Karen Southern

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Works by Karen Southern:

From ABC BookWorld, "Karen Southern was born in Powell River in 1943 and has lived there most of her life. With Peggy Bird she wrote an extensive local history, Pulp, Paper and People: 75 Years of Powell River. The Nelson Island history covers 100 years of settlement and events of the area between Sechelt and Powell River from about the 1860s to the 1980s. The Nelson Island granite quarry, begun in the late 1800s, was the catalyst for settlement. It provided the granite for the Parliament Buildings in Victoria. Southern also wrote an outdoor recreation guide to Powell River and the Sunshine Coast with Bryan Carson, Sunshine and Salt Air, revised in 1991. A second printing of her 1986 history, The Nelson Island Story: Including Hardy Island and Other Islands of Jervis Inlet is available through the Powell River Museum. (Of related interest is Boats, Bucksaws and Blisters, a collection of pioneer tales by Powell River's G.W. Thompson, also available via the museum's heritage association.)"

From Powell River Peak by Dean Unger, Dec 22, 2013 9:00 PM, "A life-long native of Powell River, Karen’s first job was at the Patricia Theatre. “I worked there from 1959 to 1961,” she said. “I was 16 when I started. From there I secured a job at MacMillan Bloedel, then, much later, I became an archivist and coordinator at the Powell River Historical Museum for several years.” It was in 1975 that Southern started her writing career. “I liked short stories because there was an end in sight,” Southern said of her early writing days, although everything she has produced since then has been book length non-fiction. “In 1991 the BC Heritage Trust came to take a look at Townsite and decided it was an ideal community to preserve,” she said. “I was the coordinator at the museum at the time and they were thrilled that we had so many good photos of the old community in the museum archives.” In the early days the town was inspired by an approach developed around the concept of equitable housing for company employees. Founders Dwight and Anson Brooks and MJ Scanlon were revolutionary in this regard and came up with the idea in answer to the squalor and destitution that seemed to plague other company townships. “You can see the same type of architecture and look of the community in the Shaughnessy and South Granville districts in Vancouver,” Southern said. “The architecture there emulated the arts and crafts movement that was big through the early 1900s.”