In 1854 British travel writer Isabella Lucy Bird visited Prince Edward Island for six weeks and published an account of her stay there that was both scathing and charming. "Paris may be the gayest city in the world," she wrote, "and London the richest, but Charlottetown was the most gossiping." "I never saw a community," she continued," in which people appear to hate each other so cordially."

Contemporary Island poet Jane Ledwell was both fascinated and exasperated by Bird's haughty, privileged judgement and decided to "write back"--160 years later. The result is Bird Calls: The Island Responds.

Bird Calls weaves the travel prose of Isabella Lucy Bird with Ledwell's poems written in response, and delivers an intriguing conversation for the reader which contrasts PEI then and now, and showcases the talents of two accomplished writers, from very different generations.

Jane Ledwell has been awarded local and regional prizes and grants for her prose and poetry, notably first prize for both prose and poetry in the Atlantic Writing Awards in 2001. Her work has been broadcast on CBC Radio, most recently as part of the CBC Poetry Face-Off 2005, and has been published in journals such as blueSHIFT and anthologies such as Landmarks and A Bountiful Harvest. Her book of poetry, Last Tomato was published by Acorn Press in 2005.

Jane Ledwell's profile page