Cozy up to fall travel with a BC book

Indulge your wanderlust with local authors and literary festivals

Just when you’re ready to turn the page on summer and embrace fall’s cozy pleasures, British Columbia is standing by with a perfectly timed indulgence: back-to-back literary festivals in Vancouver and nearby Whistler. Come October, the ever-popular Whistler Writers Festival and Vancouver Writers Fest are the ideal occasion to reward your inner bookworm with some good reads, great views, and a glass of BC VQA wine. Both festivals draw top-tier talent—including many BC writers whose award-winning stories are so often rooted in the wild beauty, urban energy, and cultural diversity of Canada’s western-most province. Curl up with one of these acclaimed local authors to lose yourself in the best of BC—or to find the inspiration for your next trip:

The Curve of Time

Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet

M. Wylie Blanchet’s enduring memoir The Curve of Time is an armchair traveller’s dream, recounting boating adventures along BC’s rugged coast with her five children in the 1930s and ‘40s. Originally published in 1961 and still in print, it captures the unique pleasures and perils of life at sea—and the curious and resilient spirit necessary to the journey. You can experience Blanchet’s deep connection to BC’s maritime beauty and rich culture for yourself Curve of Time Charters, offering upscale nature expeditions through the Broughton Archipelago, Southern Gulf Islands, and Desolation Sound aboard a beautifully refurbished historical side trawler.

Pack along a copy of Margaret Cougar Annie’s Garden for another female-forward, non-fiction adventure featuring Ada Annie Rae-Arthur—a feisty gun-slinging settler who cultivated a magnificent, remote garden on Vancouver Island despite myriad hardships, and whose restored historic homestead near Tofino is today open to visitors.

City of Glass

City of Glass by Douglas Coupland

City of Glass: Douglas Coupland’s Vancouver is something of a period piece: an early aughts love letter by the renowned author and artist to his hometown-by-the-sea. Styled to resemble a Japanese zine, the book is an urbanist’s chocolate box, full of witty musings on the icons and idiosyncrasies of BC’s largest city—from fleece jackets and feng shui to glass towers and the Grouse Grind.

Coupland is himself a Vancouver icon these days, and his influence as a taste-maker is evident in Julia Dilworth’s West Coast North: Interiors Designed for Living, a gorgeous coffee table book highlighting the best of BC-based architecture and interior design. The City of Vancouver offers a free online, self-guided downtown architectural walk or Architectours will customize an tour to suit your interests.

Starlight

Starlight by Richard Wagamese

Although acclaimed Ojibway author Richard Wagamese was still working on Starlight when he died in 2017, the novel’s abrupt ending doesn’t diminish its emotional impact. Set against the rugged backcountry of BC’s interior—a region Wagamese called home for decades—the story follows Indigenous farmer and photographer Frank Starlight as his quiet life is forever altered by the arrival of a young mother and child fleeing an abusive home. It is a story about the healing power of love and connection—between people and the land they share. Cree author Michelle Good explores similar themes in her much-lauded Five Little Indians, the story of five residential school survivors struggling to overcome harrowing childhoods and rebuild their lives in urban Vancouver. Gritty, witty, and ultimately hopeful, the book is unflinching in its portrayal of a dark chapter in BC’s colonial history.

Consider these reads primers for a deeper dive into the living traditions of First Nations in BC: in Vancouver, don’t miss the Museum of Anthropology at UBC; in Whistler, the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre; on Vancouver Island, the U’Mista Cultural Centre; and in Haida Gwaii, the Haida Heritage Centre.

Bonus Book Tips

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

• Find more of our BC-inspired book recommendations here.
• Pick up a copy of BC Book World from any local book store (or while travelling aboard BC Ferries) for timely reviews of all the new releases by local authors.
• Visit Victoria’s venerable Munro’s Books—one of the world’s most beautiful book stores, featuring a huge display of BC books.
• Take a reading break at the architecturally celebrated Vancouver Public Library in downtown Vancouver.
• The Whistler Writers Festival brings together the very best Canadian and international authors for a thought-provoking weekend packed with events, workshops, speaker panels, music, and more.
• Check out the Vancouver Writers Fest for year-round book-related news and programming, including special events with feature authors and this year’s October festival line-up.