Lunch With
WENDY WRIGHT
Smithers Public Library Director Adrian Paradis
Can you talk about your background? How did you get from Toronto to Vancouver to Smithers? My background is overwhelmingly in bookselling. I’ve had the good fortune to work with books and people all throughout my life. My first job was in Toronto—where I grew up—working at an independent bookstore called The Booksmith, then at a large Coles Books downtown.
38
During a trip to Vancouver, I followed a friend to the Gulf Islands and I fell in love with the beauty of it. A few years later, I moved to tiny Denman Island, which has a population of around 1000 people. There I opened a really small bookstore in partnership with a former Booksmith customer who had also moved to the area. That little store still exists today under different ownership. Eventually I moved on to join Chapters as a department head. Then I worked for a year and a half at a publishing sales representative traveling around BC. Then, I managed the Kitsilano branch of Book Warehouse before I returned to Denman Island. I had been away nine years and I never stopped pining for the beauty and the quiet of the island. I still wanted to work with books and people on the island so I started an online library technicians diploma through Langara College. I started working for Vancouver Island Regional Library as a casual at nine different branches. Eventually I got a permanent job at the Hornby Island branch of Vancouver Island Regional Library while still living on Denman.
