From bestselling true-crime author Peter Edwards and Governor General's Award-winning playwright Kevin Loring, two sons of Lytton, BC, the town that burned to the ground in 2021, comes a meditation on hometown―when hometown is gone.

Before it made global headlines as the small town that burned down during a record-breaking heat wave in June 2021, while briefly the hottest place on Earth, Lytton, British Columbia, had a curious past. Named for the author of the infamous line, “It was a dark and stormy night,” Lytton was also where Peter Edwards, organized-crime journalist and author of seventeen non-fiction books, spent his childhood. Although only about 500 people lived in Lytton, Peter liked to joke that he was only the second-best writer to come from his tiny hometown. His grade-school classmate’s nephew Kevin Loring, Nlaka’pamux from Lytton First Nation, had grown up to be a Governor General's Award-winning playwright.

The Nlaka’pamux called Lytton “The Centre of the World,” a view Buddhists would share in the late twentieth century, as they set up a temple just outside town. In modern times, many outsiders would seek shelter there, often people who just didn’t fit anywhere else and were hoping for a little anonymity in the mountains. You’ll meet a whole cast of them in this book.

A gold rush in 1858 saw conflict with a wave of Californians come to a head with the Canyon War at the junction of the mighty Fraser and Thompson rivers, one that would have changed the map of what was soon to become Canada had the locals lost. The Nlaka’pamux lost over thirty lives in that conflict, as did the American gold seekers. A century later, Lytton hadn’t changed much. It was always a place where the troubles of the world seemed to land, even if very few people knew where it was.

This book is the story of Lytton, told from a shared perspective, of an Indigenous playwright and the journalist son of a settler doctor who quietly but sternly pushed back against the divisions that existed between populations (Dr. Edwards gladly took a lot of salmon as payment for his services back in the 1960s). Portrayed with all the warmth, humour and sincerity of small-town life, the colourful little town that burned to the ground could be every town’s warning if we don’t take seriously what this unique place has to teach us.

PETER EDWARDS, crime reporter for the Toronto Star, is the author of ten books, including the highly praised One Dead Indian: The Premier, the Police and the Ipperwash Crisis. Edwards has been nominated four times for the Arthur Ellis Award and has been interviewed about organized crime forthe Mob Stories and Outlaw Biker series for History Television. A two-hour History Television documentary on The Bandido Massacre is currently in development. Edwards works in Toronto. Visit www.bandidomassacre.com.

Peter Edwards' profile page

Kevin Loring is a member of the Nlakapmux (Thompson) First Nation in Lytton, British Columbia.

As an actor he has performed in numerous plays across Canada, including Marie Clements’ Burning Vision and Copper Thunderbird, and most recently in the Canada National Arts Centre’s 40th anniversary production of George Ryga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe.

He also starred in the 2007 feature film Pathfinder, and co-produced and co-hosted the documentary Canyon War: The Untold Story about the 1858 Fraser Canyon War.

He was the recipient of the 2005 Vancouver Arts Award for Emerging Theatre Artist, Artist in Residence at The Playhouse Theatre Company in 2006, and is currently Playwright in Residence at the National Arts Centre.

His first play Where the Blood Mixes, won the Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Script; the Sydney J. Risk Prize for Outstanding Original Script by an Emerging Playwright; and most recently the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama.

Where the Blood Mixes premiered at the 2008 Luminato Festival in Toronto. Presented at the 2008 Magnetic North Festival in Vancouver, it opened on the day of the House of Commons’ apology for the legacy of suffering generations of aboriginal people continue to endure as a result of their experiences at residential schools. A remount of this production, in association with the playwright’s own company, The Savage Society, is scheduled for a national tour as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad.

Kevin Loring participated in the closing ceremonies of the Aboriginal Pavilion at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Kevin Loring's profile page