When I sent my last update I believed it was impossible to include graphic illustrations with my message. Not true. 

So here are some samples of serigraphs I would like to have illustrate the book. They are all by the same artist, a Haida woman named Skaana Jaad, who lives in Masset on Graham Island.

Many of you are asking where the book is. Good question.  You supported it and it should be on your bedside table. Here are some reasons why it’s not:

The book is written and edited. It now goes into production, a notoriously slow and frustrating process with any book publisher. The next step is copy editing, then proof reading, then design. 

Design will be slower than usual with this book because it is illustrated. That’s always true of illustrated books. Print is easy, art’s a bear. Moreover, I am working side-by-side with a Haida artist on the islands. Her stunning serigraphs will be slow to arrive but worth the wait. I wish I could show you just one of them.

And while all this is under way on the Haida Gwaii Lesson, Inkshares is doing the same with dozens of other books. And, as they do so, they are researching the unique and challenging market for our book.

So all I can ask for is your patience, and hope that you’ll find the wait worthwhile.

Hi. 

This is a pre-departure postcard from edge of the world, setting for The Haida Gwaii Lesson, the Inkshares book you are supporting, and to where I am headed tomorrow. 

I will stay on the islands (there are 158 of them) indefinitely; for as long as it takes to gather what I need from the amazing and exceptional Haida people about their long, determined and successful struggle for land title and sovereignty. 

Their homeland is remote and communications uncertain, so you may not hear from me again until I’m home, probably some time before summer ends, hopefully full of insight and inspiration which I will share with you then.

Thanks again for your support.

Mark Dowie