Laurie Ricou is a Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is a former president of the Western Literature Association, and currently edits Canadian Literature. His previous publications include Vertical Man/Horizontal World: Man and Landscape in Canadian Prairie Fiction (0-7748-0023-2), A Field Guide to “A Guide to Dungeness Spit” (0-88982-165-8), and The Arbutus/Madrone Files: Reading the Pacific Northwest (1-896300-43-X). Ricou currently lives in Vancouver, BC.