The award-winning author Claudia Cornwall discusses her new book British Columbia in Flames: Stories from a Blazing Summer (Harbour Publishing, 2020), with Joseph Planta.

British Columbia in Flames: Stories from a Blazing Summer by Claudia Cornwall (Harbour Publishing, 2020). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: British Columbia in Flames

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Claudia Cornwall joins me again. The award-winning author has just published British Columbia In Flames: Stories from a Blazing Summer. It takes us back to 2017 and that summer when it seemed like the province was on fire. The smoke got us here in Metro Vancouver; it was thick in the air. But in communities seriously and closely affected, in the province’s interior, up near Ashcroft, Cache Creek, 16 Mile House, Quesnel, Williams Lake, Clinton, and places in between, including Sheridan Lake (where Claudia has a cabin that’s been in the family for over sixty years), it was often dire. There were volunteers fighting fires throughout. It was frightening as evacuations were being conducted. There were some who wouldn’t go, as well as the Bonaparte First Nations community who knew better and didn’t leave. Ms. Cornwall gathers many of their stories through interviews she conducts, giving us a sense of the danger, as well as the sense of community that emerged. In this time of COVID, it’s good to remember when people could help one another without being distanced physically. I’ll ask Claudia too about the environmental future as fires across the planet seem to be on the rise. We talked a couple of weeks ago when the smoke was thick in the air again due to fires in the United States. Claudia Cornwall’s previous books include Battling Melanoma, Catching Cancer, Letter From Vienna: A Daughter Uncovers Her Family’s Jewish Past, and At the World’s Edge: Curt Lang’s Vancouver, which she was on this program with in 2011. She is the recipient of the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, and taught creative writing at Simon Fraser University for many years. This new book is from Harbour Publishing. She joined me from North Vancouver. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Claudia Cornwall; Ms. Cornwall, good morning.

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