Since I first discovered the story of the heavily dammed international Columbia River back in 1998, I knew it was a really BIG story.
When David Moscowitz and the Seattle-based publisher Braided River Press approached me about collaborating on a book, it was easy to say yes. Collaborations are always rich experiences, and sometimes fraught. Mine with David was just about perfect. Two minds. Two talents. Two visions.
Today, I learned that Big River is a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards.
This follows an earlier award as silver medalist for the U.S.-based Independent Publishers Book Award, and a very fine review from Kirkus, a publication relied on by booksellers and libraries. I hope these awards will raise awareness about one of the most powerful, beautiful and imperiled river basins in North America.
While we all collectively wring our hands about the Amazon or rivers in Asia, North America has one too. The Columbia’s troubled transboundary status increases the challenges and opportunities to heal.
Readers of my blog and books know that the Columbia has been a workhorse for the Pacific Northwest for nearly a century. The word “hydropower” sums it up. The steady supply of electricity from mid-Columbia dams in the US has made it a recent darling of data centers. Canadian storage creates that reliability. Think cash registers. Ching-ching; ching-ching. Money made. A river – and a neighboring country – rarely thanked.
As the book Big River continues to thrive in the world of beautiful books, its success may also remind readers of the need to give back to the land and water. The Indigenous concept of reciprocity is in its infancy in mainstream culture. Quoting a line from my illustrated prose-poem, The Heart of a River, “…I am still hopeful…..”
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