Harbour Publishing Spring 2022 Preview

This spring, Harbour is excited to publish eight new books that are distinctively British Columbian.

Roy Henry Vickers once again showcases the wonder and beauty found in the remote communities of British Columbia. Ben the Sea Lion is the telling of a childhood adventure Roy experienced in the Indigenous village of Kitkatla, on BC’s north coast. Starring an orphaned sea lion pup, and featuring fifteen original illustrations by Vickers, Ben the Sea Lion is a heart-warming journey that will delight readers of all ages.

The long-awaited Return to Solitude is finally here. It has been twelve long years since author, radio host, indie rocker, and podcaster Grant Lawrence smashed up the literary world with his award-winning bestseller Adventures in Solitude. In the interim Grant Lawrence has had plenty of new adventures in Desolation Sound. This time, the stakes are higher, and the real-life cast of scallywags is even weirder. Tangled in seaweed and dripping with salt water, Return to Solitude is heartfelt, hilarious, and dangerously entertaining.

So You Girls Remember That is the oral history of Naanii Nora, a Haida Elder whose enduring spirit has shaped and nurtured a community that endures to this day. Guided by Charlie Bellis and compiled by Jenny Nelson, this collaborative effort tells Naanii Nora’s personal story; a life lived with generosity, kindness and wisdom in a time of changing political relationships between Canada and the Haida people. 

Wilson Duff: Coming Back, a Life is a thorough and compelling study of a fascinating man. Historian and academic Robin Fisher takes an intimate look at the life of Wilson Duff, and his lasting influence. Fisher traces Duff’s life from Great Depression era Vancouver to the Second World War, to finally to becoming a pioneering BC anthropologist. Duff’s life and legacy left Canadians with a greater knowledge of Indigenous cultures and the consequences of settler colonialism in British Columbia.

Kelly Randall Ricketts has many stories to tell, and few are for the faint of heart. In One Inch from Disaster, Ricketts unravels his life’s most bewildering, intense, and downright insane moments. Whether driving a bulldozer over a pile of dynamite, changing a tire just feet away from an angry grizzly, or picking a fight with a group of Hell’s Angels, Ricketts won’t let danger get in the way of a good story. Sit back, strap up, and read on as Ricketts defines what it means to live on the edge.

Never Say P*g: The Book of Sailors’ Superstitions is the nautical reference book you’ll need to ward off bad luck at sea. Sailor and author Bruce MacDonald has written a compendium of superstitions maritime and marine. Learn why killing an albatross is bad luck. Find out why bananas are the feared yellow fruit. And why will clapping on board a boat brings thunder? In this lively collection of maritime superstitions, MacDonald devotes extra attention to the waters and cultures of Canada. Never head out to sea without it.    

Cambium Blue is Maureen Brownlee’s homage to independent women, resource towns, and local newspapers. Set in the British Columbian interior during the outbreak of the bark beetle epidemic, a fiercely proud lumber town faces an uncertain future. When its sawmill shutters, and the provincial government encourages a transition from timber to tourism, a rich cast of characters find their lives intertwining and unfolding at the intersection of small-town politics and environmental catastrophe.

Edited by Lorna Crozier, The Quiet in Me is the final posthumous collection of poetry from Patrick Lane, one of Canada’s most lyric writers. Told with an eye that never ceases to observe, and a heart willing itself known, The Quiet in Me is a sharp meditation on existing in a world pulsing between life and death, death and life. Steeped in the wisdom of the natural world, and written with clear-eyed precision, it is not only a collection of poetry, but also an invitation to lose oneself in sight, sound and sense.   

Also coming in Spring 2022…

Whelks to Whales has been newly revised and updated by Rick Harbo. With additional photographs and up-to-date names, this full colour field guide to the marine life of coastal British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and northern California, is perfect for divers, boaters, and beachcombers. Arranged for quick identification with colour coded sections, full -coloured photographs, and comprehensive species detail, this guidebook covers more than 400 of the most common species.

Vancouver, Howe Sound & the Sunshine Coast has been updated to reflect the changing coast. With new microbreweries, marinas, parks and restaurants, there is always something new to explore. The Dreamspeaker Cruising Guide series by Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones, offer charts, tips and data that will enhance the safety and enjoyment of any voyage. Written in the personal style of a boater’s logbook, the guides accurately pinpoint both popular and little-known highlights in BC and Pacific Northwest waters.  

Nightwood Editions presents a diverse lineup of fiction, biography and poetry from powerful emerging and established writers.  

Former British Columbian cabinet minister Bob Williams tells his atypical life story in Using Power Well. From his childhood in the working-class east end of Vancouver, to his political career on Vancouver City Council and in the BC Legislature, Williams proves himself as a straight shooter and a man of action who refuses to mince words. Highlighting his major impact on the first NDP government in the 1970s, and his contributions to the world of business and co-operative economics, Using Power Well is a highly readable and colourful book for a bottom-up approach to politics and public policy.  

Written and illustrated in the tradition of the Kwantlen people, A Magical Sturgeon is Joseph Dandurand’s touching follow-up to his bestselling children’s book The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets. Written with grace and simplicity by a master storyteller, A Magical Sturgeon provides a moving exploration of sharing and kinship with all other living things.

Darren Groth explores loss and loyalty in his novel Boy in the Blue Hammock. As human civilization crumbles, Tao — a failed service dog turned pet — takes it upon himself to protect the last living member of his family. With his masters slain, Tao must guide the intellectually disabled fifteen-year-old Kasper to safety. With a powerful narrative and provocative prose, Groth poses one of the most important questions of our time: When evil silences the people, who will protect those without a voice?

Nightwood is publishing three works of poetry this spring.

In Nevertheless, Gillian Jerome offers rediscovery and reconnection in the centre of urban Vancouver. Her long-awaited second collection is a book of walking poems and odes. Jerome shows how ordinary places connect us with love, grief and friendship.

Hesitating Once to Feel Glory is a bold and emotive collection from Maleea Acker. Hanging on precipices of emotion, the poems shift from sadness to glory, and blossom from drought-stricken landscapes of longing. Acker’s third collection of poetry is all at once vibrant, erotic and hopeful.

Cut to Fortress is Tawahum Bige’s stunning debut. This poetry collection considers the possibility of decolonization through a personal lens and urges for resistance that tethers us together. It’s a study of passed-down traumas and the possibility of healing through vulnerability.