Yukon Books
Issue: 2017-11-08, PHOTO: courtesy of the Gates Collection
The Northern Review remembers World War I
This is a slightly different edition of The Bookshelf. As with the earlier columns, this one features a book that reflects on Canadian and Yukon history. The difference is that this column is going to direct you to a website... more
Issue: 2017-08-02
Yukon's Fictional Geography
Writers have been fictionalizing the Yukon since the days of London and Service. This may just happen for dramatic licence, to fit some plot point, or to be certain that they don’t actually come too close to describing a real person or place. more
Issue: 2017-07-12, PHOTO: courtesy of Yvonne Mueller
An Inspiring Book, Found in a Unique Bookstore
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 through the wide selection of books – some of them quite old and rare. When my partner and I... more
Issue: 2017-05-10, PHOTO: courtesy of Joanna Lilley
All Her Roads Lead to Poetry
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 no roads to the past. “You can never go back.” Inspired by a childhood memory, she wrote “The... more
Issue: 2016-09-29, PHOTO: courtesy of Helen O'Connor
Doors are Open for Culture Days
The Yukon is recognized for its rich cultural diversity, and you are invited to experience it during the seventh national Culture Days and Doors Open celebration, from Friday, September 30 through to Sunday, October 2. “The best place to start... more
Issue: 2016-08-18, PHOTO: courtesy of Kyley and Elaine Henderson
A Colouring Book for Adults
When Kyley Henderson was in elementary school her mother, Elaine, encouraged her to draw, and one year a drawing of hers was used in the Robert Service School yearbook. Elaine, who is herself a landscape painter and sculptor, says that she always... more
Issue: 2015-12-17
Books for Armchair Mushers
Mushing season has begun. While waiting for the Yukon Quest or the Iditarod, here are some suggestions for armchair mushers. more
Issue: 2015-12-10 PHOTO: Rick Massie
The Good Ol’ Days of Squatting
Pat Ellis first arrived in Whitehorse in the early 1950s. She was a 19 year-old art student from Winnipeg and Whitehorse was a much different city then. Ramshackle cabins and tiny derelict homes made up the downtown waterfront replacing today’s... more
Issue: 2015-09-03 PHOTO: Alejandro Frid
A scientistʼs letters to the future trace a journey to find optimism
What kind of world will be handed down to my daughter’s generation? That question led conservation ecologist Alejandro Frid to write A World for My Daughter: an Ecologist’s Search for Optimism, which is scheduled for publication by... more
Issue: 2015-08-20 PHOTO COMPOSITION: Rick Massie
Squawking with a Swan
One day in 2011, Todd Pilgrim was returning from a hike when he saw something grey and silverish by the road. As he went closer, he discovered that it was a young tundra swan. It had a drooping wing and couldn’t fly away. more
Issue: 2015-06-11
The Ultimate Guide to Yukon Sport
John Firth’s massive Yukon Sport: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, published in November 2014 by Sport Yukon, is a heavy book. It must weigh 14 pounds. If you’re brain isn’t strong enough to read all of it, mine wasn’t, you can throw out your old... more
Issue: 2015-04-16 PHOTO: Marten Berkman
Intimidating but Great
“Writing poetry makes me happy,” Joanna Lilley says. “I am somewhere else when I write poetry. I am an intuitive writer.” The Whitehorse based poet will be part of The Edmonton Poetry Festival from April 19 to 26. “Poetry Moves” is the theme. more
New Novel Portrays Dire Future
This is the stage Norm Hamilton has set for his first novel, From Thine Own Well. The book is a pertinent piece of eco-fiction, dealing with the aftermath of unrestricted mining and hydraulic fracturing. As the story goes, in 2012, the federal gover more
A Conversation with Astrid Zoer: Local Psychic, Barber and Author
You might know Astrid Zoer from Hendrik's Barber Shop in Whitehorse, or as the psychic medium at Lifepath Readings, but she recently added "author" to her resume. Zoer self-published her first novel in July, The Ladybug Ring. This novel is set in her more
A Close Look at the Klondike's Frozen Gold
It was placer mining that scratched the surface of this gold bearing land, and it was the clues provided by generations of placer miners that pointed the way to the discoveries that are being more
Artrepreneur: From Illustrations to Intrigue
Eleanor Rosenberg's work is "primarily driven by storytelling". She aspired to "honour the original intention" of the book as well as adding her own interpretation, layering levels of information into each image. "The longer you look ..." more