Almost a year to the day, Pownal Street Press invites the community to the launch of Fiona, taking place at the Salvador Dali Café on Sunday, September 17th, from 2 – 3:30 pm.
Featured presenters include Jay Scotland, Adrian McNally Smith, PEI Poet Laureate Tanya Davis and the Island Nature Trust.
All Islanders will remember September 24th 2022, when post-tropical cyclone Fiona made landfall as one of the most intense storms to ever hit our coastal shores. In an unprecedented outage that left 95% of customers without power, Fiona left in her wake Islanders ravaged and disoriented. But as Islanders struggled in the days and weeks that followed, what revealed itself was a community whose spirit cannot be broken.
This limited edition of poetry, essay and photographs records Islanders’ experience of the storm, from Fiona’s first shocking moments post to the absolute wonder experienced as the lights came back on, home by home. It is a historical record of a weather event that will never be forgotten, and serves to capture the impact of climate change on Canada’s smallest province,
With an introduction by CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland, Fiona includes written work by the Island Nature Trust, by Kim Griffin of Maritime Electric, by PEI Poet Laureate Tanya Davis and Former Poet Laureate Julie Pellisier Lush, by the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute, and by cartoonist Wayne Wright. Works by Lisa Chandler, Jennifer Platts Fanning, Michael Pendergast, Millefiore Clarkes, Jordan Beaulieu, Jessica Fritz, Dianne Hicks Morrow, and Adrian McNally Smith are also featured. Photography by the Island Nature Trust, Angela Rowlings, Andrew Lewis and more.
In my years of witnessing damage from PEI weather events, Fiona has left me, and all Islanders, with unimaginable visions and memories of her wrath. I was awestruck, as I navigated my way around our neighbourhood, by the aroma of cracked and fallen timber, downed wires and poles, damaged buildings, and the whirr of generators. This book is an important record of Island weather history.
—Kevin “Boomer” Gallant
Book sales by the Bookmark. Royalties from the book’s sales will be donated to the Island Nature Trust.
Join Pownal Street Press at the Wild Threads Literary Festival as we celebrate on Sunday, September 17th from 2-3:30 pm, at the Salvador Dali Café.
Fiona
ISBN: 9781778124594
$55.00 Hardback
11.25”x 8.5” | 120 pages (Colour photos throughout)
Order your copy HERE.
About Pownal Street Press:
Pownal Street Press is Charlottetown’s newest independent publishing house. Inspired in name by the iconic Charlottetown street, a charming mix of modern and historical, Pownal Street Press is symbolic of the evolution of the publishing industry. The mission of Pownal Street Press is to discover, amplify and empower storytellers, and seeks to broaden the publishing landscape with a diverse collection of topics and tones.