Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

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April 8, 2022

April is National Poetry Month in Canada. Let's celebrate by recalling the Vancouver Poetry Society, one of the earliest arts organizations in the city.

The founding meeting of the VPS took place on the third floor of the Rogers Building downtown on Granville Street on October 21, 1916. It was organized by Dr. Ernest Fewster, physician, theosophist, tireless networker and...

March 14, 2022

Entrepreneur Ben Fox figures he has found a way of recreating online the experience of browsing through a bookstore. He calls it Shepherd.com, where the idea is to put readers in touch with books and authors they might not discover otherwise.

Check out my own page on books...

March 7, 2022

Strolling along Commercial Drive in the weekend sunshine I was pleased to encounter this front window at Pulpfiction. That's me on the top right.

The Drive has become something of a literary precinct with three important independent booksellers in residence: The People's Co-op Bookstore at #1391, Pulpfiction at  #1744 and Spartacus Books at #1983. Plan accordingly.

February 21, 2022

The Ormsby Review has announced that it is changing its name. The five-year-old book review site, originally named as an homage to noted BC historian Margaret Ormsby, is re-branding as The British Columbia Review.

Site editor Richard Mackie explains that the new name more...

February 14, 2022

Canada's History has recently launched an online series of animated videos for youngsters, called "History Bits".

The videos cover a variety of subjects in Canadian history, from farming in the Depression to spying in World War Two to women's suffrage. And many other things as well. Lots of fun stuff so...

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