ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Bruce Kirkby, author of Blue Sky Kingdom and one of the presenters at this year’s virtual Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival. Tell us a little bit about this book.

BRUCE KIRKBY: On the surface it’s really the story of my young family – my boys were three and seven at the time – my wife and I just decided we wanted to escape the distraction and the craziness of the modern world. The surface story is going to a Himalayan Buddhist monastery, where we lived for the summer. We actually traveled overland from Kimberley, up the Columbia River, then we jumped on a train and across the ocean on a cargo ship and kept going. On a deeper level, this was written pre-COVID, and everything that we were seeing in this ancient community are some of the very issues that we’re all being forced to confront today. The shrinking of possibilities, this kind of oceanic time stretching out often with our loved ones right on top of us. On a deeper level, that’s what it’s really about, this ancient way of life that does have some resonance with our world today.

RM: I have two kids, a four year old and a 10 year old. I don’t know if I could imagine doing that kind of trip with them. How did they do on a trip like that?

BK: A lot of people say “how do you do it?”, because going to my grandmother’s kills me and the drive to Carstairs just about breaks me. I guess our family has just gotten used to longer trips. There were a few things – being on the cargo ship was, for me…the infinity of the ocean, the railings were made for full grown men. Then we also took our boys to pretty high elevation at over 5,000 meters. They acclimatized extraordinary well. I was extra cautious. I always had a way out. The bigger thing for me that I’ve taken away from these travels and really a message of hope in the book for all of us who are struggling with, Oh my God, what happens if school gets canceled this year? With all these things there some uncomfortability to that at first, but it’s like going over speed bumps. As you kind of accept the other side of it, these amazing things happened with our family. We’re accustomed to the distraction. When you take away all that distraction and you pay attention to the people that you love and things that matter, some pretty amazing things start happening.

RM: You’ll be presenting as part of the Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival. How’s this going to work? I understand you’re the keynote speaker?

BK: I’m really honoured. My book is part of the opening day’s agenda. I actually came out in the fall. We recorded a presentation in the Max Bell and it was super fun except for the fact that it was no one there. You’re used to every single color of puffy jacket in the world big in those hallways! We recorded a half hour presentation and then the most amazing part for me was we jumped on a Zoom call with John Vaillant who is the author of The Golden Spruce, of course, and The Tiger. He’s an absolute literary hero of mine and I’d asked John to write a blurb on the back of the book, and he became a huge champion of the book and a huge supporter. We have a wonderful chat about the book – that’s the second half of it.

RM: People can just buy a festival pass or buy a pass per event and watch the presentation throughout the week – is that how it works?

BK: People should just buy the whole week. It’s only $150. You can see so many amazing movies, you can drop it on beer tents and meet all these incredible mountaineering heroes. I just really feel that the Banff festival is such an amazing thing and we want to try to support them through this difficult year when people can’t travel. I’d encourage everyone to join up because I think there’s a lot of amazing value there.

RM: Where can people pick up your book?

BK: At Cafe Books. I always encourage people to shop at a local independent and support them during these times too, but you can find it online at all the usual suspects.

 

 

Filed under: Banff, Banff Centre, Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival