Eileen Delehanty Pearkes explores landscape, history and the human imagination in writing, maps and visual notebooks. The Geography of Memory details the unique story of the transboundary Sinixt tribe. A River Captured: the Columbia River Treaty and Catastrophic Change looks closely at the impacts of one of North America’s most significant international water agreements. New and expanded editions of both titles in 2022 proves their continued relevance.
The Heart of a River, an illustrated prose poem about the heavily dammed Columbia River, has changed form and reprinted several times since its 2004 publication, inspiring many with its concise, empathic tone.
In 2015, Eileen’s exhibit on the history of the Columbia River Treaty in Canada received the Canadian Museum Association’s prize for excellence. In 2017, she was chosen Cultural Ambassador for the city of Nelson, BC, reflecting her creative contributions to her community.
Born in the United States, educated at Stanford University (B.A.) and the University of British Columbia (M.A.), her perspective on the mountain landscape of the Inland northwest is uniquely bi-national and firmly grounded in place. For over two decades, she has researched and traveled across the international Columbia River basin, studying the great river and its complex hydrological systems.
A citizen of both Canada and the United States, she divides her time between California and British Columbia.
Other publications over the years include: The Inner Green (Maa Press, 2005), River of Memory (edited by William D. Layman; UBC Press, 2006) and The Glass Seed (Timeless Books, 2007). Several personal essays have been published by Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe & Mail. Anthologies include Going Some Place (Coteau Books, 2000) and Facts and Arguments, Selected Essays from the Globe & Mail (2002). From 2002-2009, she wrote for the award-winning yoga magazine ascent, with an essay anthologized in Inspired Lives, the best of real life yoga from ascent magazine. (timeless books: 2005). She contributed to The Purcell Suite (2007), and Seasonings (2010), books that emphasize the value of local landscape and culture.