BC's Publishing Personality Evolves in Splendid Isolation

British Columbia can seem exotic to cultural centres like New York, Toronto or even Sidney, Australia. Maybe that’s why our book and magazine publishing species continue to evolve in strange ways -- gaining more and more global attention in the process.

Author Michael V. Smith says the local literary scene thrives partly because of its distance from cultural powerhouses.

“Being a little isolated from the rest of the world has helped [local artists] create their own microcosms. We are like the literary Madagascar, or the creative Madagascar,” he says.

As a result of living on this artistic island, local culture has produced interesting hybrid musical, dance and literary performances, says Smith.

Smith offered his take on literary life in this corner of the world as BC Book Week and Magazine Week got underway on April 21. The celebration, which runs through this Saturday, includes events ranging from cabarets to panel discussions, all in an effort to bring together local writers and their readers.

It takes place at a time when BC’s literary landscape is broadening. Traditional notions of genre no longer seem to apply. Local authors no longer pay much attention to geographical boundaries.

Suzuki big in Australia

Nancy Flight, President of the Association of Book Publishers of BC, says she sees a trend of our publications looking beyond the borders of our province and our country.

“Even though [British Columbian literature] is very strongly rooted in place and in this region, it has broadened and looks beyond the region. It’s more global,” says Flight.

Flight says locally published literature sells well internationally, particularly when it glorifies this province’s natural beauty.

“Books that come out of BC that celebrate [our environment] have a great deal of appeal for places like Germany and other places in Europe where they are hungry for that experience of nature,” says Flight.

BC’s books are also widely read in countries that have their own fair share of natural wonder.

“We have a lot in common with Australia and our books often do well there. Interestingly, David Suzuki is very big in Australia. There seems to be the same environmental ethos,” says Flight.

Previously popular guidebooks, how-to books and other utilitarian books have now been overshadowed by literary nonfiction, she says.

“There’s always been a strong literary tradition here, but I think literary nonfiction has grown and developed over the past number of years.”

“People seem to have a lot of stories and to be good story-tellers here.”

‘More room’ here

One of those people is Michael V. Smith, an MFA grad from UBC's Creative Writing program whose novel, Cumberland, was nominated for the Amazon.ca Books in Canada First Novel Award. Smith has also performed in drag as Miss Cookie LaWhore.

“From my experience,” says Smith, “the queer arts community and the underground, alternative arts community in Vancouver is really alive and vibrant. People are doing fantastic work that is getting recognized in the other alternative communities in North America and I think that’s also because of a certain isolation from the rest of the world. There’s a certain freedom in being ignored."

The local literary environment is such that even the formal literary circles vary greatly, says Smith, adding the Kootenay School of Writing is very different from Capilano College’s writing program, which is very different from UBC’s creative writing program.

Smith, who will be leading a literary tour on Thursday as part of the BC Book and Magazine Week events, says that this province’s relatively young and small art scene fosters unique work.

“There isn’t as much going on as there is in Toronto or San Francisco or New York or L.A. and because there isn’t as much going on it means there’s more room for people to do what they want to do.”

Smith says it gives artists like himself, Amber Dawn, Liz Bachinsky, and Morgan Brayton the freedom to do work that bridges a variety of genres, often exploring issues around sexuality, identity and gender.

‘Feed the audience’

Though the community is very supportive, Smith says it is very difficult for independent artists to pay the bills.

“What Vancouver does exceptionally well is foster a lot of independent artists who are doing interesting work, and a lot of the reason why it’s interesting is because we’re not getting financial support so we get to do whatever the hell we please,” says Smith.

Some writers, when they read in Vancouver, have been accompanied by gogo dancers and hoola hoopers.

“It sounds crazy, but that’s the point,” says Smith. “It’s a need for writers to feed an audience entertainment as well as the higher ideals of literature.”

“A lot of writers I know are also making videos, doing performance, putting on cabarets, and I think that what’s really unique is that there’s a lot of community based work that is hybrid work, that a lot of different arts groups are looking to work with people in other genres, so there’s a lot of cross-pollination going on.”

Kelsey Dundon is on staff at The Tyee.