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# Long-time Expositor columnist publishes first volume Now and Then columns
- URL: /long-time-expositor-columnist-publishes-first-volume-now-and-then-columns/
- Published: 2026-05-28T21:00:30.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-28T21:00:29.000Z
- Description: Petra Wall has published the first volume of her "Now and Then" columns, chronicling the histories of over 100 Manitoulin Island families. The book is available for $40 at The Expositor Book Shop.
- Author: Michael Erskine
- Tags: News, Arts and Heritage

MINDEMOYA—Genealogy is a popular pastime for many Island residents, especially as they grow older, but all too often those explorations of the past come too late to talk to the ancestor being researched. The popular ‘Now and Then’ column penned by long-time Expositor columnist Petra Wall, that ran in this newspaper for over two decades has proven a valuable genealogical resource.

‘Now and Then’ covered the lived experiences, histories and personal stories of over 250 local residents and families who lived on Manitoulin Island. 

Ms. Wall has now published a collection of her first 100 columns in an 8 x 11-inch softcover volume. And this is just the first in a planned three-volume set.

Among the themes covered in her columns were local history and biography, where Ms. Wall interviewed locals in their homes, viewing their personal photographs and documenting their work, family lives and contributions to Manitoulin Island; pioneer and community life, where she highlighted the sacrifices of pioneering women and the spirit of early settlers; and regional employment where her pieces often detailed traditional industries of the Island, such as working on Ontario Hydro lines, shipping on the Great Lakes, local dairies and local forestry.

The engaging pieces provide a vital link to both the recent past, the present and a world that has largely long moved on.

“I’ve loved reading these,” said fellow columnist and New Yorker Bonnie Kogos, whose Window Seat column in the Sudbury Star also chronicles Island life and times. “It’s been fascinating to sit and read and learn about the lives of others on the Island. All she’s chosen to write about are part of the social and happy fabric of the Island.”

“I began the column back in 2002,” said Ms. Wall. “There was a person living in Wiarton on the Bruce Peninsula who asked The Expositor to share more stories about people who lived on Manitoulin Island. I saw this request in the paper and I phoned the paper to tell them that I could certainly interview people and write up each person’s or a couple’s amazing stories to share in the newspaper. I didn’t hear back right away because the paper was so filled with news. Two weeks later, the editor phoned me, saying, ‘Go to it, Petra’.” The rest is Island history.

Ms. Wall’s book can be purchased at The Expositor Book Shop in Little Current for the remarkably low sum of $40\. As a tribute to Ms. Wall’s many years of dedication and hard work in creating the chronicle, and to make it easier for people on Manitoulin to acquire, The Expositor is not adding the usual markup to the book. But in truth, we believe it is well worth double the asking price.