Wild Roses Are Worth It: Reimaging the Alberta Advantage is a collection of essays by Kevin Van Tighem. It is a timely collection for an Alberta in transition, and offers an unflinching challenge to cherished myths and conventional wisdom in a troubled province beset with profound questions about its future. Even at their most provocative, however, these writings remind us of what is best about the Alberta spirit, and offer the possibility of a more sustaining relationship with our place and with one another.

Ken Davis sat down with Kevin Van Tighem for an inspiring talk about Alberta’s future on “Book Talk on Read Alberta,” a monthly video series featuring Alberta-published books and authors. They covered all sorts of topics, including the recent threat of strip-mining occurring on Alberta’s Eastern Slopes:

“…to see thousands and thousands of Albertans rise up on their hind legs… Albertans from the city, from the country, from First Nations, from every political walk of life. I’ve never seen anything like that in the history of this province, where everybody came together. And they came together over an environmental issue that mattered—fundamentally—to them: their water security and their Eastern Slopes. I’m amazed by that, and I’m really inspired by it…

Because we’re together on this. Albertans are together on this. And we’re together trying to defend things that matter. Maybe I didn’t need to write the darn book! Because that’s what I was trying to contribute to by writing the book…was to build a different narrative around what it means to be Albertan, and what it means to be of Alberta.”

—Kevin Van Tighem