A special and unusual book reading on September 17 profiles recently published books by a mother and a daughter. Maggie Ziegler will read from The Road to Keringet, and her daughter, Caitlyn Vernon, will read from Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest (published in 2011). Caitlyn will also offer a slide show and presentation on the Great Bear Rainforest.
The evening actually encompasses three generations of writing women, as Ziegler’s memoir is an innovative and compelling reconstruction of her mothers’ life. When her mother, a writer, began to lose her ability with words, she asked Ziegler to write her story, giving her a legacy of letters, diaries and published and unpublished writings. The book moves back and forth in time between the author’s voice and that of her mother, revealing her mothers’ life and also the complex relationship between mother and daughter.
The result, according to Salt Spring novelist Pearl Luke, is a ‘riveting read and the best book I’ve read this year.’
Luke comments that perhaps it is not unusual for a mother to ask her daughter to write her biography, “but when that mother is herself both an intriguing woman and a professional writer accustomed to documenting rich, sometimes shocking details, and the daughter is as compassionate and insightful as Maggie Ziegler, the resulting story is outstanding. This intelligent book records not only a mother's fascinating story, but a daughter's act of great love and devotion.”
While Ziegler’s book is on a broad canvas that spans three continents, almost a hundred years, and the social concerns of these times, Vernon focuses on one very special place, the Great Bear Rainforest.
Caitlyn Vernon is a campaigner with Sierra Club BC, and it was her love and concern for the future of the coast that inspired Nowhere Else on Earth. Combining her background in biology and environmental studies with her experience as an activist, she has written a timely and inspiring reminder that we need to stand up for our wild places before they are gone.
This book, written for young readers but popular with people of all ages, is full of stunning photographs, personal stories, ecological facts, the voices of First Nations who live on the coast, and ways to take action. Environmentalist and writer Ian McAllister writes that ‘this book should be required reading for all who celebrate the Earth’s natural diversity and its wild places.”
Nowhere Else on Earth has been nominated for numerous awards including the BC Book Prize. It won the 2012 Green Earth Book Honor Award, and is currently short-listed for the Lane Anderson Science Writing Award.
Join Maggie Ziegler and Caitlyn Vernon for what promises to be a stimulating and rewarding evening at Artspring on Monday, September 17 at 7pm. This event is sponsored by Salt Spring Books.
