The East Side of it All

Joseph Dandurand
Publisher: Nightwood Editions

Book Description

The East Side of It All draws on Joseph Dandurand’s first-hand experiences of life as a drug user and single-room occupant in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and of the ongoing process of healing through reconnection with family, the natural world and traditional Indigenous (Kwantlen) storytelling. His voice is lyrical yet intimate, obscured yet sitting with you at the kitchen table having a cigarette. The East Side of It All is the journey of a broken man who finally accepts his storytelling gift and shares with the world his misery, joy and laughter. Dandurand’s previous poetry collection was shortlisted for the 2020 Dorothy Livesay BC Book Prize for Poetry.

Author Bio

Joseph Dandurand is a member of Kwantlen First Nation located on the Fraser River about twenty minutes east of Vancouver, BC. He resides there with his three children. Dandurand is the director of the Kwantlen Cultural Centre and the author of two books of poetry, I Want (Leaf Press, 2015) and Hear and Foretell (BookLand Press, 2015), and the children’s book The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets (Nightwood Editions, 2020).