With over 100 titles and four million books in print, Sigmund Brouwer is a bestselling author of books for children, young adults and adults. He […]
Sigmund Brouwer says put your character in a problem situation Read More »
David Geary is no stranger to the Yukon. He was here to work with Gwaandak Theatre a year ago last February. Now he’s looking forward
David Geary says to “be hungry for other people’s stories” Read More »
They own the land. They own the water. They own the air. They own the trees. They own the plants. They own the berries. They
Didee & Didoo: Animals, Birds and Fish Read More »
Jan Redford describes herself as a compulsive journal writer who always knew that she would like to be an author. “I remember filling pages with
Fear should never be a deterrent Read More »
In 1990, a number of organizations joined together to merge the Young Authors’ Conference (YAC) and the National Book Festival into the more far-reaching Yukon
What is the Yukon Writers’ Festival? Read More »
“What fascinates me about writing haiku is that I have found it to be the perfect vehicle for the kind of art that I want
Ongoing fascination for haiku Read More »
This slender volume contains brief biographies and photographs of the men from the Yukon who fought and died for Canada between 1914 and 1918. Seven
A Commemoration of the Yukon’s WWI Fallen Soldiers Read More »
Peter Jickling has a casualness about him. He sits, relaxed, sipping a beer as he relates the inspiration for his new book of poetry, Downtown Flirt.
Come on baby, let’s go downtown Read More »
Arctic Fox – ch’ich’yāa Bear – shoh Caribou – vadzaih Ducks – dats’an Eagle – ch’izhìn Fish – tuk Grouse – daih Hawk – chinìitrān
Let’s learn Gwich’in: Wildlife Alphabet Read More »
Somewhere in the Boreal Forest, there is a small community called Rockton. It’s sometimes called the City of the Lost because it’s inhabited by people who, for
A Trip to the City of the Lost – Returning to Rockton Read More »
There’s nothing of him to touch And sometimes he talks too much. Sometimes I can hear my own voice An’ answering back is his own
Didee & Didoo: My Echo Read More »
Previews are supposed to pique your interest and entice you to buy the book, not tell you how it ends, but there is no harm in quoting the final sentence if it is a good one:“In the distance, snow-covered peaks rose through the whiteness. Far off, somewhere below in the fog, a wolf howled.
ZHOH – The Spirit of the Wolf Read More »
I didn’t need my snowshoes. I didn’t need my skis. I didn’t need my skates. I didn’t need my snowboard. I didn’t need my kicksled.
Didee & Didoo: Merry January in Nanaimo Read More »
I had an amazing experience under the Northern Lights as I recall
it was like midnight angels… blanketing full over me
My Aurora Borealis Read More »
Merry Christmas to Ellen and Robert Bruce. Merry Christmas to Hannah and Joe Netro. Merry Christmas to Jessie and Charlie Thomas. Merry Christmas to Fanny
Didee & Didoo: Christmas in Heaven Read More »
When you see Allan Benjamin, If you could please mention to him, I’d like to hear him play again. Tell him to come our way
Didee & Didoo: Message to Allan Benjamin Read More »
With over 225 novels to her credit, Nora Roberts is a bestseller by any definition. Wikipedia says the books are all romance novels, so I’m
Murder and romance in small-town Alaska Read More »
What’s it like to share the heart and soul of something you’ve written? Peter Jickling, the new host of Brave New Words, said, “It’s right
Not new, but still brave Read More »
Yukon-based writer Joanna Lilley has published her first novel, Worry Stones, after 17 years of working on it. “I wasn´t working on it every day,
An author’s dream … Read More »
When he arrived in Yellowknife, back in 2004, with his wife, Serena, and baby daughter, Janessa, it didn’t occur to John Henderson that he might
John Henderson: Celebrating the Great White North Read More »
“Yukon soldiers are buried in more than 50 cemeteries on four continents.” –Michael Gates Lest we forget … This is why Michael Gates (Yukon historian
For those who answered the call … Read More »
Sebastian Fricke and Rose Seguin share their journey, their “inner compasses” with us as they travel and write on their way through Alaska and the
The Northern Seduction Read More »
“I’m a fifty-pager,” says Whitehorse writer Pat Ellis, commenting on her preference for producing short history booklets. Her latest, Financial Sourdough Starter Stories—“The Trump Family,
Where the Trump family fortune got started Read More »
Of the five writers who have attracted folks to come and visit buildings and gravesites in the Klondike, that are attached to their names, Jack London was the first.
An Old-fashioned public reading at Jack London Square Read More »
The Wolves of Winter is Tyrell Johnson’s first published novel. It’s set in the Yukon, but he hadn’t actually been here until he came to Whitehorse for last month’s Yukon Writers’ Festival.
A dystopian life near the Blackstone River Read More »
Visual artist Hilary Lorenz will take hand-crafted cards along her art adventure on the Chilkoot Trail in July.
Magic on the Trail Read More »
Each summer the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA), honours the memory of four writers who have meant a great deal to Dawson City and the Klondike: Jack London, Robert W. Service, Pierre Berton and Dick North.
Authors on Eighth celebrates Klondike literature Read More »
The Atlin writers’ festival not only offers music but also offers literature, readings and workshops.
Atlin Lit Up! lights up the Yukon writing scene Read More »
Marcelle Dubé has written the fifth novel of her Mendenhall Mystery Series titled The Forsaken Men. Her Mendenhall isn’t a subdivision of Whitehorse, but rather a fictive place in Manitoba.
Investigating lost bull semen Read More »
The Northern Review, which is published by the School of Liberal Arts at the Yukon College, describes itself as “a multidisciplinary journal exploring human experience in the Circumpolar North.
The Northern Review looks at literature Read More »
“Christopher Skaife is both a raven master and a master storyteller. Compulsively readable, I devoured the book in a single sitting!”—Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The
The Ravenmaster: My life with the ravens at the Tower of London Read More »
The sad truth was, you could not live in Syria and have a clean heart. How could you, when you live in a place where you’re randomly shot at and car bombs explode outside your home?
A raw and real experience of the war in Syria Read More »
Zsuzsi Gartner built her early career as a writer in journalism, working as a newspaper reporter, then a TV current affairs producer and then a magazine writer and editor, but has been interested in creative writing from an early age.
Zsuzsi Gartner: Aspiring to the darkly tragi-comic Read More »
CBC/Radio-Canada got involved in the Canada 150 sesquicentennial celebrations in a big way, starting about a year earlier with an open call for submissions to be put in a 2017 yearbook.
Putting Canada 150 between two covers Read More »
Owen Laukkanen is unabashedly a writer of commercial fiction, also known as “genre” fiction, having produced a novel every year since The Professionals came out (and was nominated for four major genre awards) in 2012.
Owen Laukkanen: “Keep writing and edit your own work ruthlessly” Read More »
Lots of writers can point to a specific event or person that sent them in the direction of a career in writing; Tyrell Johnson isn’t one of those people.
Tyrell Johnson: ‘Write the story you would want to read’ Read More »
At the caribou calving grounds There’s only wildlife sounds. The water is clear an’ clean And the land is so pristine. It’s a place for
Didee & Didoo: Sacred Caribou Calving Grounds Read More »
Newfoundland and Labrador writer Michael Winter will be a mentor at the 2018 Yukon Young Authors’ Conference at F.H. Collins Secondary School May 3, 4
Michael Winter: Keeping track of things in the world Read More »
The local writer selected to be a mentor at this year’s Young Authors Conference is Jamella Hagen, who teaches creative writing at Yukon College.
Jamella Hagen: Part of Writing is Being Ready to Write Read More »
PHOTO: Dan Davidson The Yukon Writers’ Festival takes place May 2 through 5, with events throughout the Yukon In 1990, a number of organizations
Gearing up to explore ideas and the written word Read More »
A Sea Shell … by Victoria aged 7 [almost 8]. PHOTOS: Nadine Peters
Poetry Corner: Victoria Peters Read More »
When we look back on Canada’s sesquicentennial year (and yes, I did look it up to make sure I spelled it correctly), what will we think of it?
Looking back at Canada’s Centennial Year Read More »
Author Kate Harris shucked her space dreams and, with her friend, Mel Yule, picked up the courage to embark on a different trip: to cycle the Silk Road from end to end.
Bridging the Divide Read More »
With I Am Canada – A Celebration (North Winds Press) Heather Patterson has come up with a novel way of assembling an overview of special things about our country.
13 Ways to look at Canada Read More »
In keeping with this column’s focus on Yukon related material, I’m returning this week to a successful thriller that is set in a version of
Strange things won from the midnight sun Read More »
In days past, we had people like Sir Winston Churchill, a world-class orator and master of the insult We all know nostalgia ain’t what it
Whatever happened to the artful riposte? Read More »
“To most people, the pack ice looked like a cold, endless wasteland that spread across one’s entire field of vision. But, if one watched it
A new narrative on gold rush history Read More »
Yukon author Eva Holland has taken advantage of Amazon’s Kindle Singles format to produce what might have been a 45-page volume about the early history of Arctic exploration.
A tale of Arctic exploration Read More »
On Sunday, December 10, you are invited to come out to the roastery at Bean North Café and listen to readings by several poets and writers.
An afternoon of coffee and fresh ideas Read More »
Winter Child, the first novel by Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau to be translated to English, is a lyrical journey through a mother’s grief of losing and outliving her child.
Through dark to the light Read More »
With over 280,000 visitors and 1,000 authors, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world and an important event for international trade deals, with over 7 000 exhibitors from 100 nations, according to the fair website.
Yukon writers gear-up for Frankfurt Book Fair Read More »
Summer, 1972 Pierre Berton recreated a trip he had taken back in the 1930s rafting from Bennett Lake to Dawson City.
Drifting Home covers 3 generations of Bertons Read More »
Volume 44 of The Northern Review contains the complete list of the papers from The North and the First World War Conference that was held in Whitehorse, and in Dawson City, May 9-12 2016.
The Northern Review remembers World War I Read More »
The new musical drama Stonecliff tells the story of Michael J. Heney, the son of poor Irish immigrants in the Ottawa Valley who went on to build one of the world’s most spectacular railways – the White Pass and Yukon Route – to serve the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.
Stonecliff brings together a remarkable team of artists (Part 2 of 2) Read More »
Just for the heck of it, let’s take a look at three English words that, on the surface of things, appear to have a lot in common.
Three little words on the same little page Read More »
There’s no need to be a closet comic nerd anymore. The genre has exploded into accepted popularity over the last 10 years and it’s definitely
Canada’s first superheroine saved from obscurity Read More »
The editor at What’s Up Yukon doesn’t often receive handwritten letters, but there were two on file when I arrived. We’ve sent Mrs. Schorn a
What’s your digital footprint? Read More »
Continuing this series of reviews of books that deal with the Canadian identity and, to an extent, with the idea of Canada at 150, we
People who crafted the promise of Canada Read More »
“Ship’s logs, myths, stories of quiet exaltation and wrenching lamentations can all become poetry when the experience resonates deeply with the rhythm of the human
Once again I was about to die. Like every other literary artist before me I was about to die forgotten in a ditch at the
A Satirical Race Through a Parallel Universe Read More »
Whitehorse author Clea Roberts newest book, Auguries, is published by Brick Books. The title “Auguries” refers to an ancient practice of The Romans: reading the
Fresh poetic summer reads Read More »
During a year when there have been a lot of serious books written about our national identity, it stands to reason that a nation that
Poking Fun at Some National Icons on Our Birthday Read More »
Every summer, Rose and her family pack up and head to their cottage in Awago Beach. There, the long days melt into lake swims and
Slap on a Hat, Slip into this Book Read More »
The Yukon Imagination Library — non-profit organization that gives free books to Yukon children from birth to age four — is turning 10 this year.
There’s Always a Stack of Books Hidden Under Their Quilts Read More »
When Yukon playwright Patti Flather launched the book of her highly acclaimed play, Paradise, on a warm June evening at Baked Café in Whitehorse, Mac’s
From stage to page Read More »
Simply stated, the best narrative I’ve read about country lifestyle in the contemporary north and the only one featuring Atlin and the Yukon.
Memoirs of an Atlin School Marm Read More »
It was the summer he turned twelve, after his failed attempts to save the fox kits, that he began collecting bones, scouring the grass and
Ordinary Bones of Extraordinary People Read More »
Dan Carruthers’ more recent thriller, Anya Unbound (2017), introduces us to Sean Carson, a recovering widower, who stumbles across a 17-year-old Polish girl on the
Yukon’s Fictional Geography Read More »
The Yukon Imagination Library — a local non-profit organization that gives free books to Yukon children once per month from the time they are born
Imagine the Yukon – Part 1 Read More »
… A wind was blowing from the mountains, and the surface of the snow was swirling along like snakes, the way it often did on
Wilderness Living with a Canine View Read More »
MacLeod’s Books in Vancouver is a book lover’s dream. Books are piled up from floor to ceiling. Fortunately, the friendly staff helps you to navigate
An Inspiring Book, Found in a Unique Bookstore Read More »
I was in Grade 10 in 1967. For some reason my school provided high school students with tree saplings to take home and plant. Why
Remembering Canada’s Centennial Year Read More »
The Story of Canada in 150 Objects Canadian Geographic & The Walrus Magazine format 130 pages plus pullouts $15 On an older note, there are
Books to Celebrate 150 years of Canada Read More »
His Naturalist’s Guide to Spirituality, The Road is How, is a lyrical account of Trevor Herriot’s three-day, 40-mile journey
A Naturalist’s Guide to Spirituality Read More »
ookbook-cum-community memoir: A Taste of Haida Gwaii: “They love cooking. The only trouble is cooking doesn’t love them back…”
A Feast of Living Off Canada’s Northern West Coast Read More »
An attack leaves two girls hospitalized. Two families looking for answers. In the Break Metis writer, Katherena Vermette tells the stories.
A book Canadians “must read” Read More »
The first volume of Lewisohn’s trilogy The Beatles: All These Years. The main drawback is that at only about 800 pages, it’s over too soon.
“As Jack knelt in the bloody snow, he wondered if that was how a man held up his end of the bargain, by learning and
The Things that Weather You, Shape You Read More »
“Exploring the Frontiers of Language” will be the theme of this year’s edition of the North Words Writers Symposium, which will be held in Skagway
“Think of magic as a tree. The root of supernatural ability is simply the realization that all time exists simultaneously. Humans experience time as a
Playing in the Dark Read More »
Bestselling Canadian author Lawrence Hill pursues a lifelong interest in African diaspora narratives. As a part of the research for a book he’s writing about
When the Land Has a Character Read More »
Jamie Bastedo is not new to the Yukon. He first came to the territory 35 years ago as a biology graduate student. “Think Never Cry
Sheri-D Wilson, who calls herself The Mama of Dada, is an award-winning spoken word poet, educator, speaker and activist, who has performed in literary, film
Yukon based writer Joanna Lilley has just published her second collection of poetry If there Were Roads by Turnstone Press; she says that there are
All Her Roads Lead to Poetry Read More »
“To come here is to travel into a past that still intrudes the present.” –an excerpt from A Walk With the Rainy Sisters: In Praise
A Contemplative Celebration of Place Read More »
Breasts, boobs, tits, tatas. Mind the title, because, yes, this really is a story about tits, but it’s also, oh! so much more than that.
Of Breasts and Beyond Read More »
I’m very jealous of what Whitehorse based Lily Gontard and Mark Kelly have managed to pull off with their delightful book, Beyond Mile Zero: The
Chronicling the Vanishing Alaska Highway Lodge Community Read More »
James Bernard MacKinnon, commonly bylined as J.B. MacKinnon, will be coming to the Yukon from Vancouver to be the Yukon Public Libraries’ choice as a
Writing as a Full Time Profession Read More »
This is the second of a five part series by Dan Davidson about the professional authors participating in the Yukon Writers’ Festival and the Young Authors
Using Stories to Make People Think Read More »
Do you or someone you know love books almost as much as their pet? These three books draw on the animals in our outer lives
Growing up is hard. And the microcosm of high school — with its changing expectations and responsibilities and the push-pull of social dynamics, while, at
Superhero Highschool Read More »
Born in England, but transplanted to Newfoundland when she was very young, Kathleen Winter credits libraries with kick starting her interest in writing. “We moved
A Mentor for Yukon Young Writers Read More »
It’s (hopefully) coming to the last wintery blows before the ice breaks; the spring will soon rush in and soon after we can cast our
Books to Spring Forward Read More »
Stories are invaluable teachers, says B.C. author Caroline Woodward, they have the ability to “give us whole worlds.” Old stories, too, are relevant artefacts that
History Offers Timeless Perspectives Read More »
“We imagined ourselves free of the hassles and troubles we’d accumulated in Toronto. We imagined a life without rushing, without the subway, without neighbours at
The Grass is Greener Wherever Convenience Resides Read More »
“… but also they were a family, because this story is all about that. About humans and human-ness. Fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters. Love
A Fable of Feminist Lore Read More »
Each October, the city of Frankfurt in Germany plays host to the second largest literary trade fair in the world, with 7,153 exhibitors representing 106
Bringing Yukon literature to the world stage Read More »
“This is how you want to talk about your beers — with pride and a bit of humour too — and to do that, you
A Pioneering Memoir to Keep the Brew True Read More »
“Mannering was in the august high noon of his life. He was prosperous, and well dressed, and he owned the largest and most handsome building
A Provocative Gold Rush Mystery From the Other Side of the World Read More »
Vurt (Jeff Noon, 1993) A mad romp through a Trainspotting-like drug culture, Vurt features virtual-reality ‘feathers’ that take you to bizarre and forbidden worlds, shadow-creatures
Double Think Twice Read More »
