October 29, 2010 - 8:36am
As days become shorter and nights are colder, it’s prime time for curling up with a good book.
Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) and the English Department of Vancouver Island University (VIU) are teaming up to provide free book talks to intrigue and inspire readers at VIRL branches.
“My colleagues and I do what we do because we are endlessly fascinated by the ways in which language and stories shape our being,” said Terri Doughty, professor in VIU’s English Department.
“We wanted a way to share our pleasures in reading outside of the classroom and are very grateful to VIRL for providing space in library branches in Cowichan, Nanaimo, Parksville and Qualicum.”
Laura Beswick, Divisional Manager, Adult Services and Reader Advisory with VIRL, said, “this is a great opportunity for library customers to talk about old favourites or to find new ones.”
VIU faculty member John Lepage invites library patrons to the Parksville branch on Jensen Road to consider “Shakespeare’s Bones: Unearthing the Bard through Modern Adaptations” on Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 7 pm. Lepage will feature film clips from recent adaptations of Shakespeare, from Kenneth Branagh to You-Tube.
At the Wellington library branch in Nanaimo, faculty member Jeannie Martin will use the fiction of Alice Munro to illustrate “Lines of Blood and Ink: Genealogy in Canadian Literature” on Thursday, Nov. 18, at 4 pm. Participants are asked to register at the Wellington branch.
“A World Without Oil” is the topic of professor Anna Atkinson’s discussion of James Howard Kunstler’s novel World Made by Hand at the Harbourfront branch (downtown Nanaimo) on Tuesday, Nov. 23, at 6 pm. Atkinson will also address related non-fiction resources.
At the Qualicum Beach branch, faculty member Katharina Rout will lead a lively discussion called "What Homer Didn't Tell Us, Atwood Does: From Homer's Odyssey to Atwood's Penelopiad" on Thursday, Nov. 25, at 7 pm.
At the Cowichan library on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at 6:45 pm., faculty member Jay Ruzesky will read from his City of Victoria Butler Book Prize-nominated novel The Wolsenburg Clock and speak about his writing process.
On Saturday, Nov. 20, at 10 am, also at Cowichan, Lynn Wytenbroek will ask, “Jackson, What Have You Done to Tolkien?” in a discussion exploring the differences between Tolkien’s mythic vision in Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson’s reworking of both the vision and the myth in his films.
VIU faculty member Sally Carpentier will lead a discussion of “The Poetics of Becoming: Eat, Pray, Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling memoir, at the South Cowichan library on Thursday, Nov. 25, at 6:15 pm.
For further information, contact VIU English professor Terri Doughty (terri.doughty@viu.ca), or Laura Beswick (lbeswick@virl.bc.ca).
Tags: In the Community
