Essentials, The: 150 Great BC Books & Authors
The Essentials
150 Great BC Books & Authors
by Alan Twigg
$24.95
- Autumn 2010
- print ISBN: 978-1-55380-108-5
- ebook ISBN: 978-1-55380-119-1
- 6″ x 9″ Trade Paperback, 320 pages
- Literary Criticism
Lively, illustrated and guaranteed to be controversial, The Essentials: 150 Great BC Books & Authors serves as an unprecedented guide to books from and about British Columbia — culled from Alan Twigg’s unrivalled knowledge of more than 200 years of BC literary history. It also identifies 100 essential authors, such as Alice Munro, Earle Birney and Eric Nicol, who did not have one particular book that is outstanding but have enjoyed outstanding careers.
In addition to the “essentials,” Twigg also describes numerous other authors and books that have played an important role in BC’s history. It is an encyclopedia of BC books, illustrated with numerous photos, many of them full-page. With the cooperation of UBC Special Collections and Simon Fraser University Library, this volume links the reader to thousands of important BC books and authors that can be researched on the author’s public reference site, abcbookworld.com. The Essentials is a must-have for anyone who cares about British Columbia as an original society.
Click here to read an excerpt from The Essentials.
Reviews & Awards:
- Honourable Mention: Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing, 2010
- The Essentials was listed as recommended reading by CBC’s Mark Forsythe (BC Almanac)
“3.5 stars (out of 4). …Presents known and unknown authors of fiction and nonfiction, biography and poetry in readable format with intriguing insights into the lives of B.C. writers…. Highly Recommended.”
—CM Magazine“Twigg’s work is itself essential. . . . He successfully draws attention to little-known individuals. . . . It is in locating these lesser-known individuals as essential that Twigg’s volume finds excellence.”
—Canadian Literature“The Essentials is a must-have for anyone who cares about B.C.”
—Jean Barman, Historian“When it comes to writing and publishing on the West Coast, Alan Twigg has been heroically ubiquitous.”
—Douglas Gibson, Editor
