One of the Semiahmoo Peninsula’s most famous former residents returned last week to celebrate a milestone birthday.
Famed writer W.P. Kinsella – author of numerous short stories and novels, including Shoeless Joe, which was later adapted into the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner – celebrated his 80th birthday Sunday afternoon at an invite-only gathering in Newton.
Kinsella, who now lives in the Fraser Canyon, also took the occasion to celebrate the launch of his newest book, The Essential W.P. Kinsella, which celebrates his decades’ worth of work as well as the 25th anniversary of the Field of Dreams movie.
Though he hasn’t lived in White Rock for more than 15 years, he’s long had a connection to the seaside city. In 2009, he told Peace Arch News he’d become resigned to the fact that he’s become part of the city’s lore.
“People still think Bill is sitting there in his apartment over Cosmos Restaurant, tapping away at his 1957 Royal typewriter,” his wife, Barbara Turner Kinsella told PAN at the time.