An author whose latest book explores the history of Italian immigrants in B.C. will be speaking in Burnaby.
Lynne Bowen is set to appear on Nov. 5 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the McGill branch of Burnaby Public Library.
Her book Whoever Gives Us Bread: The Story of Italians in British Columbia, traces the stories of individual immigrants to craft a history of the Italian settlement of B.C.
It introduces such people as Joseph Fontana, who incensed his fellow striking miners when he crossed their picket line near Ladysmith, and Sabina Teti, who ran a boarding house in Vancouver's Strathcona district.
There are stories of the 53 Italians who were rounded up in B.C. and shipped off to Kananaskis internment camp for fear they would support Mussolini.
The book explores the strong connections between Italy and the B.C. towns where Italians found work - Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Powell River, Prince Rupert, Trail, Fernie and more.
Bowen is the author of five books on Western Canadian history. She has won the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal, the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and the Canadian Historical Association's regional certificate of merit.
She was the co-chair of creative non-fiction writing at UBC from 1992 to 2006.
For more about Bowen, check out her website at www.lynnebowen.ca.
