Naked Pictures by Rockies poet Mme Paulette Dubé is a curious peek into a curious mind during a curious time in the world.  Naked Pictures is available in Jasper and through At Bay Press. // Supplied Peering at the COVID pandemic from her various perches in Jasper’s wildlife-rich Douglas fir forests...

Jasper’s outfitter lifestyle stars in entertaining, enlightening read Geologist Patrick McLaren has created a solid bedrock on which to recount his charming memoirs. Magic Travels: The Unlikely Adventures of a Geologist is McLaren’s first book. The title presents an unassuming facade, but what lies ...

This is the sequel to Poetry in the Snow , from February 9, 2024. Next day we skied  to the alpine and came across fresh grizzly tracks. One of the things I enjoyed about snow camping was the comforting thought that all the bears were tucked up snugly in their dens and I could get a good night's sle...

“Is there anybody there?” said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the grasses—” No one descended to the traveller. // Harrap “It's 'chomped', Dad! Not champed . . . ” “No it isn't, it's 'champed'. Do you think I don't know the poem?” I took out the Phot...

The sky was mauve, a pale bluish purple. A colour you only see in winter. Mauve, the colour of cold. This was the night the temperature was forecast to hit minus 30 degrees Celsius.  As we struggled up from the valley the forecast seemed spot on.     I caught the smell of woodsmoke and figured our b...

“If I can do this, you can as well.” John McLay was in Jasper for Booklovers Weekend (October 21-23), a three day dedication to books, book workshops, book writers and book readings hosted by the collaborators at the Jasper Municipal Library, JAG and Jasper’s Habitat for the Arts . Author John McLay...

This story originally appeared in the March 1, 2020 edition of The Jasper Local . Author’s note: If any names have been changed, it’s to spare the blushes of Jasper’s stolid citizens. Those who dream by night . . . wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous...

In Jasper, a trickster is about. Just ask Joe Urie—although be warned…you might not get a straight answer. Illustration: Joe Urie and Ed Duchoslav While he was writing his forthcoming, debut novel, Urie wasn’t sure if the protagonist he was crafting was based on himself, or not. However, a conversat...

Author, conservationist and former superintendent of Banff National Park, Kevin Van Tighem, wants Albertans to reimagine themselves. At a time when social, economic and environmental changes confront and confound Alberta,Van Tighem, a fourth-generation Albertan, says we need better ways of rememberi...

Destanne Norris has long-known that death is part of living.  However, it’s taken her decades to fully understand that idea. Norris lost her daughter to a tragic accident in 1995. Leah was just 19-months-old when she fell into the Maligne River and was swept away. “She just got away from our eyes,” ...