Vancouver’s Lifeguard Legend

“Ruby Smith Diaz (l.) examines the life of Joe Fortes, a Black lifeguard in Vancouver, during a time of rampant racism, exploring his legacy and identity through research, personal reflections and poetry.FULL STORY

 

Flood’s new collection

August 14th, 2017

Cynthia Flood’s new collection, What Can You Do: Stories (Biblioasis $19.95) contains 12 short stories featuring couples negotiating new terms for connection, travelers revealing old habits in new landscapes, lonely political lefties wondering why they just can’t win, and child-truths colliding with what the grown-ups – for selfish reasons – want to be the facts. These are uneasy but unflinching examinations of the ways adults deceive themselves and why: greed, desire for control, jealousy, fear, and ambition. Flood’s characters portray failures of the human heart with, as the book’s blurb describes, “a marvellous unsentimental brutality” that leaves “many a character unredeemed”. Flood was born and raised in Toronto. She came to British Columbia in 1969 (“one of my best life decisions”). She has been involved in the women’s movement, left-wing organizations, the anti-war movement, environmental projects and writers’ groups. For many years she taught literature and composition at Langara College, where she was also involved with union activity and women’s studies. 978-1-77196-176-9

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