Skookum, cultus, hyack, saltchuck, klahowya, tillicum: It is in words like these that the last vestiges of a lost British Columbian language remain. It was known as "Chinook." Its use today is mainly confined to colloquialisms, and place names like Boston Bar, Canim Lake, Illahee Mountain, Snass Creek, and Skookumchuck. It began as a trading jargon, but it soon evolved into a distinct West Coast tongue. Down through the years, as many as a quarter of a million people relied on it. Chinook was an everyday necessity. A Voice Great Within Us consists of an introductory essay by Glavin exploring the development and spread of Chinook throughout the West Coast, and the place it continues to have in our history; the Chinook poem, "Rain Language"; Lillard's own essay on the part that Chinook played in his own life and exploration of British Columbia. In addition, A Voice Great Within Us includes a lexicon containing hundreds of Chinook words and expressions and a map and gazetteer of British Columbia, showing eighty Chinook place names in this province. A Voice Great Within Us is number 7 in the Transmontanus series.

Charles Lillard, historian and poet, has written and edited many books about the west coast. Charles Lillard was one of BC's most knowledgeable bibliophiles and prolific authors. Widely read for many years as a literary columnist in the Times Colonist and as a contributor to BC BookWorld, Lillard amassed a deeply-felt knowledge of B.C. writing, publishing and culture.

Charles is the author of Seven Shillings a Year, winner of the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for BC history, and the editor of Warriors of the North Pacific, Ghostland People and The Call of the Coast.

Charles Lillard's profile page

Terry Glavin is a well–known author and winner of the Lieutenant–Governor's Award for Literature in 2009. He is the author of many books, several of which have been finalists for the Governor–General's Award and the BC Book Prizes. The Last Great Sea won the Hubert Evans Non–Fiction Prize. His books include A Death Feast in Dimlahamid (1990), Nemiah: The Unconquered Country (1992), A Ghost in the Water (1994), This Ragged Place (1996), The Last Great Sea (2000), and Waiting For The Macaws (2006).

Victoria–based freelance writer Ben Parfitt is the author of Forestopia: A Practical Guide to the New Forest Economy (1994) and Forest Follies: Adventures and Misadventures In the Great Canadian Forest (1998)

Terry Glavin's profile page