National Network for Equitable Library Service

Elizabeth May was born to be an activist. As a young girl, Elizabeth was worried about the health of the planet and believed it was her job to protect it. While other children were playing, she was raising money for important causes, researching the latest science and organizing protests.

Forty years ago, droves of young women migrated away from urban settings and settled in rural areas across North America. Many settled on the north coast of British Columbia, on Haida Gwaii or around Prince Rupert. Gumboot Girls tells the stories of thirty-four women, through their own eyes, as they moved from their comfortable city-dwelling surroundings to the rugged north coast. Part back-to-the-land, part adventure, heartbreak and love, this collection of stories edited by Lou Allison and compiled by Jane Wilde was inspired by the book Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller.

We all share a common humanity. No matter how long or difficult the path ahead, we are all one. Reconciliation belongs to everyone. In this profound book, Chief Robert Joseph, globally recognized peacebuilder and Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk People, traces his journey from his childhood surviving residential school to his present-day role as a leader who inspires individual hope, collective change, and global transformation. Before we get to know where we are going, we need to know where we came from.

The unlikely and riveting story of how a left-wing activist became one of BC's most accomplished business leaders and philanthropists, championing projects in the visual arts and innovation in Canadian wildlife protection and sustainability. Freedom rider. Student radical. Academic. Social activist. Residential developer. Museum builder. Grizzly bear protector. Michael Audain has been all of these things and more in a colourful life spanning eight decades, three continents and five careers.

Collected from Emily Carr's private and public writings, these previously unpublished pieces reveal the outspoken artist at her most forthright. Expurgated sections from Carr's journals detail her anguished meditations on her spiritual mission, musings about Native culture and the white community's reaction to it, and thoughts about her family. Her groundbreaking 1913 "Lecture on Totems"—her first recorded writing on Native art and people—is also included, as are some of her most fascinating letters to friends and colleagues.

For many, the Doukhobor story is a sensational one—arson, nudity, and civil disobedience once made headlines. But it isn't the whole story. Our Backs Warmed by the Sun: Memories of a Doukhobor Life is an intricately woven, richly textured memoir of a family's determination to live in peace and community in the face of controversy and unrest. When author Vera Maloff set out to find the truth about her family's history, she knew something of the struggles of living a pacifist, agrarian life in a world with opposing values.

Instructions for a Flood is a non-fiction account—in the form of personal essays and vignettes—of a life in the central interior and coastal regions of British Columbia. Inspired by her passion for exploration and a desire to reframe her understanding of the areas in which she grew up, Adrienne Fitzpatrick embarks upon a decade of reflection and personal reconciliation within her own community and the broader landscape she inhabits.

Clarke had no interest in "trophy climbs" and never did ascend many of BC's highest peaks. On the other hand, he explored more virgin territory and racked up more first ascents than any other climber—perhaps more than any climber who ever lived. Although he came to be honoured far and wide and is one of the few mountaineers to be awarded the Order of Canada, he was a modest man who pursued his passion without fanfare, frequently embarking on gruelling expeditions into unknown territory by himself.

Douglas & McIntyre is proud to announce definitive, completely redesigned editions of Emily Carr's seven enduring classic books. These are beautifully crafted keepsake editions of the literary world of Emily Carr, each with an introduction by a distinguished Canadian writer or authority on Emily Carr and her work. Emily Carr's first book, published in 1941, was titled Klee Wyck ("Laughing One"), in honour of the name that the Native people of the west coast gave to her.

In 2007, Caroline Woodward was itching for a change. With an established career in book-selling and promotion, four books of her own and having raised a son with her husband, Jeff, she yearned for adventure and to re-ignite her passion for writing. Jeff was tired of piecing together low-paying part-time jobs and, with Caroline's encouragement, applied for a position as a relief lightkeeper on a remote North Pacific island. They endured lonely months of living apart, but the way of life rejuvenated Jeff and inspired Caroline to contemplate serious shifts in order to accompany him.