The idea for this book list came to us from Tendai, who is studying Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice with a Minor in Theatre at UBC. The books on this list have been compiled by Tendai and staff and faculty at UBC Okanagan Library.

About the booklist:
“African and Diasporic mythos have long been taught to be ‘demonic’ (for lack of a better word). There has been an uptick in African mythos (primarily West African) in fantasy spaces, which I find to be an amazing way of not only teaching people about these mythologies and traditions but also normalizing them.”
– Tendai, Bachelor of Arts student at UBC

Tendai’s Top 3 books on the list

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

Quotation from Raybearer:
“Only one thing is more powerful than a wish, and that is a purpose.”
― Jordan Ifueko

Why you should read it: 

“Raybearer, with its incredibly diverse cast of characters and personalities is a book that is going to stay with me forever. The world and magic are so beautifully described and carefully thought out that it completely immerses you in the story and keeps you emotionally invested in the characters.”
― Tendai, Bachelor of Arts student at UBC

Borrow Raybearer

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Quotation from Skin of the Sea:
“Listen to me. I know you will make things right. What is done is done. We cannot change the past, only learn from it. What happens next is up to you.”
― Natasha Bowen

Why you should read it: 

“Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with mermaids. In a sea of The Little Mermaid retellings, Skin of the Sea stands apart with its inspiration from West African mythos and unique storyline providing a new perspective of the enslaved African people thrown off slavers’ ships.”
― Tendai, Bachelor of Arts student at UBC

Borrow Skin of the Sea

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

Quotation from The Rage of Dragons:
“He told himself he could stop when he could no longer make the next step. He also told himself he could always make at least the next step.”
― Evan Winter

“I’ve found that most fantasy novels inspired by African mythos are rooted in West African traditions, and The Rage of Dragons was a treat to my Zambian heart. South African inspired, this fantastical revenge story is full of attention-gripping action and succeeds at being a wholly heart-wrenching and distinctive story in the fantasy genre.”
― Tendai, Bachelor of Arts student at UBC

Borrow The Rage of Dragons

African and Diasporic Fantasy Booklist

Click on the links to see how you can borrow the books below from UBCO Library. 

Fiction

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor

An unkindness of ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Virture and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

Crowned: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora by Kahran Bethencourt and Regis Bethencourt

Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun

Goddess Crown by Gabi Burton

It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dess

Kindred : a graphic novel adaptation by Damian Duffy and John Jennings

*see other Octavia Butler titles in the Available Online section

Lilith’s brood by Octavia E. Butler. (originally Xenogenesis Trilogy: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago)

Misoso : once upon a time tales from Africa retold by Verna Aardema; illustrated by Reynold Ruffins.

Nelson Mandela’s favorite African folktales. 

Raybearer: A Novel by Jordan Ifeuko

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okunbowa

The House of Rust : a novel by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

Non-Fiction

At the crossroads of culture and literature edited by Suchorita Chattopadhyay, Debashree Dattaray

Blackening Canada : diaspora, race, multiculturalism by Paul Barrett

Conscripts of migration : neoliberal globalization, nationalism, and the literature of new African diasporas by Christopher Ian Foster

Contemporary speculative fiction edited by M. Keith Booker

Humor in the Caribbean literary canon by Sam Vásquez

Witches, goddesses, and angry spirits : the politics of spiritual liberation in African diaspora women’s fiction by Maha Marouan

Available online :

African American adolescent female heroes : the twenty-first-century young adult neo-slave narrative by Melanie A. Marotta

African migration and the novel : exploring race, civil war, and environmental destruction by Jack Taylor

African migrations : traversing hybrid landscapes edited by Sarali Gintsburg and Ruth Breeze

Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction edited by Eugen Bacon

Alchemies of blood and Afro-diasporic fiction : race, kinship, and the passion for ontology by Nicole Simek

Coloniality and migrancy in African diasporic literatures by Peter Moopi and Rodwell Makombe

Fantasy and myth in the Anthropocene : imagining futures and dreaming hope in literature and media edited by Marek Oziewicz, Brian Attebery and Tereza Dedinová

Futurism and the African imagination : literature and other arts edited by Dike Okoro

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Madness in Black Women’s Diasporic Fictions: Aesthetics of Resistance (Gender and Cultural Studies in Africa and the Diaspora) edited by Caroline A. Brown, Johanna X. K. Garvey.

Millennial style : the politics of experiment in contemporary African diasporic culture by Aliyyah I. Abdur-Rahman

Mumbo jumbo by Ishmael Reed

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the sower by a graphic novel adaptation by Damian Duffy and John Jennings 

Recovering black storytelling in qualitative research : endarkened storywork by S.R. Toliver.

Routledge handbook of the new African diasporic literature edited by Lokangaka Losambe and Tanure Ojaide

Spatialities of speculative fiction : re-mapping possibilities, philosophies, and territorialities by Gwilym Lucas Eades

Speculative & science fiction by guest editors Louisa Uchum Egbunike, Chimalum Nwankwo.

Speculative fiction as a rehearsal for decolonization by Liahnna Stanley, Jenna N. Hanchey

Teaching Black speculative fiction : equity, justice, and antiracism edited by KaaVonia Hinton and editor Karen Chandler

The things that fly in the night : female vampires in literature of the Circum-Caribbean and African diaspora by Giselle Liza Anatol

Uneven futures : strategies for community survival from speculative fiction edited by Ida Yoshinaga, Sean Guynes, and Gerry Canavan

Example titles available to order from Vancouver:

Changing bodies in the fiction of Octavia Butler : slaves, aliens, and vampires by Gregory Jerome Hampton

Migrating the Black body : the African diaspora and visual culture edited by Leigh Raiford and Heike Raphael-Hernandez

Black Panther by Scott Bukatman

Afrofuturisms : ecology, humanity, and francophone cultural expressions by Isaac Vincent Joslin

Janelle Monáe’s queer afrofuturism : defying every label by Dan Hassler-Forest

Afrofuturism rising : the literary prehistory of a movement by Isiah Lavender III

What are records and why do we need to manage them?  

As a public institution UBC has specific policy-driven responsibilities to manage its records effectively and appropriately. Regardless of format, a record is any document that captures a business transaction. When you write an email, order materials for your unit, write a guideline, or propose a new project for the department, you are generating, using, and storing UBC records. UBC needs to keep these records for future reference or action in a variety of contexts; for instance, if a unit needs to show that they paid for office supplies, a purchase order or receipt could be used as documentation.  

How long should records be kept? 

Depending on their type, records need to be kept for various lengths of time. Many records fall into the following broad categories: 

Transitory: Important temporarily, kept only for as long as they are important. 

Operational: Important for years to satisfy administrative, government, audit, or legal commitments and kept long enough to act as appropriate support to operational decisions. 

Archival: Important to the history of the institution and kept permanently at the Okanagan University Archives.  

Very few records are kept permanently. All records are kept for a length determined by UBC’s Retention and Disposition Schedules (RDS).  

Mandated by Board of Governor’s Policy GA4, in 2022, professionals from the  UBCV Records Management Office and the UBCO Records Management Program created the UBC Records Retention Schedules to guide units on how long they should keep records and what to do with them after they reach the end of their retention. These schedules have been reviewed and approved by the UBC Office of University Counsel. 

Where can records be kept? 

The UBC Okanagan Records Management Program is associated with the Campus Archives, and forms part of the UBC Okanagan Library.  

Paper records can present space management and security challenges, and we are here to help! To inquire about storing your records, please contact Graeme Clarke, Library Services Assistant—Records Management: graeme.clarke@ubc.ca. 

Following the creation of an account, records can be scheduled for pick up and placed in managed storage in our secure vault shared with UBC Okanagan Special Collections and Archives, located in the Commons building.  

Who’s responsible for disposition?  

According to Section 2.5 of the BoG Policy GA4, “responsibility for Records Management rests with the Vice‐Presidents and administrative heads of unit.” Regardless of retention length or final disposition action, the head of the unit that created the record has responsibility for the destruction or archiving of the record.  

The UBC Okanagan Records Management Program can provide services at the conclusion of the records lifecycle. When records are placed into storage with us, we can notify you when records reach their scheduled retention period and can oversee the disposition of these boxes of records. With your approval, we can organize the deletion of electronic records and schedule the destruction of physical records via a secure third-party destruction company. In the latter case, we would observe the records being destroyed on your behalf. We can also organize the transition of records to archival custody for permanent retention.  

What else can Records Management help with?  

Digital Readiness Projects 

The Records Management team at UBC Okanagan can assess and provide advice on improvements to the management of electronic records in departmental shared drives, as well as installations of OneDrive, SharePoint, and MS Teams.  

Using the UBC Records Retention Schedule to inform a functional folder structure, this process can result in the development of customized documentation that supports clear naming conventions, filing and disposition rules, and established security profiles.  

Community of Practice 

If you are involved in recordkeeping as part of your position or are generally interested in records management topics, consider this an invitation to join our Records Management Community of Practice! The RMCoP is hosted via a dedicated MS Teams channel. It provides a space to discuss recordkeeping challenges and successes on the UBCO campus. We host regular meetings throughout the year and keep everyone up to date via an internal newsletter.

For more information on how to join our Community of Practice, please email Graeme Clarke at: graeme.clarke@ubc.ca. We look forward to welcoming you! 

Advocacy, projects, and policy development 

UBC Okanagan Library participates in the Records Management Steering Committee, which designs and monitors recordkeeping strategy at the University level. As well, the UBCO Records Management Program participates in the Retention Automation Working Group (RAWG), scoped “to develop, operationalize and automate records retention policies for UBC’s systems and applications.”

UBCO Records Management Services

Get to know the human side of virtual reference at UBC Library. Donna Langille, Open Education Librarian and AskAway coordinator at UBCO Library, is one of the three library professionals featured in this article. 

Read the article

UBC Okanagan Librarians Donna Langille and Christian Isbister are featured along with Erik Beardmore, Programming Associate at Kelowna Museums in the latest episode of the “Stories of Partnership” podcast series by the Community Engagement Network.

In the podcast they share the challenges of maintaining momentum in community partnerships and the creative solutions they found to keep their projects thriving. From organizing live podcast recordings to overcoming funding limitations, Erik and Donna emphasize the importance of flexibility, trust, and communication in their work.

LEARN MORE

Climate Action Week in early November provides an opportunity to focus on climate change related challenges and emergencies facing our communities while situating libraries as places to connect people with resources on climate change.  

Check out the selected films and books available to borrow from UBC Library to help inspire action on climate change issues. These titles have been organized into categories though many of these titles fit into several of these categories.

Categories: Choices and Lifestyle, Indigenous Action, Environmental Policy, Personal Action, Advocacy and Civic Engagement, Climate Science, Adaptation, and Films.  

Choices and Lifestyle 

The book of hope : a survival guide for trying times by Jane Goodall, Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson 

Eco-aesthetics : art, literature and architecture in a period of climate change by Malcolm Miles 

Climate justice : hope, resilience, and the fight for a sustainable future by Mary Robinson with Caitríona Palmer 

What if we get it right? : visions of climate futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 

Climate change scepticism : a transnational ecocritical analysis by Greg Garrard, Axel Goodbody, George Handley and Stephanie Posthumus 

We are the weather : saving the planet begins at breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer 

Not the end of the world : how we can be the first generation to build a sustainable planet by Hannah Ritchie

Not too late : changing the climate story from despair to possibility edited by Rebecca Solnit & Thelma Young Lutunatabua ; with illustrations by David Solnit 

Indigenous Action  

This place is who we are : stories of Indigenous leadership, resilience, and connection to homelands by Katherine Palmer Gordon 

Braiding sweetgrass : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 

Fresh banana leaves : healing indigenous landscapes through indigenous science by Jessica Hernandez 

The right to be cold : one woman’s story of protecting her culture, the Arctic and the whole planet by Sheila Watt-Cloutier 

Media and transnational climate justice : indigenous activism and climate politics by Anna Roosvall and Matthew Tegelberg 

Asserting native resilience : Pacific rim indigenous nations face the climate crisis edited by Zoltán Grossman and Alan Parker 

Held by the land : a guide to indigenous plants for wellness by Leigh Joseph 

Environmental Policy

Thirty years of failure : understanding Canadian climate policy by Robert MacNeil 

Bright green lies : how the environmental movement lost its way and what we can do about it by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Max Wilbert 

Life in the city of dirty water : a memoir of healing by Clayton Thomas-Müller

Climate crisis and the global green new deal : the political economy of saving the planet by Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin, with C. J. Polychroniou 

Grassroots rising : a call to action on climate, farming, food, and a green new deal by Ronnie Cummins 

Drawdown : the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming edited by Paul Hawken 

Personal Action 

The seasons alter : how to save our planet in six acts by Philip Kitcher and Evelyn Fox Keller 

A field guide to climate anxiety : how to keep your cool on a warming planet by Sarah Jaquette Ray 

Turn the tide on climate anxiety : sustainable action for your mental health and the planet by Megan Kennedy-Woodard and Dr. Patrick Kennedy-Williams ; foreword by Arizona Muse 

Free the land : how we can fight poverty and climate chaos by Audrea Lim 

Food in a just world : compassionate eating in a time of climate change by Tracey Harris & Terry Gibbs 

The future we choose : the stubborn optimist’s guide to the climate crisis by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac 

How to avoid a climate disaster : the solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need by Bill Gates 

#NoFly : walking the talk on climate change by Shaun Hendy 

Don’t even think about it : why our brains are wired to ignore climate change by George Marshall 

Just cool it! : the climate crisis and what we can do : a post-Paris Agreement game plan by David Suzuki & Ian Hanington 

Medicine wheel for the planet : a journey toward personal and ecological healing by Dr. Jennifer Grenz 

David Suzuki’s green guide by David Suzuki & David R. Boyd 

The citizen’s guide to climate success : overcoming myths that hinder progress by Mark Jaccard, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia 

Saving ourselves : from climate shocks to climate action by Dana R. Fisher 

Universities on fire : higher education in the climate crisis by Bryan Alexander  

Advocacy and Civic Engagement 

The Winona LaDuke chronicles : stories from the front lines in the battle for environmental justice by Winona LaDuke ; edited by Sean Aaron Cruz 

The new climate war : the fight to take back our planet by Michael E. Mann 

More powerful together : conversations with climate activists and Indigenous land defenders by Jen Gobby 

Commanding hope : the power we have to renew a world in peril by Thomas Homer-Dixon 

No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunberg 

All we can save : truth, courage, and solutions for the climate crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson 

The intersectional environmentalist : how to dismantle systems of oppression to protect people + planet by Leah Thomas 

A bigger picture : my fight to bring a new African voice to the climate crisis by Vanessa Nakate 

The ethics of the climate crisis by Robin Attfield 

The uninhabitable earth : life after warming by David Wallace-Wells 

Consumed : the need for collective change : colonialism, climate change, and consumerism by Aja Barber 

Pathways to action : how keystone organizations can lead the fight for climate change by Peter McAteer 

Climate hope : stories of action in an age of global crisis by David Geselbracht 

Climate change as class war : building socialism on a warming planet by Matthew T. Huber 

Imagining the future of climate change: world-making through science fiction and activism by Shelley Streeby 

What we’re fighting for now is each other : dispatches from the front lines of climate justice by Wen Stephenson 

Our final warning : six degrees of climate emergency by Mark Lynas 

The summer Canada burned : the wildfire season that shocked the world by Monica Zurowski

How to blow up a pipeline : learning to fight in a world on fire by Andreas Malm 

Before the streetlights come on : Black America’s urgent call for climate solutions by Heather McTeer Toney  

Burnt : fighting for climate justice by Chris Saltmarsh 

The climate book created by Greta Thunberg 

Climate change is racist : race, privilege and the struggle for climate justice by Jeremy Williams 

Climate Science 

The nature of our cities : harnessing the power of the natural world to survive a changing planet by Nadina Galle 

The fragile earth : writing from the New Yorker on climate change edited by David Remnick and Henry Finder 

The legacy : an elder’s vision for our sustainable future by David Suzuki 

Unsettled : what climate science tells us, what it doesn’t, and why it matters by Steven E. Koonin 

Empty cellars, melting ice, and burning tundra : climate change and Native Peoples in the United States and Canada by Bruce E. Johansen 

The end of ice : bearing witness and finding meaning in the path of climate disruption by Dahr Jamail 

Hot : living through the next fifty years on earth by Mark Hertsgaard 

Losing Earth : a recent history by Nathaniel Rich 

Adaptation 

The waste-free world : how the circular economy will take less, make more, and save the planet by Ron Gonen 

Land art as climate action: designing the 21st century city park Land Art Generator Initiative, Mannheim, edited by Elisabeth Monoian, Robert Ferry 

The story of more : how we got to climate change and where to go from here by Hope Jahren 

The design pathway for regenerating Earth by Joe Brewer 

Wine and climate change by L.J. Johnson-Bell 

A bright future : how some countries have solved climate change and the rest can follow by Joshua S. Goldstein and Staffan A. Qvist  

Films 

The hungry tide by Screen Australia 

We are all related here an EmpathyWorks Films production  

The anthropologist by Ironbound Films 

This changes everything (Motion picture) This changes everything by Filmbuff  

Climate change I : an uncertain future directed, photographed and produced by Leonard Gilday  

The great warming a Stonehaven production in association with Discovery Channel Canada 

Chasing ice by Submarine Deluxe ; an Exposure production in association with Diamond Docs 

Do the +math a PF Pictures production 

The age of stupid presented by Spanner Films in association with Passion Pictures 

Inconvenient truth (Motion picture) An inconvenient truth presented by Paramount Classics and Participant Productions ; a Lawrence Bender/Laurie David production 

An inconvenient sequel : truth to power Paramount Pictures and Participant Media 

The vanishing ice Filmwest Associates 

There once was an island = Te henua e nnoho an On the Level production

Food for the rest of us directed by Caroline Cox 

The biggest little farm directed John Chester 

Saving the life keepers by scenario, Jocelyn Demers 

UBC Okanagan Library, through the Centre for Scholarly Communication (CSC), and the Irving K Barber Faculty of Science’s Department of Biology have partnered to fund and manage research data and statistical support services. This partnership will support enhanced delivery of services over Term 1 and Term 2 this year. 

Starting as a pilot in January 2023, and previously supported in partnership with Research Computing and through the UBC Okanagan Excellence Fund, the CSC has been providing support to UBC Okanagan researchers with data cleaning, modelling, analysis, and visualization, as well as foundational training in software such as R and Python. Data consultants provide this specialized support through one-on-one consultations and themed workshops.  

Research Data Consultations

“The fact that the Department of Biology is willing to fund this service for the entire campus for the next year–recognizing the current gap for research data support on our campus and the overwhelming need of this support for their students–says a lot for their commitment to their students and the UBCO research community,” states Data Librarian, Mathew Vis-Dunbar. “And the Centre for Scholarly Communication, with its partners in Advanced Research Computing, Office of Research Services, and UBC Okanagan Library, is uniquely positioned to help fill this gap on our campus.” 

Data analysis, coding skills, and associated literacies are increasingly important in all facets of academic research. However, many researchers do not have substantive training in these areas, particularly in disciplines where computational research is still emerging or missing as a core component of their academic training, course work, or professional development.

“Integrating these advanced concepts and tools into a research project can be a monumental leap for graduate students who may have only used Excel and perhaps taken one undergraduate stats course,” says Vis-Dunbar. “The fundamental research data and statistical analysis support and training provided by the CSC can help them thrive. Centralizing these supports through the CSC, which functions as an information hub for research support services at UBC Okanagan, helps to lessen the burden on individual departments encountering similar challenges amongst their students and promotes interdisciplinary communities of practice within our graduate student base.”

Although these services and supports are especially valuable to graduate students, they are open to all researchers at UBCO, irrespective of where they are in their academic career including undergraduate researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty.  

Research Data Consultants offer various workshops throughout the academic year including: Learning R, Python for Data Analysis, and Statistical Fundamentals: A Visual Approach. It is recommended that those interested in this support attend one of the CSC’s relevant workshops for research data management before attending a one-on-one consultation. Graduate labs can also reach out to the CSC to discuss options for tailored workshops on any aspect of the research data life cycle.

Research Data Consultations and Workshops

UBC Okanagan Library has put together a list of books to help us recognize Women’s History Month in Canada. October was designated as Women’s History Month in 1992, and each year we celebrate a new theme or component. This year’s theme is Women at Work: Economic Growth Past, Present and Future and recognizes how women have contributed to the workforce and Canadian economy.

Women’s History Month Booklist

Black girls unbossed : young world changers leading the way by Khristi Lauren Adams

Women of the First Nations : power, wisdom and strength edited by Christina Miller and Patricia Chuchryk ; with Maria Smallface Marule, Brenda Manyfingers and Cheryl Deering

Firekeepers of the twenty-first century : First Nations women chiefs by Cora J. Voyageur

Disinherited generations : our struggle to reclaim treaty rights for First Nations women and their descendants by Nellie Carlson, Kathleen Steinhauer ; as told to Linda Goyette

We’re rooted here and they can’t pull us up : essays in African Canadian women’s history by Peggy Bristow and others

Passage to promise land : voices of Chinese immigrant women to Canada by Vivienne Poy

Viola Desmond : her life and times by Graham Reynolds with Wanda Robson

The life and death of Anna Mae Aquash by Johanna Brand

Mary Ann Shadd : publisher, editor, teacher, lawyer, suffragette by Rosemary Sadlier

Laura Secord by Jennifer Howse

Heroines and history : representations of Madeleine de Verchères and Laura Secord by Colin M. Coates and Cecilia Morgan

100 Canadian heroines : famous and forgotten faces by Merna Forster

Great dames edited by Elspeth Cameron and Janice Dickin

A plea for emigration or Notes of Canada West by Mary Ann Shadd, Phanuel Antwi

Indian in the cabinet : speaking truth to power by Jody Wilson-Raybould

Canuck chicks and maple leaf mamas : women of the great white north, a celebration of Canadian women by Ann Douglas

The girl and the game : a history of women’s sport in Canada by M. Ann Hall

Angels of the workplace : women and the construction of gender relations in the Canadian clothing industry, 1890-1940 by Mercedes Steedman

Women, feminism, and development edited by Huguette Dagenais et Denise Piché = Femmes, féminisme, et développement / sous la direction de Huguette Dagenais et Denise Piché

Feminists don’t wear pink and other lies : amazing women on what the f-word means to them curated by Scarlett Curtis

She persisted in science : brilliant women who made a difference by Chelsea Clinton.

Amplify : graphic narratives of feminist resistance by Norah Bowman, Meg Braem ; art by Dominique Hui

Working for the common good : Canadian women politicians by Madelyn Holmes

Despite the odds : essays on Canadian women and science edited by Marianne Gosztonyi Ainley

Renegade women of Canada : the wild, outrageous, daring and bold by Marina Michaelides

Rethinking Canada : the promise of women’s history by Mona Gleason, Adele Perry, Tamara Myers

Nellie McClung by Charlotte Gray ; with an introduction by John Ralston Saul

Living the edges : a disabled women’s reader edited by Diane Driedger

Belonging : the paradox of citizenship by Adrienne Clarkson

One hundred years of struggle : the history of women and the vote in Canada by Joan Sangster

Independent spirit : early Canadian women artists by A.K. Prakash

Convoluted beauty : in the company of Emily Carr curated by Lisa Baldissera ; essays by Lisa Baldissera, Vinciane Despret and Erika Dyck

Capturing joy : the story of Maud Lewis by Jo Ellen Bogart ; illustrated by Mark Lang

Caught in the act : an anthology of performance art by Canadian women edited by Tanya Mars & Johanna Householder

Gendering the nation : Canadian women’s cinema edited by Kay Armatage and others

The gendered screen : Canadian women filmmakers by Brenda Austin-Smith and George Melnyk

Editing modernity : women and little-magazine cultures in Canada, 1916-1956 by Dean Irvine

Women in exile and alienation : the fiction of Margaret Laurence and Anita Desai by Kaptan Singh

Violence and the female imagination : Quebec’s women writers re-frame gender in North American cultures by Paula Ruth Gilbert

Naturally woman : the search for self in Black Canadian women’s literature by Sharon Morgan Beckford

Waltzing again : new and selected conversations with Margaret Atwood edited by Earl G. Ingersoll

Gently to Nagasaki by Joy Kogawa

Challenging territory : the writing of Margaret Laurence edited by Christian Riegel

The complete journals of L.M. Montgomery : the PEI years, 1889-1900 edited by Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

Annie Mae’s movement by Yvette Nolan

Out of the shadows : contributions of twentieth-century women to physics edited by Nina Byers and Gary Williams

Harriet Brooks : pioneer nuclear scientist by Marelene F. Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham

Roberta Bondar : leading science into space by Michael Webb

A history of women in the Canadian military by Barbara Dundas

Surviving in the hour of darkness : the health and wellness of women of colour and indigenous women edited by G. Sophie Harding

Pride Programming is a peer-lead program for Queer-identifying students and allies at UBC Okanagan. Pride Programming focuses on building community, hosting events, and creating safe spaces on campus.

UBCO Library has curated a book display this month that features books from diverse authors with a focus on amplifying 2SLGBTQIA+ identities, experiences, and perspectives.  

Fiction

After Sappho : a novel by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Dandelion daughter : a novel by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay and translated from the French by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch

Detransition, baby : a novel by Torrey Peters

My government means to kill me by Rasheed Newson

Rainbow rainbow : stories by Lydia Conklin

The late Americans by Brandon Taylor

The prophets : a novel by Robert Jones, Jr.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens agenda by Becky Albertalli

Call me by your name by André Aciman

Her body and other parties : stories by Carmen Maria Machado

Jonny Appleseed : a novel by Joshua Whitehead

Young Mungo: a novel by Douglas Stuart

I will greet the sun again : a novel by Khashayar J. Khabushani

Perfect little angels : stories by Vincent Anioke

The skin and its girl : a novel by Sarah Cypher

Giovanni’s room by James Baldwin

You exist too much : a novel by Zaina Arafat

Under the udala trees by Chinelo Okparanta

The sleeping car porter by Suzette Mayr

Tales of the city by Armistead Maupin

Anthologies:

Queer voices : poetry, prose, and pride edited by Andrea Jenkins, John Medeiros, and Lisa Marie Brimmer

Love after the end : an anthology of Two-spirit & Indigiqueer speculative fiction edited by Joshua Whitehead

Gender euphoria : stories of joy from trans, non-binary and intersex writers edited by Laura Kate Dale

Piece of my heart : a lesbian of colour anthology anthologized by Makeda Silvera

Poetry:

Gay girl prayers by Emily Austin

If they come for us : poems by Fatimah Asghar

Dream of the divided field : poems by Yanyi

You are enough : love poems for the end of the world by Smokii Sumac

There are trans people here by H. Melt

Queers like me : poems by Michael V. Smith

Non-fiction:

How to they/them : a visual guide to nonbinary pronouns and the world of gender fluidity by Stuart Getty; illustrations by Brooke Thyng

Girlhood : essays by Melissa Febos with illustrations by Forsyth Harmon

Becoming Nicole : the transformation of an American family by Amy Ellis Nutt

All the people photos by Bernd Ott; text by Emily Besa; design by Edgar Hoffman

Pride : the story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag written by Rob Sanders; illustrated by Steven Salerno

I’m afraid of men by Vivek Shraya

In their shoes : navigating non-binary life by Jamie Windust

Indigiqueerness : a conversation about storytelling by Joshua Whitehead in dialogue with Angie Abdou

Marvellous grounds : queer of colour histories of Toronto edited by Jin Haritaworn, Ghaida Moussa, and Syrus Marcus Ware

Out north : an archive of queer activism and kinship in Canada by Craig Jennex and Nisha Eswaran

Prairie fairies : a history of queer communities and people in western Canada, 1930-1985 by Valerie J. Korinek

Queer : a graphic history by Meg-John Barker; Julia Scheele

Queer girls, temporality and screen media : not just a phase by Whitney Monaghan

Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives by Amelia Possanza

This Arab is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers by Elias Jahshan

Queer horror film and television : sexuality and masculinity at the margins by Darren Elliott-Smith

Queer times, black futures by Kara Keeling

Tomboy survival guide by Ivan Coyote

Ugly differences : queer female sexuality in the underground by Yetta Howard

The life of Langston Hughes by Arnold Rampersad

Reclaiming two-spirits : sexuality, spiritual renewal, & sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers; foreword by Raven E. Heavy Runner

Sister outsider : essays and speeches by Audre Lorde

Memoirs:

All boys aren’t blue : a memoir-manifesto by George M. Johnson

Crooked teeth : a queer Syrian refugee memoir by Danny Ramadan

Everything I learned, I learned in a Chinese restaurant : a memoir by Curtis Chin

Horse Barbie : a memoir by Geena Rocero

I’m so glad we had this time together : a memoir by Maurice Vellekoop

My autobiography of Carson McCullers a memoir by Jenn Shapland

Sissy : a coming-of-gender story by Jacob Tobia

The crane wife : a memoir in essays by CJ Hauser

A history of my brief body by Billy-Ray Belcourt

Angry queer Somali boy : a complicated memoir by Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali

Fierce femmes and notorious liars : a dangerous trans girl’s confabulous memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

Fine : a comic about gender by Rhea Ewing

Gay bar : why we went out by Jeremy Lin Atherton

Gender queer : a memoir by Maia Kobabe; colors by Phoebe Kobabe

Hijab butch blues : a memoir by Lamya H

How to live free in a dangerous world : a decolonial memoir by Shayla Lawson

I was better last night : a memoir by Harvey Fierstein

Unicorn : the memoir of a Muslim drag queen by Amrou Al-Kadhi

We have always been here : a queer Muslim memoir by Samra Habib

The argonauts by Maggie Nelson

Films:

Kate Bornstein is a queer & pleasant danger Moving Train Media presents a film by Sam Feder

We exist a Flannel Projects film; directed by Andrew Seger; written & narrated by Lauren Lubin; produced by Lauren Lubin

Young readers:

Last night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Being Jazz : my life as a (transgender) teen by Jazz Jennings

Queer, there, and everywhere : 23 people who changed the world by Sarah Prager with illustrations by Zoë More O’Ferrall

This book is gay written by James Dawson and illustrated by Spike Gerrell ; introduction by David Levithan

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Julián is a mermaid by Jessica Love

Rainbow : a first book of pride by Michael Genhart, PhD ; illustrated by Anne Passchier

Beyond the gender binary by Alok Vaid-Menon

No girls allowed : tales of daring women dressed as men for love, freedom and adventure written by Susan Hughes ; illustrated by Willow Dawson

UBC Strategic Plan Feature

Jessica Lowry Academic Communication Consultant at the Centre for Scholarly Communication (CSC), was featured in a UBC Strategic Plan story on Research Excellence for a new series of workshops and a writing retreat developed by CSC staff to support undergraduate thesis writers.

Read the article

Learn about the workshop series

Undergraduate honours students who attend this series can expect to learn about reviewing the literature for their honours research projects, gain tips for structuring and writing their theses for maximum impact, and develop valuable skills to kickstart successful careers in research.

This series will feature in-person workshops to help researchers build connections and network with peers, as well as interactive, online workshops with resources to support undergraduate students and the writing of their theses. 

Workshop series schedule:

• October | Reviewing the Literature for Your Research
• November | Starting the Thesis Mini-Retreat
• December | Undergraduate Thesis Structure
• January | The Undergraduate Thesis: Introductions and Conclusions
• February | Discussing Results, Receiving Feedback, and Revising
• March | Undergraduate Thesis Writer’s Retreat

Interested in attending these workshops? Email csc.ok@ubc.ca.

This transformative learning experience is hosted by the UBCO Library and Centre for Scholarly Communication.  

This book has been reviewed for Equity Reads by Theo Dhaliwal, UBCO student and Inclusive Programming and Engagement Assistant in the Equity & Inclusion Office.  

Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada by Michelle Good is a masterclass in direct language. Good’s tone throughout the book is frank and unflinching, maintaining that for genuine reconciliation between Indigenous Nations and non-Indigenous folks in Canada, we must all first reckon with the truth of Canada’s violent history.  

Borrow Truth Telling 

We cannot talk our way around the harm that has been done to Indigenous people, their nations, and their cultures. We must tell the truth: Canada has knowingly and intentionally committed violence against Indigenous people through the disruption of Indigenous family units, economic disenfranchisement, betraying treaty terms, and more. 

Good is meticulous in referencing and discussing historical events and points of contact between Indigenous Nations and non-Indigenous Canadians, but the book is best enjoyed if you have a baseline knowledge of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations in Canada. All of us need to acknowledge historical structures and relationships, including those harms that continue today, so that we can meaningfully and responsibly move towards a better future for all communities on these lands.

The overarching theme in Truth Telling is the disconnect between the acts of violence committed against Indigenous people, and how much agency Indigenous people have over their own stories and experiences. One example of this is when Good recounts how the violence that Métis author Maria Campbell experienced at the hands of the RCMP was cut from her memoir Halfbreed. While the missing passages were eventually included, the harm of erasing the experience of an Indigenous woman was irreversible.   

Borrow Halfbreed

Good advocates fiercely for Indigenous rights and holds hope for Canada’s collective future. She implores that none of us allow Indigenous history, or affirmations of Indigenous rights, to exist only as words on a page. Rather, settlers have a duty to breathe life into documents such as the TRC Calls to Action and actively create and repair relations with Indigenous peoples and communities. She acknowledges how tenuous this relationship can be but maintains that there is hope for all of our relations to improve and thrive. 

In the last chapter, Good refers to attempts by many Indigenous nations to regain Aboriginal Title on their lands as well as the corresponding sovereignty over them, drawing a particular example to the 1997 Delgamuukw vs British Columbia and the implications this has on current Wet’suwet’en land defenders. This is a real-world opportunity for our governments to uphold the rights of Indigenous people – if we are affirming Indigenous sovereignty over Indigenous lands, why are we continuing to incarcerate and systemically antagonize Indigenous people and allies for asserting that sovereignty.

Overall, Truth Telling is a wake-up call to all Canadians engaging with truth and reconciliation as frameworks in which we pursue equity in Canada. Good reminds us that truth and reconciliation are separate notions and, while they should be held in equal respect, we must address the truth that Canada has buried for so long before we can move forward. 

Find more Equity Reads 

(Reviewer: Theo Dhaliwal, UBCO student and Programming and Engagement Assistant in the Equity & Inclusion Office.)