Authors Kathy Wagner and David Norwell discuss new books

On this edition of Today in B.C., host Peter McCully chats with two authors, Kathy Wagner and David Norwell, on the sixth edition of the ‘Made in B.C. Book Club’.

In the first segment, David Norwell talks about A Complex Coast, a soul-searching personal account of his 1,700-kilometre solo kayak journey from Victoria to Alaska.

The book contains many illustrations done by Norwell, who said it was a way for him to explain things that he couldn’t describe in words.

“I had so much fun writing this book because it's also an ‘I Spy’, a maze, a recipe book and there's a crossword puzzle,” said Norwell. “I just really wanted to be playful with it. I wanted to illustrate and write something that people could be a little bit surprised by. The whole goal of the book is to help people on their own journeys and inspire people to go out on their own little adventures, however big or small.”

In the second segment McCully, chats with Wagner about Here with You, a memoir of love, family and addiction. It's the powerful story of a mother struggling to save her son and the strength and hope for change she found in her grief.

“Tristan had some successes during those six years because I was fighting for him and I was advocating for him in the only way that I knew how outside of the systems of care,” said Wagner of her son. “But there is nothing, and I know that even still today, there is nothing that a parent can do for a child who is not ready to seek help. I think that is one of the greatest shortfalls of our current system of care for people with mental health and addiction issues.”

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