January 16, 2013 - 4:02am
NANAIMO, BC: VIU creative writing instructor Kathy Page will give a free talk about her latest novel, The Find, at an Arts and Humanities Coloquium presentation Friday, Jan. 18 at the Nanaimo campus.
A visit to a museum inspired Page to write about the discovery of a huge pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Age, a major local -- and fictional -- prehistoric find.
In her talk, sponsored by VIU’s Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series, Page will examine the fascination of monsters through the lens of her recent novel, The Find, published in 2010 by McArthur & Co., and short listed for the 2011 ReLit Novel Award.
The Find tells of the fictional discovery of a fossilized pterosaur, a huge winged beast, from the Late Cretaceous epoch found near a small, fictionalized, Vancouver Island town. The book explores the meaning this find has for the paleontologist who locates it, its impact on other major characters, and its competing political and spiritual meanings.
Page will reflect on her process in undertaking a creative project such as this one where research and imagination come together. The presentation that will be of interest to specialists working in a wide variety of disciplines as well as to those who are interested more generally in the complexity that lies behind a seemingly simple event.
Page’s talk builds on a similar presentation she made in Toulouse, France, in 2011, at a multidisciplinary conference focused on the way extinct species and past ecosystems have been represented and sensationalized from the nineteenth century to the present time and how awareness of species extinction and/or the threat of extinction have informed the arts.
Her presentation will juxtapose selected readings from The Find with thoughts on her own fascination with monsters, both real and imaginary.
Page has published seven novels, including The Story of My Face, Alphabet (a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Fiction) and The Find. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and periodicals and is collected in As In Music. She also writes memoir, and is the co-editor, with Lynne Van Luven, of In the Flesh, Twenty Writers Explore the Body. Page also works as a freelance editor and workshop facilitator and has taught in universities in Britain, Finland and Estonia.
Living With Monsters is part of VIU’s popular Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series, an intimate, reflective and intellectually engaging series of free faculty presentations. Discussion follows each presentation where everyone is welcome and refreshments are provided.
Living With Monsters takes place Friday Jan. 18 from 10 – 11:30 am in the Malaspina Theatre, Building 310 on VIU’s Nanaimo Campus.
The spring 2013 colloquium series continues on February 15 with a presentation by Dr. Laurie Meijer Drees of the Department of First Nations Studies. Speaking on “The TRC, Missing Children, and Academic History,” she will highlight new findings on Canada’s Indian Residential Schools revealed by formerly restricted documents recently made available to the federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The concluding session, on March 22, will feature Dr. John Lepage from the Department of English who will present “Renaissance Art and the Ancient Philosophers: A Study in the Representation of Ideas.” Please see the attached poster for more details.
In the case of inclement weather, check the VIU homepage (www.viu.ca) to ensure the university is open. For further information contact Dr. Daniel Burgoyne at 250-753-3245, local 2126 or at Daniel.Burgoyne@viu.ca.
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ABOUT VIU: Vancouver Island University is Canada’s west coast university. Known as a centre of excellence for teaching, learning and applied research, VIU offers a diverse range of certificate, diploma and undergraduate and master degree programs to more than 18,000 students on campuses in Nanaimo, Powell River and Cowichan, and at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre. For more information visit www.viu.ca
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