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These stories recount the troubled lives of Ernst and Hannah Birnbaum, displaced German Jews who flee Hitler but cannot escape the shadow of the Holocaust. Their uprooted existence takes them from Europe to the Holy Land and eventually to Montreal where they attempt to create a shelter for their children. The new generation struggles with the inherited alienation that accompanies exile, striving to both protect and escape their vulnerable elders.

Originally published by Raincoast Books.

“In her first book, Gabriella Goliger takes the reader on a journey through the lives and memories of displaced and often damaged people. Writing with delicate strength and humour, she reveals a deep understanding of the dark places in their souls as they search for the light.” — Rachel Wyatt

Gabriella Goliger emerges with an experienced and assured voice. Her writing is incisive, her stories fierce with compassion and truth. In this powerful work one senses danger, portend. Very impressive.” — Frances Itani

“These are stories about ordinary Canadians, the kind that used to be told on winter evenings when the work was done. They are not intended to be representative but are about people I interviewed or talked to or saw or heard about. The intention is to add acquaintances to the variety of people you already know.

Most of the stories are an attempt to portray what the person told me as it was presented, others are fictional constructs of some aspect of an event. Some names have been changed, some have not.

I am of the opinion that history cannot be told through recitals of the deeds of mad kings, but only through descriptions of the work of ordinary citizens.” — from the Introduction

To order, click on “ordering information” on the right.

In a world of “experts” and “professionals” it’s rare that we hear the true voices of people living in poverty. Baxter’s straight up accounts of poor communities, grass roots activism and initiatives for change are complemented by current statistics on poverty in Canada. Baxter includes interview with other activists, from neighbourhood volunteers to members of parliament, documenting the resistance and compassion that underlies activism for social justice. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in understanding and fighting poverty in the 21st century.

    “Dying is not on an activist’s
    agenda,
    the act of surrendering, acceptance
    giving up
    for the unknown”

Jannit Rabinovitch, a long-time community activist, died in January of 2007 of cancer. She was a co-founder of PEERS (Prostitute Empowerment Education and Resource Society) and brought women escaping violence and homelessness together to build Sandi Merriman House.

Lauri Nerman read this poem at Jannit’s memorial service. At the request of Jannit’s family, and with the permission of the author, all proceeds from the sale of the poem will go to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In April 2007 The Globe and Mail published an obituary of Jannit’s life and achievements.

Globe and Mail discovers Helen Potrebenko’s Taxi as a “Buried Treasure”. To order the book, click on the “ordering information” button on the right. And check out Helen’s blog.

Originally published by Press Gang Publishers in 1995 and now distributed by Lazara Press.

Telling the truth is powerful medicine. It is a fire that lights the way for others. When we speak our “Fire Power,” we join a long & honored line of warriors against injustice.

Chrystos is a widely acclaimed writer and Native Rights activist, winner of the Audre Lorde International Poetry Competition in 1994 and of the Sappho Award of Distinction from the Astraea National Lesbian Action Foundation in 1995.

Danny, a young fisherman from Nova Scotia, found out that he was HIV positive and decided to hitchhike to Vancouver to find his mother who abandoned him as a child. The play unfolds as we see his life on the street in Vancouver, the community he finds there, and the events that lead up to his death.

“When a dumpster becomes a refuge, what is the meaning of life in the city? Death in a Dumpster will tell you. Poverty is only a word but it is very loaded with life, death, grief, family and denial. This play is about that word.”

– Libby Davies; MP Vancouver East

Sheila Baxter became involved in the anti-poverty movement in Montreal forty years ago and has been active in Vancouver’s downtown eastside and west end for the past twenty-five years. She is a street poet, tutor and author of four groundbreaking books on poverty and homelessness, including Under the Viaduct, winner of the VanCity Book Prize. She is also the grandmother of eight.