Drugs, sex, rock n roll, principles and politics fill the pages of Unrepentant, Gary Wright’s newly-released, darkly humorous memoir of his 1968 escape from the U.S. to Canada, career as a traveling musician, and rise to public office in the Great White North.
Join him (and special guest Corky Evans) for a reading and an afternoon of laughter at the Nakusp Public Library on Saturday, December 1 at 2 p.m.
Wright was mayor of New Denver for 22 years, and also served as chair of the RDCK. As an American college student in the 1960s, the U.S. State Department revoked his passport and placed him on the FBI’s watch list because of his ties to radical political groups.
“Life is weird,” said Wright, “One year in one country I am Wanted by the FBI; another year in another country I receive a medal for public service, and get a letter of commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Same man, same beliefs. Go figure.”
‘Unrepentant’ is a word he applies with a smile to his community as well as to himself, and the book is full of anecdotes of “life behind the scenes” with new-age gurus, roadhouse musicians and regional political figures like current RDCK Chair John Kettle and former provincial cabinet minister Corky Evans. Evans contributed a deeply moving chapter, recalling his own experiences in the American anti-war movement.
The book, published by Friesen Press, is for sale or can be ordered through local retailers, as a Kindle eBook, or direct-ordered through FriesenPress.com/Unrepentant/Gary Lee Wright, Amazon.ca and Barnes & Noble.