Silas White (born 1977) is a Canadian publisher, editor, author, musician, songwriter and politician.

Early life and education

White grew up in a literary household in

Pender Harbour, British Columbia Pender Harbour is a harbour community on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, on the east side of Malaspina Strait. The harbour itself is an intricate amalgam of bays and coves that encroach inland for five kilometres and provide over 60 kilometres ...

, where his parents

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also prob ...

and Mary White operated

Harbour Publishing Harbour Publishing is a Canadian independent book publisher. The company was founded in 1974 by Howard and Mary White, and is based in Pender Harbour, a small town on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. Harbour mainly publishes books on British ...

, one of British Columbia's major book publishers. White worked at

during his youth and co-authored ''Local Heroes'', a history of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...

while still in high school. He attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

on a President's Scholarship, receiving a BA in 1999 and moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, where he pursued his interest in indie rock music, writing songs and performing in venues around the city with his band Electric Fences. In August 2019 he released a retroactive album of Electric Fences recordings from 15 years prior, ''Retroact 2001-2004'', with Vancouver indie label Kingfisher Bluez. White now lives in

Gibsons, British Columbia Gibsons is a coastal community of 4,605 in southwestern British Columbia, Canada on the Strait of Georgia. Although it is on the mainland, the Sunshine Coast is not accessible by road. Vehicle access is by BC Ferries from Horseshoe Bay in West ...

with his daughters Simone (b. 2007) and Eloise (b. 2010). In 2011 he received a master's degree in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, Administration (government), administration of Government, government establishment (Governance#P ...

from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

Publishing

In the early 2000s he took over the historic Canadian literary press, Nightwood Editions Ltd. (formerly blewointment, founded by bill bissett), and began publishing poetry and fiction by Canadian writers such as

Renée Sarojini Saklikar Renée Sarojini Saklikar is an Indian-born Canadian lawyer, poet and author. Raised in New Westminster in Greater Vancouver,Smith, Charlie.Renee Sarojini Saklikar draws large crowd to SFU Woodward's for launch of new book of poemsArchive. ''The Geor ...

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Tim Bowling Tim Bowling (born 1964 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Guggenheim winning Canadian novelist and poet. He spent his youth in Ladner, British Columbia, and now lives in Edmonton, Alberta. He has published four novels. He was a judge for the 2 ...

Rita Wong Rita Wong (born 1968) is a Canadian poet. Biography Wong grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and currently lives in the unceded Coast Salish territories also known as Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the author of multiple books of poetry, includi ...

Philip Kevin Paul Philip Kevin Paul is a Canadian poet. His debut collection ''Taking the Names Down from the Hill'' won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2004, and his second collection ''Little Hunger'' was a shortlisted nominee for the 2009 ReLit Award for po ...

Laisha Rosnau Laisha Rosnau (born 1972) is a Canadian novelist and poet. Biography Born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Rosnau grew up in Vernon, British Columbia.Dan Davidson, "Author Laisha Rosnau didn't see writing as a career". ''Whitehorse Star'', April 21, 2004 ...

Ray Hsu Ray Hsu was a Canadian professor at the University of British Columbia. His primary research areas are virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. Biography Hsu grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He received an Honours B.A. and an ...

, Rob Winger,

Sandy Pool Sandy Pool is a Canadians, Canadian poet, editor and professor of creative writing. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections and a chapbook published by Vallum Editions. Her first collection, ''Exploding Into Night'' (Guernica Editi ...

Joe Denham Joe Denham is a Canadian poet and fiction writer."Windstorm, by Joe Denham"
''

Kayla Czaga Kayla Czaga (born 1989) is a Canadians, Canadian poet, who won the Gerald Lampert Award in 2015 for her debut collection ''For Your Safety Please Hold On''. The book was also a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English langu ...

, Doretta Lau,

Raoul Fernandes Raoul Fernandes is a Canadian poet from Vancouver, British Columbia. His debut poetry collection ''Transmitter and Receiver'', published in 2015, won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2016, and was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award an ...

Danny Ramadan Ahmad Danny Ramadan ( Arabic: أحمد داني رمضان; born May 31, 1984) is a Syrian–Canadian novelist, public speaker, and LGBTQ-refugee activist who was born in Damascus, Syria. Ramadan's work focuses on themes of immigration, identity, ...

Carol Rose GoldenEagle Carol Rose GoldenEagle is a writer and broadcaster, from Saskatchewan. Early life and education Carol Rose GoldenEagle was born, in 1963, in a religious hospital, to a First Nations woman who was unmarried, so Hospital authorities stripped her fr ...

, Adele Barclay and jaye simpson. Under his leadership Nightwood Editions became the flagship press for the generation of literary writers who emerged in Canada during the 2000s. White has also pursued an independent career as editor and author, serving as contributing editor of the

Encyclopedia of British Columbia ''The Encyclopedia of British Columbia'' is an encyclopedia first published in 1999. It was published by Harbour Publishing, and edited by Daniel Francis. It contained some 4,000 articles and 1,000 pictures about the Canadian province of British C ...

and editing both prose and poetry for other Canadian publishers, including

Raincoast Books Raincoast Books is a Canadian book distribution and wholesale company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raincoast was founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979 as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and ...

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly books ...

and Saturday Night Magazine. One of his editing jobs, ''The Fly in Autumn'' by

David Zieroth Dale Zieroth (born November 7, 1946, in Neepawa, Manitoba)Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for Poetry, Canada's highest literary honour.

Elected office

A community activist since his teens, in 2005 White was elected to the Board of Education at School District 46 Sunshine Coast. In 2007 he was selected by his colleagues as board chair, the youngest person to hold that post in British Columbia. He also served as a Director and Vice-Chair of the British Columbia Public School Employers' Association until Premier

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...

replaced the board with a public administrator to exercise direct control over teacher bargaining by the provincial government. In 2014 he left the board of School District 46 to run as councillor for the Town of Gibsons, topping the poll. As a councillor he represented the Town for two years at the

Sunshine Coast Regional District The Sunshine Coast Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southern mainland coast, across Georgia Strait (part of the Salish Sea) from Vancouver Island. It borders on the qathet Regional Dis ...

and led initiatives to improve a major intersection; start a homeless shelter; expand the local, self-sustaining water service; and secure federal land for a provincial supportive housing facility. He also collaborated regionally with

Josie Osborne Josie Osborne is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Mid Island-Pacific Rim as a member of the British Columbia New Demo ...

Lisa Helps Lisa Helps (born April 6, 1976) is a Canadian politician and former mayor of Victoria, British Columbia, with her inauguration taking place on December 4, 2014. She narrowly defeated incumbent mayor Dean Fortin in the 2014 municipal election.

and others to start the British Columbia Social Procurement Initiative, the first of its kind in Canada. After returning to Nightwood Editions and working as a local government consultant in homelessness, housing, economic development, water stewardship, public engagement and Indigenous relations, White ran for mayor of Gibsons in 2022, winning with 82.4% of the vote.

References

General reference

* Moore, John (2006)
"Award Winners Follow B.C. Publisher White"
''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published six ...

'', February 18, 2006. * Hanson, Cheri and Weiler, Derek (2009
"12 to Watch"
''

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

'', March, 2009.

Bibliography

* 1993: ''Local Heroes: A History of the Western Hockey League'' (Harbour Publishing) * 1999: ''The Encyclopedia of British Columbia'' (Harbour Publishing) {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Silas Living people 1977 births Canadian book publishers (people) Canadian non-fiction writers People from Gibsons, British Columbia