Not every investigative journalist can also claim to be a model for GQ.
But Arno Kopecky鈥檚 career has taken him on many adventures 鈥� and he has really just begun.
Kopecky, 38, the author of two acclaimed non-fiction books, met me for coffee at the Artisan Coffee Shop in downtown Squamish, where he reflected on his remarkable career to date and the excitement that lies ahead.
Kopecky currently lives in Squamish because it gives him a quiet place to write. He has written two books, The Devil鈥檚 Curve, a literary travelogue about his journey through Peru and Colombia, and The Oil Man and The Sea, which chronicles his sailing expedition into 小蓝视频鈥檚 Great Bear Rainforest, 鈥渁 legendary wilderness with the knife of Big Oil at its throat.鈥�
Oil Man won him the 2014 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction and was shortlisted for a Governor General鈥檚 Award. He鈥檚 now working on his next project, his first novel.
Most people see him as an environmental journalist, and his career path was set at University of Victoria, where he studied the unusual dual major of creative writing and environmental studies, 鈥渨hich surprisingly has been what I ended up doing in life, mixing those two,鈥� he reflected as he sipped his coffee. 鈥淚 try to tell environmental stories in a creative way instead of making people feel they are being bludgeoned with environmental news.鈥�
After graduating in 2001, he spent time abroad, doing internships in New York City at Harper鈥檚 magazine and The Walrus and at a newspaper in Oaxaca, Mexico. He loved 鈥渢he magical world of published writers.鈥�
He has had a fitful freelance career ever since and has lived in Spain, Kenya, Peru and Colombia while circling through other countries of the globe. Born and raised in Edmonton, he now considers the West Coast as home, and has lived in Victoria, Vancouver and Squamish. When he was fresh out of the Amazon jungle, he lived in the Brackendale Art Gallery. Later, when he again needed a place to sit down and write a book, he chose Squamish again, living downtown with a friend in a quiet location on Third Avenue.
Writing books was always his dream, but when he landed the first book contract, the task was daunting. 鈥淚 was excited but it was intimidating a little bit鈥�. How do I put 90,000 words together in a coherent story?
鈥淏ut it was really just a travelogue鈥� I just had to tell people what I had seen and where I had been, and of course try to weave a little magic with it.鈥�
He was intrigued by the uprising of indigenous tribes in the Amazon to protest oil companies and heard that the army had opened fire against protesters, creating a blood bath. People had vanished, he heard.
But the tales of missing people seemed to be incorrect, because as he did research, no one could identify the missing people. 鈥淚t was an interesting lesson in human memory. No one could name a single person who was missing,鈥� he remarked. 鈥淭hat was surprising.鈥�
His next book took him to an isolated rainforest in Canada and connected him with Native people here.
Blonde and blue-eyed with German heritage, Kopecky doesn鈥檛 look like the kind of person who can easily make connections with indigenous people, but he is fascinated by their stories and finds they welcome him with open arms in Peru and Canada.
Sailing into the rainforests of 小蓝视频 was an interesting experience, however, because he and his travelling companion had never sailed. 鈥淲e did not get the boat in the water until the day we left. That was a terrifying experience,鈥� he recalls. Fortunately, the summer of 2012 was one of the calmest in history and there were no major mishaps.
Along the way, he met First Nations people who were fiercely opposed to the northern gateway. He became fascinated with the relationship of Native people to other Canadians. 鈥淚 feel like Canada is in the midst of a grand awakening, socially and culturally,鈥� he said, referring to the recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission that revealed the horrors of the residential schools.
Kopecky鈥檚 mother is German and grew up right after the Holocaust, and he sees some similarities to the way European settlers treated Native people in Canada. 鈥淚t gets uncomfortable when you compare our cultural genocide to the genocide Germany orchestrated against the Jews, but there are a lot of parallels,鈥� he said.
But Canada is changing and becoming more compassionate, he said. There鈥檚 a new spirit of togetherness, and he is writing about it for The Walrus magazine.
鈥淚 see it as a really exciting and encouraging time in many ways. I think I have a role to play as a journalist and storyteller to bring awareness of this.鈥�
He also has exciting times ahead in his personal life. Kopecky is engaged to a doctor in Vancouver, and they are expecting a baby together this fall. That means he鈥檒l relocate to the city 鈥� he can write from anywhere, and she needs to stay close to her patients.
His foray last year into modeling was 鈥渞andom,鈥� he said, and not something he believes jives with his career as a serious writer. Kopecky posed for a photoshoot last fall that resulted in a full-page spread in GQ.
鈥淚t pays a lot better than writing,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey were looking for real-life people鈥� an architect and other professionals鈥� and they wanted a travel writer.鈥�
For the gig, he was whisked by helicopter to a glacier near Whistler, and a whole team of people tended to his hair, his clothes, his makeup. No expenses were spared. 鈥淭hey had 10 people to tend to my appearance, on top of my very generous paycheque,鈥� he said, noting he never had that kind of budget for any of the writing he has done. 鈥淚 tried to just enjoy it鈥�. It was great, it was easy.鈥�
As we finished our coffees, I asked: Would he do it again?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how many photoshoots an investigative journalist can do before he loses credibility as an investigative journalist, but we will see. As fatherhood approaches, I may have a new respect for money.鈥�
His baby with his fianc茅e is due in November, so for Kopecky, there are plenty of new adventures ahead.
