Literary Kaleidoscope meets within sight of the Rockies and the Elbow River at the Southern Alberta Pioneers Building.
3625 - 4th Street SW
Sessions start at 9:45 am with time for a visit over a cup of coffee and cookie.
$10 per session.
Please pay at the door.
Wednesday Loving Frank
January 19, 2011 by Nancy Horan
Speaker: Dr. Michael Clarke
Nancy Horan's meticulously-researched book - her debut novel - explores the relationship between the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, wife of one of his clients. Their scandalous love affair shocked Chicago society a century ago, and Horan delves deeply into the conflicts Mamah faced as she rebelled against traditional roles to be with Frank. By the end of the book you will be left wondering "Was it worth it?”
Dr. Michael Tavel Clarke, from the University of Calgary, teaches American Literature and Culture since the Civil War. He also offers courses in American Realism and Modernism. He is the author of These Days of Large Things, a fascinating study of the American obsession with sheer size.
Wednesday Our Kind of Traitor
February 16 by John Le Carré
Speaker: George Melnyk
This is a very timely book: the mystery itself revolves around the current financial crisis. A young British couple on holi- day in Antigua unwittingly meet a master money launderer and stumble into the hidden world of British spies and the Russian mob.
Professor George Melnyk is Associate Professor, Canadian Studies and Film Studies, Dept of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary. A cultural historian who has published 25 books on a wide variety of topics, he is a fan of John LeCarré novels and believes they offer great insights into the geopolitics of our times.
Wednesday Room
March 16, 2011 by Emma Donaghue
Speaker: Aritha Van Herk
“Room“, a brilliant novel short-listed for this year’s Booker Prize, tells the story of a mother and son who have been incarcerated by a frightening character known as Old Nick in an 11x11 room for several years. The story addresses both the terrors and the contrasting normalcy experienced by Jack and his devotedly creative mother, and it is told through the boldly lyrical voice of five-year-old Jack. The second half of the novel confronts the sometimes poignant and sometimes humorous challenges Jack and his mother face upon re-entering society which contains for them, at times, a different form of incarceration.
One of our most popular “regulars” at Literary Kaleidoscope, Aritha Van Herk is an internationally- known author as well as a highly respected Professor of Creative Writing, Canadian Literature and Contemporary Narrative at the University of Calgary. Her book reviews are frequently found in such publications as The Globe and Mail and Walrus.
