Vancouver’s year-long celebration of its 125th anniversary and status as the Cultural Capital of Canada continues on with the long awaited reissues of the Vancouver 125 Legacy Books Project. The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia (ABPBC) partnered with the City of Vancouver have launched a collection of 10 previously out-of-print classic Vancouver titles available through local bookstores.
The collection spans the genres of non-fiction, fiction and poetry, combing some of Vancouver’s (and surrounding area’s) most prominent and respected independent publishers like Anvil Press, Oolichan Books, and Arsenal Pulp Press, for nuanced books on the fair city of Vancouver. Each book represents a unique facet of Vancouver’s history and burgeoning arts community and strives to celebrate Vancouver for what it was, is and will be.
The 10 reissues are as follows, and being that I currently live in Vancouver, I have thrown in a few of my own favourite Vancouver writers, books on Vancouver or both to add to the list and feel free to add your own about Vancouver or the Canadian city of your choice to keep the list growing!
Non-fiction
Opening Doors: In Vancouver’s East End: Strathcona by Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter (Harbour Publishing) examines the historic neighbourhood of Strathcona, situated amongst the notorious, overlooked, and beautiful areas of Chinatown, Japantown, the Logger’s Skid Row and Little Italy. Marlatt and Itter strive to recreate Strathcona’s oral history in this collection of interviews recounting the neighbourhood’s shift from a residential neighbourhood to a “slum slate for demolition” back to an area of great pride amongst a spirited community.
A Hard Man to Beat by Howie White (Harbour Publishing) follows the story of Bill White, the former head of the Boilermakers and Marine Workers Union, during the height of the West Coast shipbuilding industry in WWII. White’s colourful voice and rousing examination of the “bareknuckle days of BC labour” is captivating, riveting and heartbreaking.
Along the No. 20 Line: Reminiscences of the Vancouver Waterfront by Rolf Knight (New Star Books) is a recreation of the lives and stories that boarded the No. 20 Streetcar Line. Knight uses his own experiences growing up in the East Vancouver community near the Ironworkers Bridge, as well as interviews with East Vancouver residents and former patrons of the old No. 20 to highlight the varied voices that inhabit Vancouver.
Who Killed Janet Smith? By Edward Starkins (Anvil Press) is the analysis of the infamous unsolved murder of nursemaid Janet Smith. Starkin weaves together complex threads of racism, corruption and privilege in this story of intrigue and suspense.
Fiction
Class Warfare by M.Fraser (Arsenal Pulp Press) is a story collection studying the radical anti-establishment politics of the 1970s using colourful characters and assertive reports of these politics and culture. Extraordinarily written, the language of the narratives still echo truth in the political climate 30 years later, provoking thought and possibilities.
Crossings by Betty Lambert (Arsenal Pulp Press) is the blunt and unapologetic exploration of an educated and intelligent female writer, Vicky, in Vancouver in the 1960s. Lambert’s ability to construct and navigate the reader through Vicky’s struggles with emotional and physical abuse within her relationships creates a startling and realistic portrait of female suffering.
A Credit to your Race by Truman Green (Anvil Press) sheds light on the often overseen perils of covert Canadian racism and how its weight shapes the relationships of its citizens. Green writes with passion and conviction in this stark and convincing portrayal of a 15-year-old black porter’s son who falls in love with and impregnates the white girl next door.
The Inverted Pyramid by Bertrand W. Sinclair (Ronsdale Press) first published in 1924 studies and explores “Canada’s drift during WWI from a world of production to one based on finance.” Sinclair’s account of this period is through brothers Rod and Grove Norquay, whose lineage is deeply rooted in an old British Columbian family, as they grapple with their decline into a economic depression, impending modernity, and the destruction of coastal forests.
Poetry
Day and Night by Dorothy Livesay (Oolichan Books) is a collection of poems inspired and spawned from the societal changes as a result of World War II. Livesay is a historic figure in Canadian writing and this collection marks her first book as an established Vancouver writer.
Anhaga by Jon Furberg (Smoking Lung/Arsenal Pulp Press) is the 10-year-long process of the retelling of the poem The Wanderer. Furberg allows the original to flow through while creating the contemporary Wanderer of the “lost, doomed, desperate soul who is perhaps the first truly individualized figure in English literature.”
Recommendations
The Man Game by Lee Henderson (Viking Canada) is primarily set in late 19th century Canada as Vancouver is at its birth, when racial tensions remain high, brothels rule East Vancouver and logging shapes the city. The complex story follows two narratives interwoven by the numerous Vancouver nuances that remain present today. The read is both historical, using Vancouver archives to inform characters, events and settings, and fictional, letting the reader become completely absorbed in this very tall tale.
The Beggar’s Garden by Michael Christie (Harper Collins Canada) is a short story collection depicting the often forgotten, misrepresented and misunderstood residents of Vancouver’s infamous Downtown East Side. Each story is supremely written, masterfully crafted and heart-wrenching in their sometimes simplistic portrayals of solitary life or complex studies of fractured lives. The stories are provoking and honest, shedding light on an area that always seems cloaked in darkness from an outside perspective.
The Devil You Know by Jenn Farrell (Anvil Press) is a collection of short stories that delves deeply into moments of sex, love, work and death and evokes everything from laughter and humility to heartbreak and devastation. Farrell’s ability to candidly express each character and their story encapsulates the reader, exposing each story as a raw and emotive narrative, a seemingly effortless work of art.
All Vancouver 125 Legacy Reissues are available for a special purchase price through the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia.
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