Author reading at Courtenay Library

Dr. Mary Lindsay (Mei-Li-Lee) will be reading from her novel Potlatch Blanket for a China Man

Dr. Mary Lindsay (Mei-Li-Lee), a former teacher and educational psychologist in SD 71, will be reading from her historical novel Potlatch Blanket for a China Man on Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Courtenay Library.

What do you do when much of your province’s past reflects male European perspectives and marginalizes, if not omits, the stories of other groups?

If you are Mei-Li Lee, you write a literary history framed by extensive archival research and give faces, voice – agency – to the “societal Other.”

Suspicions of murder force a Chinese would-be adventurer to flee mid-nineteenth century Fort Hope rather than test frontier justice and the bonds of friendship with a Sto:lo youth, his clan and a black saloon keeper.

The adventurer’s salvation begins in a diverse company of mule train drivers and their mixed families and wends its course from Langley to Barkerville and through three generations before a truth and a reconciliation are fully realized.

Unlike other accounts set in British Columbia, this novel privileges non-European perspectives and celebrates the complex alliances among Chinese, First Nations, Blacks, Hawaiians, Mexicans and women.

Voice is given to marginalized communities that are not represented in history books. Lindsay will also be speaking at the regular monthly meeting of the Comox Valley Writers Society on Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Mark Isfeld Secondary Library. Everyone is welcome to either event.

Get local stories you won't find anywhere else right to your inbox.
Sign up here

Just Posted

The Vancouver Island marmot is an endangered species. Pictured here, a marmot at Mount Washington. (Black Press file)
VIDEO: ‘Frisky’ Vancouver Island marmots caught on camera

Marmots are catching the eye of researchers when caught on security cameras getting ‘quite frisky’

Karilyn, right, with her older sister, Sabrina. Both siblings are members of the YANA family, after being helped by the community organization on separate occasions. Photo supplied
Siblings both members of the YANA family

Comox Valley non-profit helped Geiger family on separate occasions

A second-floor balcony continues to smoulder after a fire extinguisher was used to get a small balcony fire under control at the Washington Inn Apartments. Brian Hayward, who lives on the third floor, was alerted to the fire by the smell of smoke wafting into his apartment. Photo by Brian Hayward.
Courtenay firefighters respond to balcony fire at Washington Inn Apartments

Firefighters were called out to the Washington Inn Apartments Sunday, April 17,… Continue reading

RCMP forensics investigators scour the site north of Highland School in Comox, where multiple people were stabbed during a party Saturday night, April 16. Photo by Terry Farrell
UPDATED: Multiple stabbings at Comox bush party

Three youths hospitalized after an assault near Highland Secondary

Cumberland is surrounded by trees — and logging. Its council is supporting a call to stop old-growth logging in vulnerable areas of the province such as Fairy Creek. Photo by Mike Chouinard
Cumberland backs request to save B.C.’s old-growth forests

The Comox Youth Climate Council is asking local governments to take stand

In this image from NASA, NASA’s experimental Mars helicopter Ingenuity lands on the surface of Mars Monday, April 19, 2021. The little 4-pound helicopter rose from the dusty red surface into the thin Martian air Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. (NASA via AP)
VIDEO: NASA’s Mars helicopter takes flight, 1st for another planet

The $85 million helicopter demo was considered high risk, yet high reward

Cannabis bought in British Columbia (Ashley Wadhwani/Black Press Media)
Is it time to start thinking about greener ways to package cannabis?

Packaging suppliers are still figuring eco-friendly and affordable packaging options that fit the mandates of Cannabis Regulations

The following is a list of restaurants offering take-out and patio dining. ADOBE STOCK IMAGE
List of Comox Valley restaurants offering take-out, patio dining options

Restaurants in the Comox Valley continue to adapt to government-imposed restrictions in… Continue reading

Families of two of three workers killed in a train derailment near Field, B.C., in 2019 have filed lawsuits accusing Canadian Pacific of gross negligence. The derailment sent 99 grain cars and two locomotives off the tracks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Families of workers killed in Field train derailment allege negligence in lawsuit

Lawsuits allege the workers weren’t provided a safe work environment

(New Westminster Police)
4 youth arrested after 30-person brawl in New Westminster leaves 1 seriously injured

Police are looking for witnesses who saw the incident take place

South Surrey’s Paul Cottrell, who works with the DFO, tows a grey whale out of Semiahmoo Bay Sunday. (Contributed photo)
Dead whale floating near White Rock towed to shore for necropsy

Animal has been dead since at least April 15

Wickaninnish (Clifford Atleo) plays the drum while singing the Nuu-chah-nulth song on the court steps in Vancouver In a picture from April 2018. Photo credit, Melody Charlie.
Five western Vancouver Island First Nations celebrate legal fishing victory

Court ruling confirms Nuu-chah-nulth fishing rights in case dating back to 2003

Sunday’s storm rocked one of the ferries crossing Kootenay Lake. Photo: Dirk Jonker
VIDEO: Storm makes for wild ferry ride across Kootenay Lake

The video was captured by ferry employee Dirk Jonker

Dr. Bonnie Henry gives her daily media briefing regarding Covid-19 for the province of British Columbia in Victoria, B.C, Monday, December 7, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Toddler marks youngest British Columbian to die related to COVID-19

Child one of eight people to die from virus this weekend

Most Read
https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/entertainment/author-reading-at-courtenay-library/
www.comoxvalleyrecord.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2021-17
166087
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:ZYTL5IYGEE3J64HNWE6KLNMPNBYQ5JSC
<urn:uuid:b71e0181-29b0-4d88-8951-db74805e6a50>
2021-04-20T06:45:19Z
35.203.155.45
text/html
sha1:K5AQEQXBYFLTSKEBR4XRC7UPNEHCQULH
<urn:uuid:70ea9569-4579-45d1-bcea-19b649b0302e>
https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/entertainment/author-reading-at-courtenay-library/
response
<urn:uuid:b5d5025e-a3f6-4d98-8f16-957203e7b15f>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2021-17
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for April 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-46.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/