An Okanagan reading series will feature two celebrated local writers who will share their thoughts on how writing can contribute to reconciliation.
Guests will have the chance to be immersed in the worlds of Brian Thomas Isaac and Harold Rhenisch at a Valley Voices reading Feb. 7 at Bean Scene Cafe.
Rhenisch, a Vernon poet, grew up on a Similkameen valley orchard, flying kites and pruning fruit trees under the winter stars to make space for light.
West Kelowna writer Isaac grew up flying kites and fishing in storms on the Okanagan Indian Reserve near Falkland, in a shack without electric lights or running water.
Rhenisch went to university to study poetry and has since published 34 books. The book that was 55 years in the making, Tree Whisperer, is about what trees and orchards can teach us about how to speak with the land, even in a post-colonial society.
Isaac quit school in Grade 8 and eventually went to work in the oil field. He was 71 when his debut novel, All the Quiet Places, was published to acclaim in 2021.
The reading will be Isaac害羞草研究所檚 first in Vernon, which was the city in the 害羞草研究所�50s and 害羞草研究所�60s where Eddie Toma comes of age in All the Quiet Places. Isaac says his protagonist害羞草研究所檚 story is not biographical but is 害羞草研究所渆motionally true.害羞草研究所�
害羞草研究所淚n school I had always loved to write poetry and to read, so when I retired, I was happy to have more time to read. When I began to write, my life and a lot of tears poured out of me onto the paper,害羞草研究所� says Isaac, whose wife submitted one of his first stories to a Penticton writer害羞草研究所檚 festival. The story won, and so he continued.
害羞草研究所淚t took me years to hone my writing skills and to realize writing fiction was easier than biography. But all the prior years of work provided fodder for many stories. When All the Quiet Places was completed and ready to be published, the emotions I felt were enormous and freeing. I had allowed myself to be vulnerable.害羞草研究所�
Isaac害羞草研究所檚 debut won the 2022 Indigenous Voices Award, was a finalist for the Governor General害羞草研究所檚 Award and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and was longlisted for the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as CBC害羞草研究所檚 Canada Reads.
This past fall, after a bidding war, Isaac signed a two-book, six-figure deal with Penguin Random House. His second book, Bones of a Giant, will be released in 2025.
Considering endings and paying attention is also at the root of Rhenisch害羞草研究所檚 work 害羞草研究所� both in his poetry and pruning. A theme from Tree Whisperer is listening to the body害羞草研究所檚 conversations with the earth to shear, shift weight within, give rhythm and let a line bask in light.
害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 a dance,害羞草研究所� says Rhenisch. 害羞草研究所淚f people leave Tree Whisperer feeling like poetry is a real thing and the places in their lives have been more communicative than what they害羞草研究所檝e been taught in school, that would be a great takeaway.害羞草研究所� He will expand the theme with poems on the craft of landscape from his book: Landings: Poems from Iceland.
One story that features in Rhenisch害羞草研究所檚 forthcoming book, The Salmon Shanties 害羞草研究所� a sequence of Cascadian poems and fancy dances 害羞草研究所� is that of Paul Terbasket, a smelqmix farmer jailed for watering his Blind Creek orchard in 1923, the last year of Indigenous fruit growing in B.C. One of Terbasket害羞草研究所檚 apricot trees has survived. Recently, Rhenisch and Terbasket害羞草研究所檚 grandson grafted wood from the 100-year-old mother tree. Her daughters are now growing in Cawston, Penticton, Kamloops, Castlegar and Vernon.
害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 a reconciliation project that doesn害羞草研究所檛 take place in words,害羞草研究所� says Rhenisch. 害羞草研究所淲e don害羞草研究所檛 have to be locked in settler culture害羞草研究所檚 rules. The land is leading us.害羞草研究所�
At the Valley Voices reading at Bean Scene Cafe on Feb. 7, the doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with the reading starting at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation and books will be available for sale.
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