The passions of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes — the largest regional celebration in the publishing world — have now settled. The finalists and winners are well known, led this year by the breakout A Haida Wedding (written by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, published by Heritage House Publishing), alongside the customary dominance of Greater Vancouver representatives. Island authors and their publishers had their moment too, as the annual Victoria Book Prizes were also awarded. At the same time, publishers have already applied for new ISBN pools, giving us a glimpse of the upcoming season’s premieres. The beginning of the calendar autumn is, quite naturally, a new year not only for certain faith communities but also for the publishing world. Very soon, the literary year will be ushered in with celebrations — once again at Salt Spring Island’s Paper Covers Rock and in the capital with the Victoria Festival of Authors, marking its tenth anniversary this year.

In the meantime, we present our selection of this year’s most remarkable books whose theme is the most beautiful place in the world — Vancouver Island. The list includes only works published in 2025, excluding traditional guides and reissues from earlier years. As a bonus, we’ve added a short preview of the most anticipated upcoming publishing premieres. Because what could be better than a selection of fine reading while sipping coffee or tea in your favourite cozy spot in the fall? We sincerely hope the Top Books of VanIsland.Life 2025 will appeal to you.

title Who Shot Estevan Light?
  And Other Tales from the Salish Sea and Beyond
author Douglas Hamilton
publisher Caitlin Press Inc.
date 2025-02-07
ISBN 978-1-773861531

Pirates, rumrunners, moonshine—in Who Shot Estevan Light?, Douglas Hamilton delivers an eclectic collection of maritime stories and folktales from in and around the Salish Sea.
In this eclectic collection, Who Shot Estevan Light?: Tales from the Salish Sea and Beyond, author Douglas Hamilton shares stories of maritime history and local folklore: The Flying Dutchman, a notorious BC pirate reputed to have been part of Butch Cassidy’s gang and who eluded the police only to resurface on Lasqueti Island; a BC lighthouse that was shelled by a Japanese submarine in 1942; an undeservedly little-known French explorer who rivalled Captain Cook in the extent of his travels in the Pacific, and more.
Hamilton introduces us to a band of rumrunners who narrowly escaped police while using speed boats outfitted with WWI aircraft engines, and to the tragic history of the steamship Grappler. He takes us inside a horrendous maritime disaster event exacerbated by racism and greed, and he shares the tale of a Spanish map of “California Island” that looked suspiciously like Vancouver Island at a time when maps were state secrets or deliberate deceptions. As in his previous publication Accidental Eden, Hamilton treats the reader to tales of local west coast folklore, including the perils of moonshine, a mysterious disappearance, and a titillating intergenerational tale. Who Shot Estevan Light? offers an enthralling escape into the world of adventure, intrigue and timeless west coast maritime stories.

title Vancouver Island
  The Art of the Landscape
author Dave Hutchison, Kelly Hutchison
publisher Two Trees Art Publishing
date 2025-02-15
ISBN 978-1-738378609

Vancouver Island: The Art of the Landscape is a visual journey and celebration of this beautiful island and its adjacent Gulf Islands, as seen by nature and wildlife photographer Dave Hutchison. A twenty-year photographic journey, it is also a collaboration of two nature lovers, husband and wife, who together shared a vision: to create a pictorial fine art book, filled with beautiful scenic images, which both preserves and honours the landscape in time. The narrative is woven through Dave’s personal experiences, as he shares the stories behind his photos, offers tips on his favourite locations, and delves into the islands’ fascinating history. The book is organized into seven geographical regions for easy reference: Victoria, Sidney & The Saanich Peninsula; Cowichan & Carmanah Valleys, Nanaimo & Parksville; The Southern Gulf Islands; Sooke to Port Renfrew West Coast Corridor; Tofino, Ucluelet, Bamfield & Area; Comox Valley, Campbell River & Area; Northern Vancouver Island & Area. Featuring more than 150 full colour images capturing the islands’ diverse landscapes, flora, fauna, cityscapes and wildlife, this book invites readers to immerse themselves in its beauty.

title Pacific Palate
  Food Artisans of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands
author Don Genova
publisher Touchwood Editions
date 2025-04-08
ISBN 978-1-771514262

Pacific Palate is the expanded and updated edition of the ultimate guide to sourcing local, artisanal, gourmet food products on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
In this expanded and updated edition, well-known food writer Don Genova presents the best food producers of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, introducing readers to the many talented and passionate people and companies throughout the region—all working to promote a growing food culture. Meet the local food artisans and learn about their history, discover favourite offerings, and get a sense of how well you can eat if you buy local.
Organized into six regions—Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley, Mid-Island, Greater Victoria, Saanich Peninsula, and the Gulf Islands—the book provides complete sourcing information and the stories behind some of the best produce, dairy, chocolate, honey, sauces, meats, seafoods, baked goods, and beverages to be found on the islands.
The book also includes Saturday Sojourns—tips for spending a toothsome and memorable day in each region. Open the door to the islands’ food network and discover high-quality food products made with love and care right here. With over 160 profiles, an intro to the language and labelling around local food, and six detailed maps to set you on the path, Pacific Palate is your guide to the best of the islands’ edible abundance.

title Trees of Victoria
  A Wanderer's Guide
author Collin Varner
publisher Heritage House Publishing
date 2025-04-29
ISBN 978-1-772035339

A full-colour guide to more than 200 species of coniferous and broadleaf trees found throughout the parks, woodlands, and urban green spaces of Victoria, BC.
Victoria, British Columbia, known by locals as the “City of Gardens” also holds the esteemed position as Canada’s warmest city. Its climate, a pleasant mixture of plentiful rain and long stretches of sunshine, makes Victoria an ideal place for an incredible array of diverse tree species, both native and introduced, to grow and flourish. In fact, the vast, lush, green tree canopy acts as the city’s lungs, absorbing carbon dioxide from the surrounding atmosphere and releasing oxygen, helping to mitigate climate change.
This compact, user-friendly guidebook introduces more than 200 species, cultivars, and varieties of Victoria’s incredibly diverse tree inventory—from Garry oak to Douglas fir, giant redwood to Japanese maple. Accessible for locals and visitors alike, Trees of Victoria: A Wanderer’s Guide covers Victoria proper, as well as Oak Bay, Uplands, South Saanich, James Bay, and Esquimalt, highlighting all the main visitor attractions along way. This attractive, full-colour resource is a must-have, whether you are in town for a short jaunt around the historic city centre or you wish to identify the trees in your own neighbourhood or along your regular walking or hiking route.

title Emerson
  the Elephant Seal
author Ginger Ngo
publisher Harbour Publishing
date 2025-05-19
ISBN 978-1-998526345

A colourful, imagination-filled picture book for children aged 3-5, based on the true story of Emerson the elephant seal, who decided to abandon his home in the wilds for life in the bright city lights of Victoria, BC.
Emerson, a two-year-old juvenile elephant seal, keeps turning up in Victoria, BC, despite the best efforts of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans staff—who would like him to know that the provincial capital is not the best home for a 500-pound pinniped.
Born in January 2022 on Bowman Bay in Puget Sound, Emerson made headlines across Canada and gained a loyal following in Victoria, where he spent a month moulting at Oak Bay Marina Beach before making his way onto the grassy boulevard next to Beach Drive. Undeterred by several efforts to relocate him, Emerson returned again and again to Victoria’s beaches and roads.
But what exactly brought Emerson back? In this energetic picture book, children will wonder: perhaps he longed to try the smoked salmon tea sandwiches at the Empress? Did Emerson want to roll all over the flowers at Butchart Gardens or take a tour of the BC Parliament Buildings? While wildlife officials have their theories, Ginger Ngo explores the capital through the eyes of Emerson in a way that will have Victoria’s youngest residents and visitors laughing out loud.

title Blockade
  Diaries of a Forest Defender
author Christine Lowther
publisher Caitlin Press Inc.
date 2025-06-03
ISBN 978-1-773861609

West Coast activist Christine Lowther returns to her blockade years of the early nineties, marked by old-growth occupations, lockdowns and barricades on the frontlines of Vancouver Island’s ancient temperate rainforests.
In the early 1990s, ancient temperate rainforests on Vancouver Island became the stage for mass blockades against clearcut logging in Nuučaańuł territory. Until the more recent struggles at Fairy Creek, Clayoquot Sound hosted the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada. National news coverage at the time showed mothers with their babies, grandparents, business people, and many other unlikely activists standing on the logging road or locked to makeshift structures, risking arrest to defend these rare, evolved ecosystems. Christine Lowther was arrested in 1992 for lying across the Clayoquot Arm bridge while MacMillan Bloedel fallers tried to drive to work with their chainsaws. Blockade is her gripping, first-hand account of the joys, struggles, and victories of this historic movement.
Drawing from her daily journals recorded at the time, Lowther recounts the vibrant and tense atmosphere of confronting police and loggers with nonviolent civil disobedience. She vividly describes creative direct actions—themed blockades, lock-downs, nighttime barricade building, occupations of ancient trees and government offices. Blockade contemplates the stark realities of the movement, including threats of police violence and the disturbing collusion between the RCMP and extraction corporations. Despite the powderkeg atmosphere, Lowther found wonder by kayaking the inlets and settling down to life in unceded Tlaoquiaht territory where she still gratefully resides.
Blockade is a celebration of resilience and a powerful account of successful environmental activism. It highlights the continuing threat to old-growth forests, with a nod to Fairy Creek, and commends the June 18, 2024 announcement of 76,000 hectares of new conservancies in Clayoquot (Tlaoquiaht) Sound, nearly doubling the protected temperate rainforest within this iconic region.
Thrilling, evocative, and necessary, Christine Lowther’s Blockade showcases the need to defend remnant intact crucial ecosystems hand in hand with the Indigenous peoples whose ancestral gardens these lands are. It is a rallying cry of hope for all those who stand up for the natural world and a roadmap for future generations of defenders.

title Trading Fate
  How a Little-Known Company
  Stopped British Columbia from
  Becoming an American State
author Graeme Menzies
publisher Heritage House Publishing
date 2025-09-16
ISBN 978-1-772035483

This uniquely west-coast take on Canada's origin story focuses on a long-forgotten event that nearly led to British Columbia becoming part of the United States.
Long before a certain American president took to social media to express his desire to make Canada the fifty-first state, the west coast of what is today called British Columbia found itself in the crosshairs of two imperial powers, faced with the very real possibility of being ceded to the United States.
In the summer of 1789, a political and trade dispute between the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, imperial Spain, Great Britain, and the USA converged in Nootka Sound, off Vancouver Island. If not for the intervention the King George’s Sound Trading Company, Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s fate could have turned out very differently, and the concept of a Canada that extended from Atlantic to Pacific would have been finished before it even began.
With clear, engaging prose, author Graeme Menzies lays out the setting, intrigue, and dynamic cast of characters that ultimately determined Canada’s geographical fate. Released at a time when imperialism, sovereignty, and national identity are more relevant than ever, this book asks us to ponder the events that shaped a nation and established a relationship between neighbouring countries that has once again become precarious.

title Turmoil
  The Life and Times of Phillip Hankin
author Michael Layland
publisher TouchWood Editions
date 2025-10-21
ISBN 978-1-771514712

Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Turmoil: The Life and Times of Philip Hankin follows the daring, rocky life of a world traveler, marine charter, four-time acting head of government, and larger-than-life personality who has for too long been an unseen shadow in the background of B.C.’s turbulent early history.
Hailing from a frigid aristocratic family in England, Philip Hankin first landed in Esquimalt, British Columbia in 1847 as a young man in the Royal Navy. By then, he was already a world traveller who had spent time on expeditions hunting slavers on the coast of West Africa and been personally gifted signed portraits from the King and Queen of Hawai’i. A gregarious man with a penchant for gravitating toward the people and positions that would shape the early development of the region, Philip Hankin was a subtle but fascinating force on Vancouver Island in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Turmoil traces a remarkable man’s life from birth, painting an engrossing portrait of both one individual and of a whole region in flux. Philip Hankin touched the history of the islands first as a member of the navy working on the first accurate marine chart of local waters and delineating the boundary with the United States, then as a linguistic enthusiast and negotiator with Indigenous communities, and, finally, as a as a superintendent of the police, an administrator under three governors, and acting head of government on four separate occasions. Published for the first time in Turmoil is also the word list co-created in 1861 by Philip Hankin and a member of Huu-ay-aht First Nation that features three hundred words, thirty-five phrases, numbers, and the Lord’s Prayer. This list was a tremendous early contribution to linguistic scholarship and cross-cultural communication lost to the archives, introduced here by Dr. Henry Kammler of the University of Munich Institute of Ethnology.
Rigorously researched and featuring excerpts from Hankin’s biography, letters, and numerous primary sources, award-winning author and historian Michael Layland reveals mysterious traumas and tipping points in Hankin's life that go unmentioned in his memoir, and from the twists and turns of one man’s journey, outlines the complicated global and regional forces that, with varying degrees of subtlety and force, moulded British Columbia as we know it today.

title Painting Victoria
  fifty years of memories from a city by the sea
author Robert Amos
publisher TouchWood Editions
date 2025-11-04
ISBN 978-1-771514873

Painting Victoria is a loving tribute to a storied city from one of its most dedicated living artists, Robert Amos, and makes a wonderful gift for enthusiastic locals and new visitors alike.
When he first came to Victoria in 1974, local artist and art historian Robert Amos was enchanted. In Painting Victoria, he collects decades of paintings done almost entirely on location into a sweeping artistic love letter that spans fifty years. Painting Victoria roves from the sparkling waters of Cadboro Bay to the industrial relics of the Albion Iron Works, with stops among the boats of the Inner Harbour, the neon lights of Chinatown, and the tranquil paths of Japanese Gardens.
Inspired by the local painters and printmakers that came before him, Amos paints and sketches Victoria’s waterways and boats, famous gardens, breathtaking ocean and mountain views, heritage buildings, and unsung corners in a whimsical style and with a keen eye for the unique character of the city. Featuring paintings from numerous art collections, including the City of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the University of Victoria, and the artist's personal collection, join the Victoria Times Colonist’s art columnist of thirty years in a journey across the city. From the riotous colours of a summer parade, to captivating snapshots of the fireworks at Butchart Gardens, to quiet quotidian scenes at the Carr House, discover Victoria through an artist's eyes.

title A Festive Season on Vancouver Island
author Bill Arnott
publisher Rocky Mountain Books
date 2025-11-04
ISBN 978-1-771607261

The perfect illustrated gift for anyone seeking the magic of the holidays.
In A Festive Season on Vancouver Island, Bill Arnott transports readers to the enchanting holiday season on Vancouver Island, blending personal insights with the stunning landscapes of the region. From snow-capped mountains to lush forests, Arnott captures the island’s natural beauty and rich cultural history, offering an immersive experience that highlights the connection between tradition, adventure, and local charm. Whether exploring festive celebrations or the serene beauty of the outdoors, this book showcases Vancouver Island as a unique destination for holiday exploration.
Written with a mix of nostalgia and discovery, Arnott’s storytelling celebrates the island's flora, fauna, and vibrant community spirit, making this book an ideal choice for readers looking to embrace the holiday season in a captivating setting. Perfect for holiday gifting or as a personal escape, this beautifully illustrated book is a must-read for anyone seeking a festive, heartwarming journey.

title John Horgan
  In His Own Words
author John Horgan, Rod Mickleburgh
publisher Harbour Publishing
date 2026-04-07
ISBN 978-1-998526260

This candid, unvarnished memoir of British Columbia’s most popular premier reveals a legacy of enduring value to Canadian politics and culture.
The public outpouring of emotion at the time of John Horgan’s death in 2024 surprised few who had come to know him well. The tributes to BC’s most popular premier reflected a man whose multifaceted character won admiration that deepened over time—someone both bold and unassuming, driven by principle but flexible enough to welcome ideas from across the political spectrum.
In the wake of the loss comes the unmistakable voice of Horgan himself, in this candid, piercing, often funny memoir. Here, he reveals the path that transformed him from the wayward figure of his youth—the son of “an Irish scrapper”—to the first two-term NDP premier in BC history. He meets his soulmate, Ellie, while drunkenly belting out songs on a university pub crawl. He attends a single talk by a tiny man he’d never heard of named Tommy Douglas and is changed overnight from a self-declared jock who was “just chipping away at what the world was all about” into a student of Canadian politics committed to helping lift whole communities out of struggle.
With characteristic frankness, Horgan leads readers through the pivotal moments of his political career—such as forging a remarkable alliance with the Greens and leading the NDP to its largest electoral victory in BC history. He also offers vivid accounts of his government’s pressure-filled response to the COVID pandemic, his efforts to open new ways toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and of facing the cancer that eventually ended his life. With each of these passages, a uniquely spirited personality comes into sharper focus, one who was always in search of a fragile balance between urgent environmental, labour and resource issues and whose memory and legacy will be essential to the province and the country in the challenging years ahead.

title Vancouver Island
  A Contemporary History
author Katherine Palmer Gordon
publisher Harbour Publishing
date 2026-05-12
ISBN 978-1-998526444

This clear and captivating volume finally tells the full story of Vancouver Island, from its earliest societies to the modern day.
Vancouver Island’s rich and complex past has long deserved a compelling and accessible history—and this book delivers. Award-winning author Katherine Palmer Gordon opens with the vibrant histories of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw, and Coast Salish peoples, whose societies, laws, and economies were shaped by the island’s distinctive geography and resources.
Gordon traces the impacts of colonization, from the arrival of the Hudson’s Bay Company and British governance to the imposition of reserves, residential schools, and the construction of the Island Rail Corridor. Key historical figures—such as Governor Douglas, Amor de Cosmos, and Joseph Trutch—feature alongside chapters on settlement, industry, and emerging political movements.
The narrative follows the island’s cultural and economic evolution through the rise of resource industries, the counterculture era, and its unexpected role in the birth of Canada’s Green Party. Stories of BC Ferries, Cowichan sweaters, the history of Long Beach, and the 1990s “War in the Woods” illustrate defining moments and regional icons.
Turning to the present, Gordon highlights the resurgence of Indigenous governance, new approaches to conservation, and the individuals shaping Vancouver Island today. Written in an engaging and accessible style, this sweeping account will appeal to history lovers, local residents, and curious visitors alike.