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

 

BC’s Isaac a Giller Prize judge

January 24th, 2023

Brian Thomas Isaac, the BC author of All the Quiet Places (Touchwood, 2021) is one of this year’s judges for the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize for Excellence in Canadian Literature. Isaac’s debut bestselling novel won a 2022 Indigenous Voices Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and CBC’s Canada Reads.

Born in 1950 on the Okanagan Indian Reserve near Vernon, after completing grade eight, Isaac found work in the oil fields and in construction, and eventually retired as a bricklayer. At the age of fifty, without any formal training, he began to write and seventeen years later he completed All the Quiet Places.

Isaac and his wife live in West Kelowna where he enjoys time with his three grandchildren and is completing his second novel.

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Photo by Fiona Blaquier, Image Studios.

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