Briony penn books

Briony Penn uses words, art and humour to connect people to the other voices of the Salish Sea and the natural world. 

Writer

Penn is an award-winning writer of creative non-fiction books as well as a contributor to many anthologies and chapter books. She has been a feature writer and columnist for decades with over five hundred articles on environmental issues and natural history in newspapers, magazines, government publications, on-line news sources and peer-reviewed journals. She’s written environmental guides and educationalhandbooks for teachers in British Columbia. 

Books by Briony Penn include:

• Following the Good River, Rocky Mountain Books, 2020

  A Year on the Wild Side: A West Coast Naturalists Almanac, Touchwood Editions, 2019.

  The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan, Rocky Mountain Books, 2015.

  For the Love of Nature: Solutions for Biodiversity, Columbia Institute, 2010.

  The Kids Book of Canadian Geography, Kids Can Press, 2008.

Co-authored books and anthologies include:

• “Lun

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  <strong>Briony Penn</strong> is an award-winning writer of creative non-fiction books as well as a contributor to many anthologies and chapter books. She has been a feature writer and columnist for decades, with over five hundred articles on environmental issues and natural history in newspapers, magazines, government publications, online news sources and peer-reviewed journals. She has also written numerous environmental guides and educational handbooks for teachers in British Columbia. Her first book with RMB, <i>The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan</i>, was the winner and a finalist for two of the 2016 BC Book Prizes and the 2022 North American Wildlife Society Award. Briony’s work continued with the publication of two collaborative biographies with Cecil Paul: <i>Stories from the Magic Canoe of Wa’xaid</i> in 2019 and <i>Following the Good River: The Life and Times of Wa’xaid</i> in 2020, which won the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Award and the Butler Prize and was a finalist for the BC Book Prize in 2021. Briony

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  Briony Penn

  Briony Penn (born October 16, 1960) is a Canadian author, educator, geographer, artist, and environmental activist. She graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in geography/anthropology from the University of British Columbia and in 1988 with a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Edinburgh. Penn is an adjunct professor of environmental studies at the University of Victoria. In 1997 she co-founded The Land Conservancy of British Columbia and serves on its board. Her 2015 book The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan won the 2016 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. Penn wrote two books in collaboration with Wa’xaid (Cecil Paul), an elder of the Haisla people.

  Quotes

  • There is no doubt in my mind about which type of vulture I want attendant upon my death. Any funeral industry catalogue will provide you with a long list of the unwelcome vultures. A book on the birds of the west coast will supply you with the one species I would be happy pick over my bones — the Turkey Vulture. There are few selfless acts toward the natural world available to