Whitewater Canyon with author K.Linda Kivi

I was hiking in Whitewater Canyon this past weekend, in between gaping at the vistas and looking for Grizzly bears, I had the chance to catch up with my friend, local author and publisher, K.Linda Kivi. We talked about her new book that has just been published by Maa Press - Letters from Lubumbashi - the story of an Canadian immigrant from the Congo. I came up with the brilliant notion to feature her book in our book club and have her as our guest in our discussion of the book! What fun!

We also discussed a few of the jems we've read and why we loved them. Included in that list was 'Bitter Fruit', 'Fugitive Pieces' and 'Black Spruce'. It was so much fun to be in the mountains and talking about books with a great writer. Check out her other works, including Inner Green and The Purcell Suite carried here at Jennies, and find out more about Maa publishing at: http://community.netidea.com/maapress/index.html

On the same trip we got into discussion about the 'Kindle' and the 'Reader,' two new electronic mediums for reading. This new age of electronic books is fascinating and frightening for booksellers. How it will affect the role of the paperback and how it manifests in our culture? What will become of local bookstores? How will they look in the future? It is difficult to imagine a world where books are relegated to digitization. Without the touch and feel of the page, will reading cease to be accessible to everyone or will it broaden the base of readership? What will libraries look like? These were some of the exciting questions that emerged from the conversation.

Finally, I ended my weekend on Rag Beach at the north end of Slocan Lake. While dozing in the sun and jumping in the water I thought about the importance of our local authors for our cultural experience. Thank you K.Linda!