Beth Everest, who has recently published a book of Jasper tales, now plans to donate all proceeds to a Jasper cause.
The Jasper-raised author held a book launch at the Jasper Library and Cultural Centre on Thursday (Dec. 5).
“This book is really fun, and you’ll find humour, you'll find most incredible characters, and you get a sense of how Jasper was built,” Everest said.
Everest lived in Jasper for the first 25 years of her life before moving to Calgary. A professor of creative writing, she has published three books, and her poetry and fiction have been published in journals across the country.
Some of the Facts: Jasper When Stories Were Told, her most recent book, is a collection of fictionalized stories based loosely on the people who lived and worked in Jasper National Park in its early days.
“I strongly believe that oral history continues on for many years, and even though it changes, it still gives us a sense of what the community was like and the kind of things that the people could do here in those early days,” Everest said.
She wanted readers to understand the people who lived in Jasper when her father, Roy, first arrived mid-century.
“Jasper is unique from many, many other places, because it’s a railroad town, because it’s a ski town, because people come here for a variety of reasons, because it’s so beautiful,” she said. “But there are things to do here, and the people who choose to live here are a different category.”
Some of the Facts was originally scheduled to be published in 2027, but Jasper’s disastrous summer accelerated that timeline.
The Jasper wildfire destroyed Everest’s family home along with a third of the town. Her father has since returned to Jasper to a former rental property owned by the family.
Shortly after the fire, her publisher, Frontenac House, called and suggested they publish her book immediately as a fundraiser.
She has dedicated her book to her father and all Jasperites and is donating all her royalties, while Frontenac House is donating all profits. All proceeds will go to the Jasper Community Team Society through the Banff-Canmore Foundation’s Rocky Mountain Community Relief Fund.
A separate book launch was held in Ottawa and hosted by former Yellowhead MP Joe Clark and his wife, Maureen, who are family friends. Current MP Gerald Soroka and five of the six Alberta senators were in attendance.
While in Ottawa, Everest had a book signing at Perfect Books, where store owner Jim Sherman joined in donating all the proceeds from the sale of the books to the community relief fund.
