Writing the West Coast

This collection of over thirty essays by both well-known and emerging writers explores what it means to "be at home" on Canada’s West Coast. The essays examine ways of investing landscape with meaning so as to find landscapes of meaning. The writers describe yearning for a particular place and way of being; arriving at a personal habitat and community; lingering in nature’s spaces of contemplation; immersing oneself in the natural world; and encountering one’s surroundings in diverse, inspiring, and sometimes humorous ways. Two familiar voices are Susan Musgrave, who writes with affection about the "excluded" Haida Gwaii, and grandmother-activist Betty Krawczyk, who describes living in a remote A-frame under mountains that have been clear-cut, and how this leads her to join the blockades. Many other well-known voices include Brian Brett, Alexandra Morton, Briony Penn, Andrew Struthers, Kate Braid, Keith Harrison, Adrienne Mason, Joanna Streetly, David Pitt-Brooke and more. All of these writers contribute to the creation of a community of inquiry engaged in searching for home, finding purpose and a sense of belonging in creative and aesthetically revealing ways that are uniquely West Coast.