for about $170 million. Thosefigures represent growth by a factor often from 1989.By 2005, BC also boasted NorthAmerica’s and perhaps the world’s fastest-growingon-demand service bookpublisher [Trafford], North America’sand perhaps the world’s most significantonline used-book sales facilitator[Abebooks], and Canada’s only researchbasedgraduate degree program in publishing[Canadian Centre for Studies inPublishing] complemented by a set ofnational publishing summer workshopsas well as ongoing professional developmentprograms at a variety of post-secondaryinstitutions.The growth of B.C. writing and publishingis a cultural success story, wellworthy of a celebratory gathering. I lookforward to rubbing shoulders with manyof the key individuals responsible for thatgrowth at Reckoning 07.Rowland Lorimer is past editor and currentpublisher of the Canadian Journal of Communication.He is a past president of theCanadian Association of Learned Journals. Heis director of PExOD, the Publishers ExtensibleOnline Database and is assisting scholarly journalsto begin publishing online. He will managethe Technology & Our Future portion of the Reckoning07 conference.JOSEPH FARRIS ILLUSTRATION

28 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007CORNCOBS & COPPER WOMAN: A CAUTIONARY TALEBorn and raised in Nanaimo, Anne Cameronremains most widely known for Daughters ofCopper Woman, her interpretation of storiesgiven to her by Ahousat elders. Reprinted atleast seventeen times since it appeared from afeminist publisher, Press Gang, in 1981, it isRESS GANG WENT BELLY-UP AND DIDN’TPtell their writers. Instead theyhanded us over, like a pack of foster kids,to Raincoast. From there things getmurky, and I don’t really feel like gettingsued, so let’s just say I got my bookback and Harbour has re-published it.It matters to nobody but me that somewherein the tangle I got ripped for fourteenthousand dollars, but, hey, what’smoney to people like us?During the Press Gang debacle, thefrikken lawyers made more then thewriters did, which was no surprise to me.Years ago I found me a spavined horse,climbed on it, and took on the CBC,NFB, CFDC and a particular producerand after several years of fury and nearulcers I wound up winning thirty thousanddollars. Which was promptlyplaced in the pockets of the QueensCounsel lawyer who had representedme. Which left me with five times theme in the eye with a sharp stick was Harbour.Generally speaking, Harbour putout one book a year for me, and all I hadto do was write. For years my snugged-inrelationship with Harbour meant I didn’tneed an agent, I didn’t have to flog mywork. I began to believe that was whatlife was supposed to be like.easily one of the most successful works of fiction to be publishedfrom and about British Columbia. But its success almostruined her career.Reckoning 07square root of sweet f--- all. Standing upfor my rights got me blackballed fromCBC, NFB and CFDC for years.Now I just try to keep a jar of vaselinehandy. When you’re a writer, sooner orlater, you’re going to get a rough drycorncob right up the old basic fundamentand anyone who thinks she can doanything about it is a total wingnut.✍The only publisher who never poked“You no longer have to takethe poets and novelists,the lyricists and performersto the soccer stadiumand machine gun theminto silence.”— ANNE CAMERONANNE CAMERONThe problem with that comfy littlebubble is that things happen in the outsideworld which go unnoticed by theobsessive-compulsive. I knew independentbooksellers like Thora and JerryHowell in Nanaimo were up against corporationbullying because they were tiltingthat windmill. For me, The Bookstoreon Bastion Street wasthe best damned bookstorein the country anddid far more for writersin B.C. than MalaspinaCollege, which shouldget the spud-butt awardfor the spread of illiteracyin this province.They, and some othercolleges and universities,have acted as if theprinted word was dinosaur dung. Statisticsindicate this province has one ofthe highest book buying and readingrates in the country. If the colleges anduniversities aren’t an active part of thisthey are choosing to cut themselves outof the very culture whose taxes help supportthe institutions.As the chain bookstoresapply their self-servingpressures and the corporatecontrol puts the Americaneagle in an increasinglypowerful position, publishersare faced with thechoice of being boiled orbarbequed. The only way the publisherscan stay in business is to get theirbooks into the chains and the only waythey can manage that is to publish whatthe chains say they want.My books do not fly off the shelfquickly. My books sell steadily, to a veryloyal readership, but the chains aren’t interestedin that. They want books flyingoff the shelves so they can put in morebooks. They seem incapable of seeingthat if increasing numbers of readers aredissatisfied with the quality of choice,fewer books will be sold. Certainly amore restricted range of choice will beavailable.I am a minor writer. I am never goingto win the Giller, I am certainly nevergoing to get wealthy or famous or anythingexcept older with each passing day,Ekstasis Salutes BC Bookworld for 20 Years of Publishing!EKSTASIS EDITIONS WWW.EKSTASISEDITIONS.COMThe Mysticismof SoundThe Pillowbookof Dr JazzHierarchyof LossGeraldineDAVID WATMOUGHINAYAT KHANISBN 978-1-896860-11-4Sufism 128 pages$15.95TREVOR CAROLANISBN 978-1-894800-79-2Fiction 320 pages$21.95STEVEN MCCABEISBN 978-1-894800-94-5Poetry 96 pages$18.95ISBN 978-1-894800-99-0Fiction 146 pages$22.95Starstrucka teen’s guide to astrologyGWENYTH LUPTAKISBN 978-1-894800-60-0Astrology 188 pages$18.95The Butcher’s Aprona dream play comedyCHARLES TIDLERISBN 978-1-894800-88-5Drama 108 pages$18.95Oridnary DaysCORNELIA HORNOSTYISBN 978-1-894800-97-6Poetry 80 pages$18.95KitesGEORGE WHIPPLEISBN 978-1-897430-09-5Poetry 88 pages$18.95Paper Trombonesnotes on poeticsMIKE DOYLEISBN 978-1-897430-05-7Criticism 180 pages$19.95The Eye on FireLUDWIG ZELLERTRANSLATED BY AF MORITZSPANISH EN FACEISBN 978-1-894800-84-6Fiction 132 pages$19.95WinteringROSEMARY BLAKEISBN 978-1-897430-08-8Poetry 64 pages$18.95Splitting the HeartJANET ROGERSISBN 978-1-897430-04-0Poetry 124 pages$18.95His DoubtfulExcellencyJAN DRABEKISBN 978-1-894800-87-7Memoir 220 Pages$21.95A PassionateContinuitysex at seventyELIZABETH MAYNEISBN 978-1-894800-85-3Poetry/illustrations120 pages $19.95Poets & CentaursYOLANDE VILLEMAIRETRANSLATEDBY LEONARD SUGDENISBN 978-1-894800-84-6Fiction 132 pages$19.95ELIZABETH RHETTWOODSISBN 978-1-894800-98-3Poetry 106 pages$18.95CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF PUBLISHING FINE LITERATUREEKSTASIS EDITIONS BOX 8474, MAIN POSTAL OUTLET VICTORIA, B.C. 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29 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007A LITERARY LIFEbut I’ve had thirty books published, andsome of them have been translated intolanguages I will never learn to speak.I also have ten novels which aren’t goingto see publication because they arecritical of corporatism, and of the spreadof the military imperialism of Amerikkka,and the impact that has on the everydaylives of working people on this coast.I often rage against the wholesaleslaughter of our forests by foreign-controlledcorporations who do not haveour best interests at heart and, yeah, I’ma conspiracy theorist. I believe, and say,and write, that the flow of hard drugson this coast is protected by people whoinfluence the federal government. Thatis flat-out too radical for any publisherin his right mind to take a risk, becausethe chain bookstores, who are, after all,an arm of corporate power, aren’t goingto want to put those novels on theirshelves.✍Feminist analysis has taught me to asktwo questions: “Is it an accident?” and“Who benefits?” Well, it is no accidentthat I’ve written myself out of the picture.It’s exactly what the mangy birdwants. And the losers will be our childrenand grandchildren who may nothave the opportunity to know there wasonce a fiercely independent culture onthis coast.✍You don’t have to invade, bomb andslaughter the way they’ve done it in Iraqand will soon do in Iran. All you have todo is slowly, steadily and systematicallychoke the life out of the publishers andwriters and the rest will fall into yourhands. Muffle the voices of those whoprotest and you can shave the slopes, fillthe bays, inlets and fjords with fish feedlots, wipe out the natural fishing resource,gouge entire hillsides, wrenchout the mineral wealth and then drill foroil and who will stand against you andsay no more?You no longer have to take the poetsand novelists, the lyricists and performersto the soccer stadium and machinegun them into silence. You just suffocatethem by putting the publishers betweena rock and a hard place.But there will always be kids wholearn to read, find books, and one daythink, hey, these stories were written bysomeone. And if someone else can do it,why not me? Minor writers will meetsmall publishers, books will appearwhich will cause readers to feel thatmagical spark of recognition. “Hey,that’s us.”✍In the long run we are the most preciousnatural resource this coast has andthere’s no way we can be bought off,muzzled, or made ineffectual. When thelast tree is felled, the last precious mineralshipped out, the last wild fish hasperished and the coast is a raindrenchedwasteland, there are always afew kids who say, “Hey...”After 33 books and the screenplays forDreamspeaker, Ticket to Heaven and The TinFlute, Anne Cameron lives in Tahsiswhere she tends a flock of neighborhood childrenand looks askance at increasingly conservativetimes.All BC BookWorld articles are posted online atw w w . a b c b o o k w o r l d . c o mDAVID LESTER ILLUSTRATION

31 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007EORGE WOODCOCK WAS A PARENTALGfigure—a model—whereas RobinSkelton was a mentor.George Woodcock came to B.C.from London when he was in his latethirties and went on to an astoundinglyproductive career as critic, historian,poet, editor, political philosopher andpaterfamilias.I later wrote a biography of him, TheGentle Anarchist, which is my own favouriteof the books I have published(but absolutely no one else’s evidently).Robin Skelton, who was also English,came to the province in 1963 at aboutthe same age as Woodcock did. He wasas cosmopolitan as George but lessworldly, almost wholly involved in hisown poetry, along with teaching and afew non-competitive scholarly pursuitssuch as Anglo-Irish literature.Robin was outgoing where Georgewas shy, and worked hard to make culturalactivity happen all round him—which is to say, in Victoria, where he sortof presided over everything.Robin organised readings, lecturesand art exhibitions and he got youngwriters into print and out of trouble. Hedissuaded more talented people from suicideand wrote them more grant referencesthan anyone else of his day.The Malahat Review, the quarterlyhe founded at the University of Victoria,has just come out with a memorialissue. I was pleased to be asked to contributeto it.Under Robin’s editorship, it was awildly international journal, publishingonly a small group of Canadians (thosewith some toehold of a reputation inother countries) among the galaxy ofEast European controversialists andLatin American fabulists whom onlyRobin ever seemed to have heard of,much less published in English.✍By contrast, Woodcock, of course,was interested in Canada foremost. Hisown journal, significantly, was CanadianLiterature, published at UBC. Or as heoften said, he was a Vancouverite first, aBritish Columbian second, a Canadianthird. The order was a reflection of hislifelong anarchism, which people in Britain,at least those who weren’t anarchiststhemselves, found somewhat naïve if notdownright risible, the way many overhere found his dog-like devotion to theDalai Lama, which originated with hisstrong-willed (not to say thoroughly impossible)wife, Ingeborg.George was of Anglo-Welsh ancestry,as reflected in the fact that he soundedTHE WRITER & SOCIETYPRODIGIOUS TALENTS: WOODCOCK & SKELTONGeorge Fetherling, one of Canada’s foremostmen of letters, credits two prolific B.C. writers,George Woodcock and Robin Skelton,as major influences on him, particularly interms of how they functioned as writerswithin society. Here Fetherling provides anappreciation of the extraordinary pair of ex-Brits who producedmore than 200 books. “George wrote far more booksthan even Robin did,” he notes, “which is saying something,indeed.” Woodcock died in 1995; Skelton died in 1997.TOM SMITH ILLUSTRATIONThe University of Victoria is raising funds toset up a memorial scholarship to honourRobin and Sylvia Skelton that will be givenRobin SkeltonGeorge Woodcockannually to a student inthe Faculty of Fine Arts.For more information orto donate to the fund,please contactKaren Walker, theDevelopment Officerfor Fine Arts, at250-721-6305, orkmwalker@uvic.caReckoning 07GEORGE FETHERLINGEnglish but looked Welsh. In fact, heclosely resembled the actor DesmondLlewelyn, who played Q in the earlyJames Bond films.Robin was a northerner, a Yorkshireman,the sort people in the southconsider a bit rough round the edges,and he looked—well, he looked like noone else alive. He made sure of that.Robin was a practising witch (he dislikedthe term warlock, considering itsexist). Incredulous people have vouchsafedto me that he had genuine powersas a healer. His actual witchcraft I’m notqualified to judge. The Globe and Mailonce ran an enormous photo on thefront page showing him outsidethe Peace Tower in Ottawawhere he was casting aspell to drive out the GST.“Sometimes it works,” hesaid sheepishly, “and sometimesit doesn’t.”The Wicca faith was tohim as anarchism was toGeorge. He sported largerings on all eight fingers; oneof them contained a secretcompartment (for poison ora potion?). He wore thickblack-framed glasses, kept hisgrey hair touching his shouldersand sported a beard, asomewhat wiry and greying one, thatalmost touched his belly.And he always dressed in black. Heonce told me, without any irony whatever,that young anglo flight attendantson Air Canada—those wishing to getahead in the organisation by displayinginitiative—automatically served him thekosher meal.✍George by contrastshied away from any sign ofpersonal eccentricity exceptthe eccentricity oflooking far too normal allthe time. I never saw himwithout a necktie. No onedid. The frontispiece photoin my biography shows him panning forgold, unshaven, but wearing a tie andwing-tips.George was born in Winnipeg buthis parents took him and themselvesback to Britain in failure when he wasonly a few months old. He was considereda promising young poet in the1930s and early 1940s but the poeticurge got subsumed into other types ofwriting once he returned to Canada afterthe Second World War. He did, however,resume writing poetry in the1970s, working in a discernibly Canadianform of it that would be incomprehensibleto his old English self.George Woodcock’s most famousbook, still in print, is Anarchism: A Historyof Libertarian Ideas and Movements,followed by The Crystal Spirit, a criticalmemoir of his friend George Orwell. Ashe aged, more and more of his bookswere on specific Canadian topics. A coupleof these, The Doukhobors and GabrielDumont, still exercise a hold on people’simaginations.He published about 150 books in all,most of them (though not the most famousones) after a severe heart attack in1966, when he was 54, concentrated hismind wonderfully.None of Robin’s books is well known,though Memoirs of a Literary Blockheadperhaps deserves to be. He wrote quitea lot of other prose as well, but labouredmostly in the eternal twilight of poetsand poetry. Over the years, he publishedseveral selected and even collected volumes.As death from diabetes and aweakening heart approached, he wasworking on a manuscript of new poemscalled Facing the Light, which is beingpublished just now, another gesture tomark the anniversary of his passing.✍The two men had even less in commonthat I’ve made it sound, but whatthey did share is that which I find mostimportant about them. They believed inwriting as the finest work of the individualconsciousness, and they were not dissuadedby harsh criticism the way peoplewho are less brave might be. Theykept themselves alive by their pens so asto use those pens to produce all the thingsthey felt they had to write. In the rush todo so, however, they never turned theirbacks on the community of writers andreaders. On the contrary. They stayedcurrent with the young. They were alwaysengagé. They gave far more than theytook, rejecting any suggestion that theywere setting an example. To them, doinggood was just another thing one did andtried to do well.George Fetherling has written and editedmore than 50 books in a wide variety of genres.He is the publisher of Subway Books whichhas re-issued his Woodcock biography, TheGentle Anarchist: A Life of George Woodcock.

32 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007FUTURE IMPERFECT:Novelist Robert Harlow was the CBC’s Directorof Radio in B.C. from 1954-1964.When Earle Birney left UBC in 1965,Harlow became head of the newly-formedDepartment of Creative Writing, the firstsuch department in the country. He retiredas head in 1977 but taught in the department until 1988.Over the years he has published eight novels. Here he surveyshow we might be coming of age all over again.N 1962, MY FIRST NOVEL, ROYALI Murdoch, was one of three such booksissued in Canada that did not first havea contract with a foreign publisher.Macmillan, McClelland & Stewart,Ryerson and others imported the gutsof books of fiction, put their own coversand boards on them, and sent them outto bookstores. Until then, much of thebusiness of Canadian publishers was tobe an agency press for fiction put out bypublishers in “real” places like Londonand New York.This level of agency publishing hadgone on for a long time, since the 1923trade agreement between Washingtonand Ottawa that made Canada a culturalvassal of the USA. Our thrivingmovie industry and more than viablebook publishing sector were strangled,Mazo de la Roche became an Americanpossession, Ralph Connor and otherromancers of our West were hardly welcomein a country as provincial as theU.S. Authors such as MorleyCallaghan found it necessary to set theirbooks and stories in either America orin a limbo that Americans could identifyas their own. Inundated with NewYork and London culture, governed bycreatures in Ottawa who were alwayscowed to the point of corruption by EnglishAmerica, and wrenched clear of twoseminal and nurturing cultural forces,Canadians began to believe that theywere not good enough or creativeenough to have an identity.A country village boy, I grew upreading the five New York magazines mymother subscribed to (Good Housekeeping,Redbook, Women’s Home Companion,American Magazine andCosmopolitan) and believed that waswhere life was lived. Maclean’s wasunknown to me until after I’d beenshot at in anger by the Luftwaffeand was at UBC, where I met,thankfully, Earle Birney, a culturalnationalist who didn’t laugh at myRedbook short stories and made meconscious of the load one takes onwhen a decision is made to be awriter. Earle Birney helped get meto Iowa in 1948. My thesis bookthere was a novel about my warthat, fifty years later and vastlychanged, became Necessary Dark.Called then Hell’s Easiest Room, thewriting of it let me understand thatthe USA wasn’t my spiritual-culturalhome.The fifties and early sixties werespent working for the CBC, an institutioninvented, perhaps out of guilt, byOttawa, the perfect workplace for anewly-minted Canadian to begin to mature.I still believe that without the CBC,the Canada we live in now would havehad very little chance of happening.It wasn’t until 1961 that I had a bookready. At a cocktail party I was introducedto John Gray, the great Macmillanpublisher, who asked me if I was writinganything and, if so, could he see it. TheCanada Council had been in place forthree years, we were beginning to getused to seeing ourselves on television.Art, drama and literature were beginningto be more than a gleam in the eyesof creators. Some Canadians thoughtour own work not just possible, but necessary.Many others still laughed at theidea of a Canadian identity, but themove toward it had begun quietly in newlittle magazines like Tamarack Review inToronto and Prism in Vancouver and onthe CBC via Anthology.John Gray was one of the literary catalysts.He wanted a list that featuredCanadian published fiction. Atthis time, publishers werestill, and often, educatedgentlemen who loved literature andwould pick up a book, not just as a book,but as a religious object, like a priestwould lift up the wafer that was the bodyof Christ. Authors he thought had promisebecame an investment and sometimesa lifetime friend. If the gamble was a goodone then over the course of ten or twentybooks the author would make him perhapsa decent profit. I think John hopedI’d be one of those. My first two bookswere published by him. And then, ICREATIVE WRITING“I’m not sure the damage being done bywild-eyed globalism is going to be reversible.”Reckoning 07ROBERT HARLOWwrote Scann (a novel about a town thatvery closely resembled Prince George,where I mostly grew up). Macmillan’s refusalwas abrupt and final. The few copiesof Royal Murdoch and A Gift of Echoesleft in-house were shipped to me, alongwith Scann’s rejection, and I was demotedfrom author to mere writer.The excuse for this solipsistic saga isthat my early history as a wannabe Canadiannovelist was willy-nilly tied to thesaga of publishers becoming thoroughlyCanadian. They didn’t do it by themselves.Lester B. Pearson and Canada’scentennial did. We hear little about thatmoment when one of the PM’s advisersnoticed that publishing was not sharingin the celebration. Everyone fromsoftball teams to civic centres were beingfunded and Pearson agreed somethingshould be done. BlockGrants became the on-goinganswer, and over ashort period of timeDAVID LESTER ILLUSTRATIONsmall presses were founded, and therecame then the revelation that a greatnumber of Canadians had drawers fullof writing that was not publishable underthe rule that a book had to have aLondon or New York contract first.A few small presses were already established,and suddenly there were a lotmore. I won’t bore you with lists. Thepoint is that by 1972 (when Scann wasbrought out by J. Michael Yates’ SonoNis Press), some 900 Canadian bookshad already been publishedwithout the benefit of a foreigncontract. Out of thatprimordial mix came a literaryculture, and out ofthat came something morevaluable: a sense of ourselvesthat has not only sustainedgood writing but also helped givea green light to our own theatre, film,music and art.Trouble is, while Canadians maypublish their literature in its own terms,we are again subject to the fashionwhims,oversight, business plans andbottom line motives of American andEuropean interests. This is not quite1923 once more, but it could be worse.Back then we were given that freedomwhich comes from having nothing leftto lose. Rendered null and void, we hada chance eventually to grow without foreigncorporate oversight. It was a dryforty years, but they were our years.I’m not sure the damage being doneby wild-eyed globalism is going to be reversible.Getting used to what’s happening(and has happened) is not going tobe good enough. I believe a new organizationalong the lines of the Writers Union,founded thirty-five years ago, needsto be considered again, but this time weneed something larger, more encompassing,to support our indigenous publishers,distributors and booksellers. Anew organization should be aimed atmaking our industry unattractive to corporateconglomerates through economicand political (nationalist, ifyou will) initiatives and pressures.This will not retake lost ground,but it could allow for the creationof a Canadian cultural industrywith its own nationaland international intentions.Meeting, celebratingand talking is alwaysgood. The forthcomingReckoning 07 conferenceis a welcomeand timely concept. Let’ssee if we can use the occasionto generate renewed vigour andguidelines to protect our future.Robert Harlow lives on Mayne Island.His novel Necessary Dark is available for Printon Demand (POD). “POD is the future,” he says,“and will be the future for status quo publishersand those who find agents, editorial annointment(meaning the sales department) and currentmethods of distribution less than tasty.”

34 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007N A MANIFESTO TO FELLOW WRITERS PUB-a few years ago, Doris LessingIlishedwrote: “Without me the literary industrywould not exist; the publishers, theagents, the sub-agents, the accountants,the libel lawyers, the department of literature,the professors, the theses, thebooks of criticism, the reviewers, thebook pages—all this vast and proliferatingedifice is because of this small, patronized,put down, and underpaidperson.”That writers are essential yetundervalued is no secret. It’s the extentto which writers support this “vast andproliferating edifice” through the subsidizingof their own books that may surprisereaders.As in many countries, our publishersare eligible for financial support in theform of grants from various national andprovincial government agencies such asthe Canada Council for the Arts, whosemandate is to develop Canadian writingand publishing.Canada Council guidelines clearlystate that titles not eligible for supportinclude “publications for which the authorreceives no royalties, and books towhich the author has contributed financiallytoward the publication costs (thisincludes an author’s obligation topurchase a given number of copiesof his or her book as a conditionof publication).” Inaddition, the publisher is expectedto use “appropriate andeffective means to market, distributeand create publicawareness of its publications,and to issue clearroyalty statements” ona regular basis. Finally,“no grants will be issuedto publishers who oweoutstanding payments towriters as of the applicationdeadline.” Soundspretty straightforward,no?PUT DOWN, PATRONIZED & UNDERPAID:CAN WRITERS AFFORD TO REMAINSILENTABOUT BEING UNDER-PROMOTED, TOO?Fernanda Viveiros, executive director of theFederation of BC Writers, argues some publishersare unworthy of public funding.And yet, grants are issued, year afteryear, to publishers who ignore some orall of these requirements. Why? BecauseCanada Council will not withdraw supportfrom a publishing house without aformal complaint and proof of unfairpublishing practices. Reluctant to jeopardizetheir own slim opportunities forReckoning 07FERNANDA VIVEIROSpublication or draw government attentionto the misuse of public funds, writersremain silent—and becomeunwitting collaborators in fraud.Authors grumble about “sweetheartdeals” wherein it’s understood they’ll haveto pay in order to see their book published,but rarely do they stop to considerthe ethical implications involved when agrant-funded publisher asks them to “assist”with the production costs or purchaselarge quantities of their own books—orneglects to pay royalties year after year,much less issue a royalty statement.In extreme cases, being dependenton government money has led to thegrowth of “welfare” publishers whochurn out season after season of newtitles for the sole purpose of meetingtheir grant quota. These books, oftenpoorly edited and cheaply produced,languish in the publisher’sbasement or are sold backto the author to duck the costsof marketing, promotion anddistribution. In effect, thebooks are printed but are notmade readily available to thepublic. I suspect publicmoney dedicated for the publicationof books constitutesthe primary source of incomeWRITINGfor a handful of publishers across thecountry. Adding insult to injury, theserogue publishers “top up” their grantfundedpublishing program with financialresources donated by writers theyonly pretend to serve.How do we ensure that books of meritare being produced if the man—orwoman—with the fattest wallet wins out?And faced with a book which must thenbe promoted, marketed and distributedagain, in some cases, on the writer’s dime,who really wins? Authors find themselvesnot only in the position of sustaining thepress at the expense of their own financialviability, but also risking their reputationin the process.Unfair publishing practices and theunprincipled manipulation of a grantsystem that was designed to create andpromote Canadian literary culture andthe development of an audienceultimately weakensour publishing industryand hurts every writer.There are nearly threetimes as many governmentsupportedpublishers nowas there were thirty yearsago and they are all fighting for a pieceof the ever-shrinking funding pie. Eliminatethese rogue presses and everyonebenefits: reputable publishers receivelarger grants which in turn allow themto serve the writing—and reading—community in a responsible manner.As tax-paying Canadian citizens whocontribute to an estimated $400 millioncultural industry, writers are invaluablecreators, not frivolous hobbyists or selfsacrificingbankrollers. They should informthemselves about questionablepractices and suppress any hesitation inregistering legitimate complaints becauseof a misplaced desire to protect apublisher—or publication.As Lessing implies, writers, “small, patronized,put down, and underpaid,” aredeserving of respect, not least from thosewhose very livelihood depends on theirsustained output. Writers, all too readyto adopt the humble gratitude the industrywishes upon them for the mostfleeting of recognition, maintain a codeof silence that keeps the GingerbreadMan running. Maybe it’s time for thefox to open its jaws.Fernanda Viveiros is editor of WordWorks,the magazine of the Federation of BC Writers,which represents over 600 B.C. writers.BookWorms by George Matheson“...writers areinvaluable creators,not frivolous hobbyistsor self-sacrificingbankrollers.”—FERNANDA VIVEIROS

36 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007SELF-PUBLISHINGINSIDE THE OUTSIDERErnest Hekkanen suffers from what he callsoppositional disorder. Without that affliction,he would never have managed to become a prolificnovelist, an independent publisher or editorof The New Orphic Review, as a maverickintellectual. Based in Nelson, he and his partnerMargrith Schraner survive outside the world of governmentgrants. We asked him to explain his literary condition.ACK IN THE MID-1960S, I GOT IN-in two activities that cameBvolvedto define my life: I started to write and Ibecame an anti-Vietnam War activist.However, that was symptomatic of adeeper oppositional disorder.During my ninth-grade year atLynnwood Junior High, PresidentKennedy placed a blockade aroundCuba. His address to the nation wasbroadcast over the school’s public addresssystem. Afterward, my biologyteacher said, “I’m sure everyone in thisclassroom will agree with what PresidentKennedy has done, except maybeMike.”I went by my middlename back then. Thegirl sitting at thedesk immediatelyin back ofErnestHekkanen iscurrently writinghis 40th book.me said to her deskmate, “Why did Mr.McLeod say that?” to which herdeskmate replied, “Because Mike’s lastname is Russian.”When I shared that anecdote with myfather, he got irate on my behalf. He toldme about the Finns having been subjugatedby the Russians for a hundredyears, and later, in the Winter War, havingfought them to a draw. That’s whenI learned what it was to be someone ofFinnish descent. I learned thatFinlanders are a people who stand upfor themselves, no matter the oddsagainst them.As you can see, my oppositional disorderhas historic dimensions.What does this have to do with literaturein British Columbia? When I arrivedin Vancouver as a draft dodger andpublished author in 1969, nationalismwas raising its head and literature wasstruggling to find its Canadian legs.After eight months or so I came torealize I was someone who straddled aborder. As long as I hid my AmericanReckoning 07ERNEST HEKKANENattitude and spelling faux pas, I was ableto get published in Canadian literarymagazines. But because I now had a Canadianaddress, I found it difficult to getpublished in American magazines.Later on, when I took an MFA at theUniversity of British Columbia, my thesisadvisor gave me the following advice:“If you expect to get Chasing After Carnivalspublished up here, you’ll have tochange the location to a town inCanada.” Which I did. My novel wasaccepted by Stoddart Publishing in1983. It got all the way to thebound galley proof stage, and waseven reviewed in Quill & Quire,and then it was dropped fromStoddart’s list.No, the review wasn’t a badone. It maintained that I was awriter with promise.Had I not had a strongoppositional disorder, I mighthave given up at that point. Todate, I’ve had over 35 jobs inCanada, most of them workingclassjobs.My second book, Journeys ThatBring Us Here, employed many of myworking-class experiences. I submittedit to over a dozen Canadian publishers.A B.C. publisher replied, “Unfortunately,your collection didn’t appeal toour readers. It’s full of losers, deadbeats,outcasts and drifters.” Itsounds as though my charactersmight have sufferedfrom oppositional disorder,doesn’t it? “Furthermore,”she wenton, “there are veryfew women in yourstories, and all ofthem are subjectedto thewhims ofmen.” Theeditor was“blyobviously an educated woman who leda solid middle-class life, someone whohad gone through university and nowfancied herself an adjudicator of goodtaste. Another editor remarked: “Realpeople don’t act or speak the way yourcharacters do. They’re all so illiterate, sodetermined to be stupid.”I suspect such editors haven’t beenforced to experience anything outsidetheir comfort zones. That’s typical of peoplein the book industry in Canada—whether we’re speaking in terms ofwriters, editors or publishers. After all,literature is a business. Whobuys the bulk of fiction inCanada? Middle-classreaders do, many of themwomen. To survive as apublisher one must appealto the middle class, otherwiseone is likely to go underfinancially, even with the support ofthe Canada Council and the B.C. ArtsCouncil.I’m happy that I have a well-developedoppositional disorder. Without it,I might have given up the frivolous occupationof writing—and let’s not foolourselves, writing is a frivolous occupation,especially here in Canada whereCanadians buy far more books by writersfrom other countries.✍To date, I have published 38Hekkanen titles and 20 issues of TheNew Orphic Review, which is now in itstenth year of publication. That is how Imake my inconsiderable living. I decidedto go it alone in the mid-1990s,and now there are five writers in my NewOrphic stable. All of them have distinctvoices not likely to be recognized by B.C.publishers.I chose my particular path because itallowed me to flourish as a writer whoemploys many voices—in books that areunique in style and approach. My wayof doing things has licensed me to be ascreative as I can possibly be, in any genreI wish to tackle, without second-guessingwhether I will find a publisher, becauseI invariably do.Writing has not only permitted meto make sense of this turbulent world, ithas been my life preserver. I cling to ittenaciously, in opposition to the brutaltimes we live in and because I value somethingin myself that the larger society haslittle use for.As Albert Camus said in his treatiseon revolt, I am “a man who says no, butwhose refusal does not imply a renunciation.”Ernest Hekkanen‘s forthcoming bookwill be called Of a Fire Beyond the Hills, aboutthe proposed Anti-War Monument in Nelson, thatdivided his community and led him to help financeits exhibition.My way of doing thingshas licensed me to be ascreative as I can possi-be.”— ERNEST HEKKANEN

RACISMGONE & WELL-FORGOTTENWhat do we do with the embarrassments in our literaryhistory? The three novels by American-bornAlex Philip (1882?-1968) are a case in point.LEX PHILIP HIS WIFE, MYRTLE TAPLEYA Philip (1891-1986), are now mythologizedas the “fearless pioneers”whose opening of Rainbow Lodge at AltaLake in 1915, following the arrival ofthe PGE railway in 1914, initiated tourismin the Whistler Valley. The site ofRainbow Park preserves some of the resort’searly cabins and photographs, anda local elementary school isnamed after Myrtle, tohonour her long record ofcommunity involvement.Alongside the hard workof enlarging and managingthe resort, which offeredfishing in summer, skatingin winter, and by 1948 had reputedlybecome the most popular honeymoondestination west of Jasper, the ever entrepreneurialAlex found sufficient timeand energy to pen three novels whichexemplify the clichés of Western romance,transported to the coastal andinterior landscape of BC: The CrimsonWest (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 1925),The Painted Cliff (Ottawa: Graphic,1927), and Whispering Leaves(Ottawa: Graphic, 1931).Philip’s first title became thebasis of Canada’s first talkingfilm, The Crimson Paradise,made in Victoria in 1933, andnow declared lost.My curiosity about Philip’sbooks turned to dismay whenI actually read them. In his effortsto exploit the BC landscapeto create popularadventure fiction, Philip employednearly every offensive stereotypeof his age.The plot of The Crimson West is furtheredby nasty labour organizers, unpleasantimmigrants from easternEurope, and deceptive Natives. The villainof The Painted Cliff is a “crazedchieftan” with a gorgeous granddaughterwho also loses her reason when desertedby her white lover. WhisperingLeaves includes Mexicans and “Chinamen”who smuggle drugs and Asian labourersinto the Cariboo. Of coursemost of the women are amorous wimpsin need of rescue.Reviews preserved in the MyrtlePhilip fonds in the Whistler Museumand Archives indicate that the bookswere generally well received, notwithstandinga few cavils about their amateurishnessand stretching of credibility.The reviewer for the Montreal Star describedThe Painted Cliff as “a really excellentyarn” by “a veritable RiderHaggard of the Pacific Coast,” and commentedthat “the mountains of BritishColumbia can be made into as good abackdrop for the bizarre as anything inSouth Africa.”It might be fun to examine the waysthat Philip romanced the West by importingpopular adventure conventionsThe Writing on the Wall (1921)into a BC landscape full of local detailsabout railroads, logging, prospecting, andagriculture, and to analyze his constructionof Anglo-Canadian-American masculinity(the rugged hero wins all the fistfights). His gratuitous racism and sexismcould be studied as representative of thecommon mindset of the 1920s. But—who needs to know about him?Reckoning 07CAROLE GERSONThese books are clearly not candidatesfor resurrection for the generalreader. And I don’t think that undergraduateswould get much out of them.If the racism of the 1920s is on the curriculum,students can read Hilda Glynn-Ward’s notorious novel, The Writing onthe Wall (1921), which was turned intoan historical document when it was reissuedin 1974, with an introduction byPatricia Roy, in the socialhistory of Canada series editedby Michael Bliss forthe University of TorontoPress.What initially seemed tobe an interesting discoveryin relation to the literary historyof BC—and a potentialcontribution to an historicidentity for Whistler that isunrelated to the current Olympicfrenzy—is now destinedto gather dust in a remote cornerof my bookshelf. I went out of my wayto acquire copies of all three books, astwo were published by Graphic, a smallOttawa press (1924-32) that is nowmemorable for its efforts to create attractivelydesigned books that were “100 p.c.Canadian.”My copy of Whispering Leaves wearsits original dust jacket, whose elegantunsigned front and spine illustrations—featuring vegetation that looks surprisinglytropical—are considerably moreappealing than its contents. I may showthe volume to students as an example ofa nicely made book, but I’ll probably stopshort of recommending that they actuallyread it.[Canada’s first “talkie,” The Crimson Paradise,made in Victoria in 1933 and based on AlexPhilip’s first novel, was very popular when it ranat the Victoria’s Capitol theatre, partly due to strongpromotional efforts by the Bristol-born theatremanager Ivan Ackery who persuaded Famous Playersto allow him to screen the made-on-VancouverIsland feature. The film was produced by KennethBishop’s Commonwealth Productions.—Ed.]Carole Gerson of SFU has co-edited VolumeIII of the History of the Book in Canada. Shepreviously specialized in the study and appreciationof works by early Canadian women writerssuch as Pauline Johnson.New from 2006 Hubert Evans Non-fi ction Prize winner STAN PERSKYTopic SentenceA Writer’s EducationFind it hereThe Bombay Plays Anosh IraniThe Matka King: A powerful eunuch, Top Rani, operates anillicit lottery through his brothel. When a gambler who isdeeply in debt makes an unexpected wager, stakes becomelife and death.“Excellent characterization and humour.” —Vancouver SunBombay Black: Charts the seduction of Apsara by Kamal, andPadma’s violent enmity toward the blind man and his secrets.Winner of 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards.ISBN 978-0-88754-560-3 $19.95BhopalRahul VarmaBhopal, 1984: With the presence of the pesticide factory, thecity begins to claw its way out of poverty. But what is to bemade of the deformed babies born to women living near thefactory? And the poison gas explosion that will leave threethousand people dead within minutes, and will kill tens ofthousands more in the years to come?ISBN 978-0-088754-810-9 $16.95Playwrights Canada Press[Gayton] gives us anew place to start,and new tools to use,in our contemplationof the thorny problemof the human relationshipto nature.— Sharon ButalaDuthie Books, West 4th Av. • People’s Co-op Bookstore32 Books, North Vancouver • Magpie Books & MagsCrown Publications • Bolen Books • Munro’sTanners Books • Sorensen BooksLittle Sister’s • Blackberry BooksChapters • Indigo Books + Musicchapters.indigo.ca • amazon.comPublished by New Star Bookswww.playwrightscanada.comInterwoven Wild:An Ecologist Loose In the GardenDon GaytonPhantom LimbTheresa Kishkanwww.thistledownpress.comUpon a roughroadmap of everydayevents, Kishkanimposes her own distinctand vivid cartography.Her movementsare delicate,precise, and sensual.There is absolutelynothing ordinarygoing on here.—Terry Glavin37 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007

LETTERSOBITSKilling yieldsYour review of the book A Long WayGone by the former boy soldier IshmaelBeah [BCBW Summer] was a great reliefto me. I have been hesitant to discussmy reaction to this book. Now I knowthere are others who also believe therewere too manyfactors thatmade this amuch less thanbelievable bookabout a subjectthat needs honestreflection. Itis not surprisingto me thatthere was littleenlightenmentabout the author’s own capacity to kill.Most who have been to war are notable to admit it much less describe it on apersonal basis but there were too manyinexplicable gaps and very little insighton transitioning from a world of deathand destruction to gaining or regainingthe thin veneer of civilization. I could notrecommend the purchase of so suspiciousa book on such an important topic.Bill BushVancouverRyganomicsI’ve just picked up the latest editionof B.C. BookWorld. I always look forwordto it coming out. The photo and articleon the George Ryga Award made myday! Thank you very much for promotingthis wonderful award for social awarenessin B.C literature. I feel strongly thatthese voices are needed to be heard. I’malso sure that George Ryga would alsoappreciate your kindness as well as thegreat work you do in promoting the storiesand the story tellers in our part ofthe world! Thanks again!Reg KienastArmstrongAlcatraz callingIt is long overdue to say BC BookWorldjust seems to get better all the time. Youprovide splendid coverage of local authornews and book goings-on in B.C. Beinga full-time scrivener, isolated on the FloweredAlcatraz of Vancouver Island, yourmagazine helps keep me up to date withactivities in the real world.Sidney AllinsonColwoodBookWormsby George MathesonCorrectionsI am a regular reader of BCBookworld. Having read RunningUphill by Fil Fraser, I was interestedto read your article on page3 of the Summer issue. I was surprisedand disappointed to see twoerrors. Harry Jerome was not theonly black athlete in his highschool—his friend Paul Winn isregularly quoted in the book andattended the same school. He waseven a better known athlete andstudent during their early days atNorth Van. The second sentencerefers to his becoming the first humanto run 100 metres in ten secondsflat. Not so! When he ran hisworld record time in Saskatoon, hetied the world record. It had beenset earlier by Armin Hary of Germany—hencehe was the secondhuman to run this time.L. Thompsonvia emailMiner successYour issue [BCBW Spring] has outdoneprevious issues. I also want to thankyou for the great exposure you havegiven my Bill Miner book. While I havenot been able to determine its impacton sales, I have had a few emails fromfellow independently published authorsfor advice and commiseration followingmy comments on why I self-published.And I recently received an email fromthe BC Historical Federation advisingme that I have received an HonourableMention citation for BC historical writing.We have gone into a third printing.Peter GrauerKamloopsBill MinerLetters or emails contact:BC BookWorld, 3516 W. 13th Ave.,Vancouver, BC V6R 2S3email: bookworld@telus.netLetters may be edited for clarity & length.BRUCE SERAFINBruce Serafin, the main founder of The VancouverReview, a literary periodical mainly devotedto reviews and opinions, died on June 6,2007. Born in 1950, he worked at Canada Postfor fourteen years and wrote two books, Colin’sBig Thing (Ekstasis 2004) and Stardust (NewStar 2007). “He was a strange, wonderful guy,”Brian Fawcett told John Burns of The GeorgiaStraight, “who should have published a lot more,but didn’t.”Bruce SerafinPAULINEWOODWARDPauline Woodward passed away on July 28,2007, a few days short of her 93rd birthday.“She was a great supporter,” says publisherHoward White. “One of the old guard who wasin it because she really loved the biz.”Woodward owned and operated Pauline’sBooks, a full-service general bookstore that operatedon Denman Street, in Vancouver’s WestEnd, for many years. “Pauline will be rememberedby the thousands of booklovers that frequentedher shop for her dry sense of humourand no-nonsense approach to the business oflife and literature,” says Walter Bruce Sinclair,of White Dwarf Books. “Her death marks theend of an era, the era that came before the onslaughtof featureless chain and online outlets,an era before books themselves became featurelesscommodities, conveyed from press to shelfwithout ever touching human flesh. There wasno computer, not even a cash register, onPauline’s counter. You took the book from herhand—and it was, if you were wise, the one sherecommended. She, and her era, will bemissed.”TWIGG PHOTO38 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007

39 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007THE GLASS IS HALF FULL, NOT HALF EMPTYLIBRARIESAs your public library expands electronicallyand socially, Paul Whitney looks backwardsand forwards at the status of one of society’smost important institutions, the meeting placewhere ideas are still freely available—in conjunctionwith the Internet.N INVITATION TO REFLECT ON B.C.’SA book culture takes me back to1987 when Alan Twigg pitched the ideaof BC BookWorld to a small group ofpublic librarians at the 7th Avenue officeof the Association of Book Publishersof B.C. Ever since then our publiclibraries have been key distributionpoints for this most egalitarian of publicationsabout books.Back in 1987 the changes in ourphysical and virtual world caused byimmigration from Asia and the arrivalof the Internet were largely unanticipated.It is intriguing to note that in spiteof, or because of these changes, librarieshave grown in use and presence in ourcommunities while bookstores have seendramatic and, based on today’s reality,negative change.An unprecedented and continuinglibrary building boom since the early1990s has included the Burnaby PublicLibrary Bob Prittie Metrotown Branch,Richmond’s Brighouse Library, the PortMoody Main Library, Vancouver’sMoshe Safdie-designed Library Squareand the Renfrew Branch, ParkgateBranch in North Van District, a newmain library in Abbotsford and newbranches on Vancouver Island. This is aremarkable affirmation of the importanceof public libraries in our communities.While library use has increased steadilyover the past 20 years, in part spurredon by the new facilities, the nature oflibrary use has profoundly changed.These changes have necessarily affectedB.C. publishing.From an overarching perspective,changing library use is most notablymarked by significant increases in theborrowing of books for use by childrenand the borrowing of non-English languagebooks and audio visual materials(CDs, DVDs, audio books...).The Internet has supplanted the libraryas the place to get an answer to aquick information question and certaincategories of non-fiction publishing haveexperienced declining use.Legal titles such as Wills for BritishColumbia and travel guides used to bein constant and high demand, but thisis less so now as the Internet is seen as aviable alternative for such time sensitivefactual information.It would seem inconceivable now thatthe Encyclopedia of British Columbiawould be developed as a print-only publication.Public libraries used to be “thelong tail” in our communities, the placeyou would go to get an out-of-print orobscure book title. Now, Advanced BookExchange [ABEbooks] or the myriad ofspecialty dealers on the net provide moreextensive options for those who can affordto buy. What the Internet cannotreplicate is the serendipity of findingyour perfect book by chance on a libraryshelf.Despite all the changes underway, librariansreceive ample evidence thatbooks do change lives. One of the mostsatisfying things that can happen for alibrarian is to receive confirmation of thisReckoning 07PAUL WHITNEYbelief and to learn that books you had ahand in making available have fulfilledthis role.Recently I heard aGovernor Generalaward-winning poet talkabout the effect on herwork of reading Alice inWonderland borrowedfrom a local library as a13-year-old. Similarly,one of Vancouver’s mostaccomplished photographersspoke of the profoundimpact of thenovels of Philip K Dick.I can recall orderingthose books for thebranch library he usedmore than 25 years ago.There is no doubt inmy mind that the publiclibrary network inB.C. is and will continueto be an integral part ofthe province’s ecosystemof publishing and reading.Libraries are committedto fostering a loveof reading in young children,thereby developingthe cominggenerations of readers.We provide access to thewealth of new books is-JOSEPH FARRIS ILLUSTRATIONsued each year and we will ensure thatB.C. books past, present and future willbe readily available.✍But all is not rosy. Given the predominanceof a select few titles in theconsciousness of the majority of readers(Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter) I have anagging fear that the mainstays of ourcultural output (short story collectionsand poetry primarily) will have a hardertime finding an audience.And no one predicted the upheavalthat has occurred in retail book selling,particularly in GreaterVancouver. My awarenessof the current moribundstate of book retailing inVancouver has only beenheightened by recent visitsto Victoria, Seattle andPortland, all of which haveindependent booksellers providing superiorstock and service for the informedreader.One bright light in the local scene isVancouver Kidsbooks which gives somehope for the future of book selling inthe region; Book Warehouse appears tobe going strong; and, of course, it’sheartening to note that Duthie Books,albeit reduced to one outlet, is celebratingits 50th year in business.Nonetheless, looking back to 1987,it’s easy to see a rise and fall. We shiftedfrom a modest but predictable independentbookseller presence to, for wantof a better phrase, the short-lived goldenage of book retailing in the mid-to-late1990s, only to shift backwards into thedoldrums.Dublin-born Paul Whitney is VancouverPublic Library's Chief Librarian. He played aleadership role in the evolution of the LowerMainland library federation, InterLINK, whichallows open access to library services for allresidents of the area. He has served aspresident of the British Columbia LibraryAssociation (BCLA), the Canadian LibraryAssociation (CLA), and chaired the Council ofAdministrators of Large Urban Public Libraries.He is the Canadian appointee to the Copyrightand Other Legal Matters Committee (CLM) ofthe International Federation of LibraryAssociations. In 2002 he received the CanadianLibrary Association Outstanding Service toLibrarianship Award, and the B.C. LibraryAssociation President's Award.

41 BC BOOKWORLD AUTUMN 2007THE LAST WORDThe mostimportant thing tosay, after twentyyears of makingBC BookWorld,is thank you.ON THE NAKUSP OF THINGSby ALAN TWIGGTHANK YOU TO OUR READERS.Thank you to our B.C. authors, publishers,booksellers, librarians, CanadaCouncil and Cultural Services in Victoria.Thank you to our 700 distributors.Thank you to our advertisers, some ofwhom have been with us, continuously,since 1987.Thank you to our delivery guy, KenReid, who has been with us for aboutseventeen years.Thank you to the gentle ghost of thelate Russell Kelly (I’m still using therolodex, Russell.) And thank you toEmiko Morita, Katja Pantzar and LisaKerr.Thank you to our printers, KodiakPress, especially Shannon, Danny andHollie, who are good shepherds, everythree months. Thank you toNewsGroup, BC Ferries, KingdomPhoto, U&I Type, Canpar, Coast Mailingand Microzip.Thank you to our board of directors,for not directing me: Jean Barman,Margaret Reynolds, Andreas Schroeder,Paul Whitney, Rowly Lorimer, LynnCopeland, Don Stewart, HowardWhite, as well as former director JaneRule and the much-missed GeorgeWoodcock.Thank you to SFU Library and ToddHolbrook for engineering and hostingour abcbookworld reference site, allowingus to provide information for andabout more than 8,500 B.C. authors.Thanks to Rebus Creative for takingover the management of the B.C. BookPrizes ever since I had that brain tumourin 2001.Thanks to our long-standing contributorssuch as Mark Forsythe, JoanGivner, Louise Donnelly, Gary Geddes,Hannah Main-van der Kamp, as well asdozens of other freelancers.TWIGG PHOTOThis summer, instead of attending the Writers Union meetings atUBC, I drove to the Kootenays for a gathering of writers in Nakusp. In midafternoonI asked everyone to take over the main street for a photo,whereupon, completely unbidden, Ken Firth performed a perfect somersaultin the middle of the road. I like the way the acrobat’s hands straddle thewhite line. At B.C. BookWorld, David Lester and I are about halfway throughour life expectancy. That is, we expect to continue making this culturalnewspaper for at least another twenty years—if you’ll keep reading it. Wefeel we are in middle ground, with one hand in the past, another in thefuture, precariously balanced.— A.T.Thanks to the delightful WendyAtkinson for her invaluable proofreading,and her steadfast support, alongwith my mum, Betty Twigg, who hasproofread almost every issue, even afterbeing hit by a taxi in a crosswalk.Thanks to the Association of BookPublishers of B.C. and the CanadianCentre for Studies in Publishing and theVancouver Public Library... and all theother groups we have worked with overthe years to sponsor and present events.Thanks to early guiding lights suchas Tony Gregson, Bob Mercer and BillBarringer.Thanks to Tom Shandel who helpedus make those documentary films aboutB.C. authors. And thanks to bookkeeperElaine Keating and accountant ScottPalmer.And thanks to more recent beacons,my sons Jeremy and Martin, who havewisely flown the coop and got real jobs,but who still don’t mind showing mehow to do stuff.Thank you to everyone who has enabledus to continue to have this privilegeof providing as much informationas possible, about as many B.C. books aspossible, to as many people as possible,throughout Canada.We are blessed to be doing what weare doing, chuckling every day, happywhen the phone doesn’t ring, working,working, working. Most of the time weare as happy as the fish in Tara’s fish pondoutside our window.Thank you, thank you, thank you.✍To recognize our 20 th anniversary, wehave organized a get-together for bookculture types called Reckoning 07, a literaryBe-In, at Simon Fraser Universitydowntown.In concert with that gathering, we’veput together this rather unusual 20 thanniversary issue, breaking the mold,just once, dispensing with the usual potpourriof middle-brow articles aboutbooks and inviting some folks to contributememoirs and opinions.After Reckoning 07, we’ll instigate, inconjunction with our friends at SFU Library,a new public reference site so everyonecan record their own versions ofour mutual history. So that’s the latestcrusade.My colleague David Lester and I haveno plans to quit.Alan Twigg hasproducedBC BookWorldsince 1987. Youcan write to BCBookWorld c/obookworld@telus.net