| Pages on Kensington launches its 2005 author series on Friday, January 28 with readings by four western women writers. Grande Prairie's Deanna Kent-McDonald (West Wind, North Chatter), third-generation Calgarian Barb Howard (Whipstock), Winnipeg letter carrier Allison Preston (Cherry Bites) and N.W.T.-born Edmontonian Margaret Macpherson (Perilous Departures) all read at 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the Literary Press Group's series called "Take a Joy Read, Canada." Joy read, joy ride – oh, I see.
Edmonton actor, director, filmmaker and playwright Mieko Ouchi was a finalist for this year's Governor General's Award for drama. Her play The Red Priest (Eight Ways to Say Goodbye) concerns an encounter between Vivaldi and the wife of his patron. Yes, that Vivaldi, The Four Seasons Vivaldi. The play received its première in Calgary at the Alberta Theatre Projects playRites festival. Now Ouchi is back to read at McNally Robinson on Saturday, January 22 at 8 p.m.
Calgary's Garry Ryan set his first Det. Lane mystery in the city's Queen's Park cemetery. Lane's problem is with an ex-mayor who seems to have vanished with a large chunk of public funds – $13 million to be exact. A political scandal, here in Calgary? Is this life catching up to art, or vice versa? Ryan reads at McNally Robinson on Thursday, January 27 at 7:30 p.m.
What are they writing at the University of Calgary these days? Here's a mystery you can solve yourself, when Clem Martini, Aritha van Herk, Suzette Mayr, Christian Bök, Nicole Markotic and Tom Wayman all read on Friday, January 21 at 7 p.m. in MacEwan Hall's Cassio Room. That's up two floors in the newly renovated part of the old, brown wing of MacEwan Hall, near the Gauntlet office. The reading is free, plus there's a raffle and also a cash bar.
Quite often, historian Harry Sanders takes people on pedestrian odysseys through urban Calgary's history. This month though, he mercifully stays indoors with a slide tour and talk based on his new book Historic Walks of Calgary. That's on Wednesday, January 26 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Alexander Calhoun Branch of the Calgary Public Library (3223 - 14th St. S.W.). Call 221-2010 to register.
Here's a great thing the Calgary Public Library (CPL) has done lately. They've made the Crowfoot branch the first example of a building that fits the city's new Sustainable Policy. This means it meets the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. How did they do this? With things like low-flow water fixtures, on-demand water heating, maximizing natural daylight, using recycled materials where possible, and so on. The CPL website has plenty of details as well as links to designer Cohos Evamy. So stop by the branch and see whether saving a few tonnes, as Rick Mercer pleads for you to do these days, really means you have to read in an environment that’s ugly, uncomfortable, dark and cold.
Best-sellers
Best-selling books for January 7 to 13 at McNally Robinson
Fiction
1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
by Mark Haddon
2. Love
by Toni Morrison
3. The Time-Traveller's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
4. A Complicated Kindness
by Miriam Toews
5. Chainfire
by Terry Goodkind
6. Runaway
by Alice Munro
7. State of Fear
by Michael Crichton
8. The Broker
by John Grisham
9. Nights of Rain and Stars
by Maeve Binchy
10. Lord John and the Private Matter
by Diana Gabaldon
Non-fiction
1. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
by Lynne Truss
2. A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
3. Chronicles, Vol. I
by Bob Dylan
4. The Museum Called Canada
by Charlotte Gray
5. The Corporation
by Joel Bakan
6. Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw
by Will Ferguson
7. Future Tense: The Coming World Order
by Gwynne Dyer
8. Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi
9. The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution
by Phil McGraw
10. He's Just Not That Into You
by Greg Behrendt |
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