As a former Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International in the 1990s, Derek Evans arrived with his family in the Okanagan Valley to become Executive Director of the Naramata Centre in 2000. His essays, poems and commentaries in Before the War: Reflections in a New Millennium (Northstone, 2004) are about current events, spirituality and building community in a 'post 9/11' world. In 2007, Evans published Dispatches from the Global Village (Woodlake), having traveled the globe to meet with African warlords and the Dalai Lama, heads of state and the leaders of rebel armies, victims of torture and peasant farmers. According to the SFU Bookstore which cited the work as a Book-of-the-Month, "Whether he's negotiating with rebel factions in Sudan, or meeting under threat of death and in the dead of night with families of "disappeared" children in Sri Lanka, what shines through in each story is Evans' unfaltering hope that people can find within themselves the wisdom to choose a different path -- that somehow we can learn to live in peace despite our differences." Author royalties and a portion of publisher proceeds are being donated to Amnesty International and the Naramata Community Fund Society.

[BCBW 2007] "International"