Winner of the Pat Lowther Award for Poetry, Kate Braid tracks the journey of a woman who wants, innocently enough, to build things. She explores the joy of physical labor and the struggle to be a tradeswoman in a "man's world."

Covering Rough Ground

Literature & Fiction

Braid, Kate

Poetry

Raincoast Books, Polestar

As a child she was "contrary,"as a young woman she defied convention to choose art over marriage, and as a middle-aged woman she was considered a full-blown eccentric. Listening to her own inner voice, Emily Carr created an art unique to British Columbia.

Emily Carr: Rebel Artist (Quest Biography, 2)

Humor & Entertainment

Dundurn Press

In 1977 Kate Braid got her first job in construction as a labourer on a small island off the coast of British Columbia. Never in her wildest dreams did she plan to be a construction worker, much less a carpenter, but she was desperate to stay on the island and had run out of money, along with all the options a woman usually has for work -- secretary, waitress, receptionist. Turning Left to the Ladies is an autobiographical account of the fifteen years she worked as a labourer, apprentice and journey carpenter, building houses, high rises and bridges. She was the first female member of the Vancouver union local of the Carpenters and the first full-time woman teaching trades at the BC Institute of Technology. It is a wry, sometimes humorous, sometimes meditative look at one woman's relationship to her craft, and the people she met along the way.

Turning Left to the Ladies

Palimpsest Pr

About the Author\nKate Braid has written, co-written, and edited fifteen books of non-fiction and prize-winning poetry that have been translated into Japanese, Spanish, and French. Her most recent poetry books are Elemental (Caitlin Press, 2018), about the five elements including wood, and In Fine Form (Caitlin Press, 2016, 2nd ed.), the ground-breaking anthology of Canadian form poetry, co-edited with Sandy Shreve. After fifteen years as an apprentice, carpenter, contractor, and construction instructor, and twelve years as a creative writing instructor, she divides her time between Victoria and Pender Island, BC.\nIn the long-awaited follow-up to her 2012 memoir, Journeywoman, Kate Braid returns with an honest and thought-provoking collection of essays reflecting on her career in a male-dominated profession and on the changes female tradespeople have witnessed. In 1977, Kate Braid began work as one of the first women to stumble (literally) into construction. Since then, feminism, the #MeToo movement, pay equity legislation and other efforts have led to more women in a wider variety of careers. Yet, the number of women in blue-collar trades has barely shifted—from three percent to a mere four. In Journeywoman, Braid told a personal story of working almost exclusively with all-male construction crews. In Hammer & Nail: Notes of a Journeywoman, Braid returns to the trades with courage, compassion, and humour. Connecting her lifetime of experiences as a construction worker, as well as an educator and writer, Braid reflects on the culture of labour and recalls the thrill of realizing her own skill and capabilities. Through stories, articles and speeches, Hammer & Nail sheds new light on our ideas of traditional gender roles—and how those ideas change in small but profound moments of gentleness, strength, humility and clarity on the job. Hammer & Nail is a thought-provoking collection of the highs and lows, the laughs, the heartaches and some of the lessons of Braid’s journey.

Hammer & Nail: Notes from a Journeywoman

Politics & Social Sciences

Women's Studies

Caitlin Press Inc.

Kate Braid has never been one to follow the beaten path. In 1977, she broke barriers by stepping--or rather, stumbling--into the male-dominated world of construction. With two beloved memoirs, Journeywoman: Swinging a Hammer in a Man's World and Hammer & Nail: Notes of a Journeywoman, she's shared her journey as a trailblazer in the trades. Now, Kate is back with her signature blend of guts, wit, and warmth, tackling the fresh territory of women, bodies, and aging in her latest memoir, The Erotics of Cutting Grass. Forget everything you think you know about growing older. Kate Braid's perspective is anything but conventional. In these love stories to life and living, Kate dismantles the tired clichés about aging and the female body. From weightlifting in her senior years to questioning why older people in love are seen as "cute," but not "hot," and even delving into the mysteries of "remembering" past lives, Kate's stories are a refreshing take on what it means to age with audacity. Travel with Kate as she adventures through France, still gets "checked out" on the street, picks up a new instrument, and has a secret love-affair with a ride-on Husqvarna grass cutter. She also navigates the role of step-mother and contemplates how second- and third-generation immigrants in a new world can truly make this land feel like home. Each chapter is filled with insight, candour, and a rebellious spirit that's sure to resonate with non-traditional women who refuse to be defined by society's expectations. The Erotics of Cutting Grass is a celebration of life's later chapters, written with the same unique mix of humour, frankness, and vulnerability Kate's readers have come to know and love. Join her on this smart, thought-provoking journey that redefines what it means to embrace ageing on your own terms.

The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Essays on a Well-Loved Life

Parenting & Relationships

Selected for Poetry in Transit 2009 A Well-Mannered Storm is an exploration of loose correspondence between one of Canada's greatest musicians, Glenn Gould, and "K," an admiring fan. Braid weaves an intimate dynamic as K struggles with the loss of her hearing in one ear, finding her greatest comfort in Gould's music--particularly when he plays Bach. Gould's poems don't directly reply, but they do echo a response as he struggles with his own difficult life; his family, his health, his strong beliefs in how music should be presented and his personal habits considered "eccentric" by an ever-watchful press. K starts to accept her changing world, just as Gould begins a downward spiral into disintegration. In his final reflection, Gould acknowledges that in spite of his personal trials, his music now circles the world in the spacecraft Voyager as Earth's example to other possible life forms of what is most beautiful in this civilization. A Well-Mannered Storm is a striking and masterful volume of poems that does justice to Gould's brilliance, offering insights into his personal life and art, even as it showcases Braid's own virtuosity.

A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems

In 1930, Emily Carr met Georgia O'Keeffe at an exhibition of O'Keeffe's paintings in New York. Inspired by the idea of a bond between these two powerful painters, award-winning poet Kate Braid has expanded that momentary meeting into a passionate, revolutionary friendship. In Georgia O'Keeffe's voice, she envisions what might have happened if the two women had visited each other in the landscapes that inspired their art: O'Keeffe's New Mexico and Carr's British Columbia. Thus begins an extraordinary journey through landscape, art and desire—and inward to the bones. This Kate Braid classic was originally published by Polestar in 1998. It was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Prize. Inward to the Bones was a winner of the Vancity Book Award.

Inward to the Bones: Georgia O'Keeffe's Journey with Emily Carr

Emily Carr recorded the experience of the West Coast soul in her living landscapes and her portraits of BC's towering firs. Kate Braid, in To This Cedar Fountain, engages Carr in conversation as only a kindred spirit could: a West Coaster, an artist, a woman with an affinity for timber. In these poems Carr's sensual paintings envelop Braid; Emily romances the trees while Kate bears witness. To This Cedar Fountain is a dialogue between two BC legends, each a distinct voice for her own generation but both indisputably coastal souls. The first edition of this book was nominated for a Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.

To This Cedar Fountain

Since women started working in the trades in the 1970s, very little has been published about their experiences. In this provocative and important book, Kate Braid tells the story of how she became a carpenter in the face of skepticism and discouragement. In 1977 when Braid was broke and out of work, her male friends encouraged her to apply as a labourer on a construction site on Pender Island, off the coast of British Columbia. She'd never heard of a woman doing this kind of work, but she was hired because (she later found out) the boss hoped that a woman onsite would improve the men's performance. For the next fifteen years Braid worked as a labourer, apprentice and journeywoman carpenter, building houses, bridges and high-rises. She was one of the first qualified women carpenters in British Columbia, the first woman to join the Vancouver local of the Carpenters' Union, the first to teach construction full-time at the BC Institute of Technology and one of the first women to run her own construction company. Though she loved the work, it was not an easy career choice but slowly she carved a role for herself, asking first herself, then those who would challenge her, why shouldn't a woman be a carpenter? Told with humour, compassion and courage, Journey Woman is the true story of a groundbreaking woman finding success in a male-dominated field.

Journeywoman: Swinging a Hammer in a Man's World

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry prize, this book beautifully integrates word and image. "Trees and sky have never lived like this-or they always have, but it's taken these two women [Kate Braid and Emily Carr] to chronicle their joy." -Georgia Straight

Raincoast Books

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Books by Braid, Kate

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Braid, Kate. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Covering Rough Ground

Emily Carr: Rebel Artist (Quest Biography, 2)

Turning Left to the Ladies

Hammer & Nail: Notes from a Journeywoman

The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Essays on a Well-Loved Life

A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems

Inward to the Bones: Georgia O'Keeffe's Journey with Emily Carr

To This Cedar Fountain

Journeywoman: Swinging a Hammer in a Man's World

To This Cedar Fountain