Since August 22, I’ve been sinking in to the landscape and people that inspired my writing life. Thank you to Braided River Press, U.S.-based publisher of my latest book, Big River, for making this trip possible. It’s been so good to come “home” – to these inspiring Canadian mountains. Their beauty, set against the troubled […]
Upper Columbia River Region
600-Strong: whoever would have thought?
On Tuesday, March 25, the Columbia River Treaty negotiating team and associated politicians held a webinar about the status of the 2024 Agreement in Principle (AIP), which might also be termed the Agreement in Limbo….Since the imagined faucet comment, made by a certain US politician (see my November post), and since the tariff conflicts between […]
Hockey and gravity
This morning, major U.S. news outlets led with a story about Mark Carney winning his bid for the leadership of the Canadian Liberal Party, replacing Justin Trudeau and his sunny ways. Storm clouds have been on the horizon between the two countries for a while now. The wind is picking up. In his acceptance speech, […]
Columbia River Treaty Agreement-in-Principle!
Indigenous people will have input on management of what the tribes have long referred to as “one river.” There is no legal muscle here. Just a different set of values in the mix. A foot in the door, opening out into a more compassionate home for fish and other voiceless residents of the basin?
Swimming with the Salmon
I recently followed the Salmon Spirit to the upper Columbia River region, my literary homeland. The first time I felt that spirit’s power was in 2019, when I attended a tribal ceremony marking the release of several dozen ocean Chinook into Lake Roosevelt Reservoir. With the 500+ foot Grand Coulee Dam blocking their ancient pathway, […]
Journey Home
After several months’ delay due to supply chain issues, the 20th anniversary edition of my first book, The Geography of Memory has finally arrived in warehouses! I’m grateful to Don Gorman of Rocky Mountain Books for proposing the new edition, and to the many Sinixt people who have contributed essays and enthusiasm. Public awareness of land and […]