What's On at the Library

Dreaming of Books on a mid-winter night.

Today is Winter Solstace, the darkest day of the year. It is also the one with the greatest promise of light and spring and renewal. For Canadian book lovers, this is a message: There are Great Books coming with the light! And The eh List Author Series is going to light up your spring reading!  To whet your whistle, here are a few of the many fantastic programs we have coming up this spring.

We open the season with Esi Edugian and Half Blood Blues, her award-winning novel which has taken the country by storm. Esi's novel  was a finalist for the Man Booker, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction, the Governor Genera's Literary Award for Fiction, and was finalist and winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for 2011. With all these accolades and a brand new baby, you can bet Esi wasn't keening to leave sunny Victoria to fly East in April, but, always a trooper, Esi will be with us on April 4 and 5. Watch for it. April 4, NYCL 7 pm. April 5, TRL, 12:30 pm.

Also in from Victoria, B.C., is author, poet, thinker and traveler Gary Geddes whose book Drink the Bitter Root; A Writer's Search for Justice and Redemption in Africa has taken him around the world to discuss his findings and his insights into African justice. In these days of omnibus crime bills and debates over restitution and retribution, it is simply a good time to reflect on justice as it is applied around the world. Come out to hear what Geddes has to add to the conversation.

 CBC's Middle East coverage is considered among the best available. Much of that is due to the extensive experience and knowledge of their senior correspondent, Nalah Ayed. Ayed will visit with her new book A  Thousand Farewells: A Reporter's Journey from Refugee Camp to the Arab Spring. Come and meet Nalah at Toronto Reference Library on April 19^th 12:30 pm.

If you are old enough to remember the sexual revolution, then you will want to read and hear from Michele Landsberg. In 'Writing The Revolution' Landsberg reprises some of her most salient articles from her 25 year stint as Canada's most visible feminist writer. If you are not old enough to remember reacting to her ground-breaking essays, here's your chance. But Landsberg isn't finished with activism; she may no longer be a part of your Toronto Star morning, but she and husband Steven Lewis are hardly sitting on their hands waiting for someone to ask them to dance.  She will be interviewed by Now Magazine's Susan G. Cole, May 3, 12:30 pm at Toronto Reference Library.

English Canadians don't get many opportunities to meet Michel Tremblay in Toronto. We are providing two such opportunities. One in either Official Language. Tremblay and his translator, Sheila Fischman will discuss the process and tribulations of translation, and will speak about his most recently translated novel, Crossing the Continent.  English: Wednesday, May 23, 7 pm at North York Central and French: Thursday, May 24, 7 pm at Northern District.

And speaking of solitudes, another great Quebecer will be discussed at NYCL on Wednesday, April 18 when Max and Monique Nemne will present the second volume in their exhaustive biography of Pierre Elliot Trudeau;  Trudeau Transformed: The Shaping of a Statesman 1944-1965.

Hoping this sneak preview will give you something other than sugar plums to dance in your seasonal heads, I'm Joseph Romain, and I'll be back very soon with some more highlights from the upcoming season.

It's a Salon Wrap!

The Appel Salon wrapped up its 2011 season last night with a great discussion about the future of the Liberal party.   Peter C. Newman jousted with Liberal insider John Duffy in a conversation moderated by TVO’s Steve Paikin.  If you missed it, the video will be up in a few days.

 2011 was a very successful season at the Salon, with more than 13,000 people passing through our doors.  We hosted literary superstars Umberto Eco, Jeffrey Eugenides,  Alexander McCall Smith, Donna Leon, Howard Jacobson and Jeannette Winterson,  as well people who brought the issues of the day into the library –people like Samantha Nutt, Jeffrey Sachs, Karen Armstrong, Tim Flannery and Bob Rae. Our continuing partnership with the Toronto Star brought us entertaining evenings with Peter Oundjian, Karen Kain, Ron Maclean, Brian Dennehy and Randy Bachman.  And we partnered with the City of Toronto to celebrate the centenary of Marshall McLuhan with a series of Monday Night Seminars.

 The Salon is taking a little nap over the holidays, but returns for a new season on January 12 with sci-fi great William Gibson. Watch for musician Jane Bunnett,  crime writers Sara Paretsky and Harlan Coben, New York chef Gabrielle Hamilton, Luminato artistic director Jorn Weisbrodt, and Wael Ghonim (the Egyption Google exec who was arrested during the Arab Spring.)  Our popular Shakespeare Lectures also return in March.  Full details at  www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/appelsalon.  See you next year!

Marc Chagall: A Life in Dreams

Marc Chagall, the Russian-born Jewish painter, is one of the few painters to have his works shown at the Louvre during his lifetime. Until January 15, 2012, you can view a selection of his paintings at the Art Gallery of Ontario's exhibit, Marc Chagall and the Russian Avant Garde.

Over 120 people got a taste of the exhibit at a November 22 talk by the AGO's David Wistow at the Yorkville Branch. The crowd was thoroughly impressed with this engaging presentation on Chagall's life and his colourful pieces and Yorkville staff called it a "must-see presentation!"

Luckily, you can hear David Wistow again on December 7 at the Locke branch at 7 pm.

Wistow explores Chagall's life and visionary work, offering insights into how and why Chagall created such astounding works. From his youth in Vitebsk (now in Belarus) to his participation in the early years of the Russian Revolution, and then Berlin and again Paris, escaping the Holocaust to live in America, Chagall interpreted his surroundings and struggles with a stunning use of colour and a sense of whimsy and wonder that made his works iconic examples of 20th century modern art.

David Wistow is an Interpretive Planner at the AGO and author of several books on art, artists and art history.

Chagall's own vibrant and lyrical autobiography, My Life, has become something of a modern classic and a unique document in 20th century literature. Completed in 1922, the memoir only became available in English in 1965 when Peter Owen published this translation. It has remained in print ever since. Click on Marc Chagall to access some of the wonderful art books, biographies and historical/critical works about Chagall in TPL's collections. Click here for more Thought Exchange programs.