Find out more about my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket
My newly completed memoir, No Letter in Your Pocket: Twenty Years Healing a Family Secret, provides adventurous tales of my seven months in India in 1990-1991. This revealing book interweaves denial about a primal family relationship with adventure, romance and spiritual exploration. From its highs—describing a successful climb of the 20,000-foot peak Stok Kangri—to its…
My travel essay “Bird Sanctuary,” which describes World Heritage Site Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur, appears in the anthology Emails from India: Women Write Home. Published in the fall of 2013 by Seraphim Editions in Ontario, this book features the writing of 28 female contributors from across North America, along with several Europeans….
I’m facilitating the SoulCollage® workshop “Rebirth: The Daring and Doubts of a New Beginning” on Feb. 7 at a private home in Burnaby. Inclusion is limited to those who have already taken one of my SoulCollage® workshops. Click here to find out more about my SoulCollage® workshops.
I’ll be one of the presenters at the Feb. 21 Pecha Kucha evening at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt. Screening 20 images from my 800-kilometre walk, I’ll discuss the memorials en route and how the pathway invites contemplation regarding death and eternal life. The event begins at 8 p.m.; doors open at 7:30….
“The Making of Tetrahedron Park” (my 3,000-word feature, with photos): A group of dedicated volunteers lobbied hard to save 6,000 hectares on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, protecting old-growth forest and habitat for diverse species. This helped launch the conservation movement on the Sunshine Coast. In the summer and fall of 1987, 240 volunteers built four wilderness…
I’ll be teaching screenwriting short documentaries and dramas at Powell River Digital Film School in Powell River, BC from Feb. 24-27 inclusive. This will be my third visit to the school. I love helping the students with ideas and structure for their year-end video and giving them new ideas for projects. I learn a lot…
As a Camino de Santiago pilgrim in Spain in June 2013, I sought out some of Ernest Hemingway’s favourite haunts in Pamplona. As I wrote: “It was easy to imagine the expatriate writer arm-wrestling over one of the many patio tables or downing too many absinthes or whiskeys in fading Spanish light. . .” Click…
If you’re looking for a holiday gift and want some written inspiration, why not buy a book? I’ll be at Windows on the Water (formerly Woods Showcase) at Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons this Saturday (Dec. 14), from noon to 3 p.m. I’ll be selling and signing the following books that feature my writing: Emails from…
The Georgia Straight, Vancouver, B.C.’s entertainment weekly, has recommended Emails from India on its list of holiday gifts for travellers: Emails From India: Women Write Home Edited by Vancouverite Janis Harper, this book collects vignettes by 27 writers—many of whom are also from Vancouver—who have travelled on the subcontinent. The stories speak to the universal travel…
I’m delighted to be a contributor to this new, popular anthology of British Columbia history and coastal life. In the week of Dec. 2, 2013, it’s ranked #2 on Harbour Publishing’s bestseller list. Whooohooo! My feature explores the influential role that volunteers played in saving 6,000 hectares of wilderness forests and lakes, including bear and…
Discover how B.C.’s Sakinaw salmon were saved.What emergency visits did doctors make by boat on the coast in the 1980s? I’ll be doing a brief reading and presentation, with slide-show images, as part of the Sunshine Coast launch of Raincoast Chronicles 22: Saving Salmon, Sailors and Souls. This will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 4…
I’ll be selling new books Emails from India: Women Write Home and Harbour Publishing’s Raincoast Chronicles 22 plus some new, fun products related to my picture book Gracie’s Got a Secret in Gibsons, BC. Author Michael Maser and I will be staffing the MW Book Publishing table at Sunnycrest Mall from 9 a.m. to 5…
I’ll be one of five contributors doing a short presentation and reading at the Vancouver, BC launch for Harbour Publishing’s Raincoast Chronicles 22 anthology. The book Saving Salmon, Sailors and Souls: Stories of Service on the BC Coast celebrates the people who have defined British Columbia coastal history since 1972. My feature covers the impact…
My feature “Workshop inspired by El Camino pilgrimage” appeared in the Sept. 27, 2013 issue of Coast Reporter on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. The piece promoted my workshop “Twelve Gifts of the Camino,” inspired by my 800-kilometre pilgrimage through France and Spain in May and June 2013. Click this 12 Gifts of the Camino link to read…
From participating in a sweat lodge to creating their own medicine bag, UBC Dentistry students gained new cross-cultural depth and knowledge at a remote B.C. clinic. Click this Impressions fall 13 Chilcotin link to read “Dentistry Students in the Chilcotin: Gratitude Goes Both Ways” (Impression magazine, fall 2013, University of B.C.)
For centuries, the medieval labyrinth in France’s Chartres Cathedral has attracted millions of visitors and Camino de Santiago pilgrims like me. I described my mixed feelings in walking this historic pathway in my travel feature “The wonders of the labyrinth.” This piece appeared in the Sept. 13, 2013 issue of The Coast Reporter on…
Archetype: The Pilgrim What symbols represent your life journey? What’s helping you live your dream? What’s holding you back? What thresholds have you crossed or need to cross? Through a symbolic journey of creative play and walking meditation, discover the gifts of the sacred pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago. With the help of…
I’m one of 30 writers featured in a new anthology Emails from India: Women Write Home, published by Seraphim Editions. I’ll be reading at the book’s Vancouver launch on Sunday, Oct. 6 at Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and readings will begin at 8 p.m. The People’s Co-op Bookstore…
For the next two to three months, I’ll be writing a series of weekly posts, with photographs, about my 800-kilometre walk along the El Camino in France and Spain. Each week, I’ll feature a new topic, from “creating sacred space” to “the Roman road.” I look forward to a lively discussion with readers. If…
An interview with me regarding my year of college and work in Switzerland in 1976-77 appears on the website of the Swiss consulate in Vancouver, BC. Click here to read it and see related photographs.
DOCUMENTARY (21.5 min.) A New Way: An Organic Garden Saves Lives written, directed, and produced by Heather Conn cinematographer and editor: Ivy Miller Story summary: A farmer, miner, and First Nations CEO create an organic demonstration garden using mined land, a “secret” ingredient, and a business/education model unique in Canada. 2013 RELEASE: A New Way:…
Author reading of my children’s book Gracie’s Got a Secret at Gibsons Public Library in Gibsons, BC. The event, hosted by children’s librarian Heather Evans-Cullen, includes puppets and an opportunity for hands-on crafts. Click here to see photos of the event.
NOVEMBER 15 to DECEMBER 10 The Gibsons Public Art Gallery in Gibsons, BC will feature the creative works of 40+ members, including me, at a show honouring Leonard Cohen. I will be exhibiting a collage that features the chorus of Cohen’s song Anthem. The gala reception for Hallelujah!: a Tribute to the Songs of Leonard…
Dozens of concerned residents on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast have rallied to help save species-diverse forest in Wilson Creek. My news feature “Forest giants worth saving,” which outlined related community activities, appeared in The Local, a Sunshine Coast weekly, on Nov. 15, 2012. Click this Saving forest giants link to read the published article. * * * *…
While a contract writer for the Town of Gibsons, I worked with chief administrative officer Emmanuel Machado in 2012/13 to produce news and press releases in local media. Conservation issues were a key theme. My article “Gibsons moves to protect ‘world’s greatest water,’” which appeared in the Nov. 9, 2012 issue of the Coast Reporter,…
Gracie and I had fun at Vancouver’s Word on the Street Festival. Sponsored by KidsBooks, the largest children’s bookstore in western Canada, I gave a brief reading and then a Q&A. One little girl asked me if there was a beaver in the story. I suggested that might be a good idea for a character…
The Faculty of Dentistry at the University of B.C. recently selected my image, a Haida Gwaii seascape, as the cover photo for their fall 2012 issue. This photo accompanied my article “UBC Dentistry in Haida Gwaii,” which appeared in the same issue. UBC Dentistry has selected the same image to use on their faculty greeting…
The Chapters store on Robson in Vancouver featured me on their Facebook Wall page, with a write-up about my book Vancouver’s Glory Years, co-authored with Henry Ewert. A day earlier, I had just asked a young store clerk whether I could add the book to their display of Vancouver history books. He then asked me…
I’m joining a host of local Sunshine Coast writers who will give five-minute readings on the topic of “family.” I’ll be reading the opening pages of my memoir-in-progress No Letter in Your Pocket. Doors open at 7 p.m., readings begin at 7:30 p.m. The Arts Building is at 464 South Fletcher in lower Gibsons, next…
I’m covering screenwriting for short drama and documentaries (personal narratives and issues-based videos) for grade 12 students at Powell River Digital Film School, Powell River, BC. 9 to 3 p.m.