Beyond the Page in the Comox Valley

 In this episode of Beyond the Page we meet BC writer and adventurer, Bill Arnott - best selling author of The Perfect Day Walks, The Season memoirs, and The Gone Viking travel memoirs. Recipient of fellowships at Britain's Royal Geographical Society, and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for his expeditions, Bill is a travel ambassador for Canadian Geographic and Adventure Canada, and a fre...

Our guest for this episode is Claire Mulligan, the current writer-in-residence at Haig-Brown House in Campbell River. Claire Mulligan is a prolific and successful writer in many genres. Her historical novels, The Reckoning of Boston Jim and The Dark have been nominated for the Giller Prize, the BC Book prize and the Canadian Author's award, and her short stories have won over a dozen awards. Clair...

Welcome to Beyond the Page in the Comox Valley. This episode is a conversation between Beyond the Page host, Sharon McInnes and two librarians from the Vancouver Island Regional Library system — Zane Weller, Adult Services librarian for Courtenay and Comox, and Jessie Burgess, Children's librarian in Courtenay. Today, Zane and Jessie share their personal stories about being librarians, and talk ab...

Susan Juby's latest book, "Contemplation of a Crime," published in 2025, is the third in a cozy-murder mystery series. The first book in that series, "Mindful of Murder," debuted at number one on the independent bookstores' bestseller chart and was a finalist for the Leacock Medal for Humor. The second book in the series, "A Meditation on Murder," was a Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Vancouver...

Today's Beyond the Page episode features a conversation with Timothy Taylor. Taylor is a Vancouver-based author, journalist, and creative writing professor. His novels include Stanley Park, The Blue Light Project, The Rule of Stevens, Storyhouse, and The Rise and Fall of Magic Wolf. He has also published a collection of short fiction called Silent Cruise, a nonfiction book called Foodville, and is...

In this episode, three children's authors and an illustrator will talk about writing for this most delightful but demanding of audiences. Our participants today are: Marlet Ashley, author of five children's books in the series Revelry on the Estuary as well as a stand-alone book called Must Be Christmas; Kate Brown, Marlet's illustrator; Nancy Stewart, author of The Lost Dragon Egg, Rodney Rooster...

This episode is more like a personal conversation  between two people who have gone through similar, life-altering experiences, than a typical interview. In her graphic memoir, Tangles , Sarah Leavitt chronicles her journey with her mother Midge, who died at an early age with Alzheimer's disease. And in Something, Not Nothing , another graphic memoir, she tells the story of her grief journey durin...

In this episode, Sharon McInnes interviews Comox Valley nomad and travel writer, Kim Letson. In this interview, Kim shares the personal and travel journeys that led her to write Pomegranates at 4800 Metres,   Soul of a Nomad, and In the Footsteps of a Roman Legion: Walking the Via Egnatia. 

In this episode, Sharon McInnes and Stewart Goodings interview local nonfiction authors Ian Kennedy and Christine Dickinson. Ian was born in Donegal, Ireland and moved to Comox in 1999, following his retirement. Widely published in many magazines, his journalism includes articles about rugby, history, travel, motorcycling, cottage living, and pubs. Christine was born and educated in New Zealand an...

After fifteen years working at CBC News, then on science and nature documentaries for National Geographic and Discovery, Larry Bambrick spent the next decade writing tv dramas and comedies, including   Flashpoint, Played, Carter, Bitten, When Hope Calls, Shoot the Messenger,   and   Hudson and Rex. He is currently working on a feature-length film called The Lion in Winnipeg. In this episode with i...

Sylvia Bourgeois is the author of True Moxie and Here Now , two novels set partly in the Pacific Northwest. She is a member of the Comox Valley Writers Society, where she facilitates a group for authors who self-publish. In this episode, she shares some of her wisdom about the self-publishing process and especially about how to market your book with interviewer, Sharon McInnes.

Judy LeBlanc is the co-founder of the Fat Oyster Reading Series in Fanny Bay. She has written three books: The Promise of Water , a book of short stories published in 2017 by Oolichan Books, The Broken Heart of Winter, a novel published in 2023 by Caitlin Press, and Permission to Land , a memoir in essays, published in 2024 by Caitlin Press. Judy taught creative writing at North Island College for...

Kim Bannerman is a prolific author based in Cumberland, British Columbia. She's written 17 books--mostly mysteries--and had countless short stories published. She is also co-owner of Fox and Bee Studio, which provides videography, script development, narration, and voice over services. In this episode, Sharon McInnes interviews Kim about her writing life.