What's On at the Library

Pride and Prejudice, History and Memory

This spring the library is running a remarkable series of author talks by memoirists, historians, novelists who reflect on what it means to be gay or lesbian.

On May 1, 7 pm, at Parliament Street , we welcome Los Angeles-based author Trebor Healey who is in town on a brief tour. He will be talking about and reading from his latest book, A Horse Named Sorrow, recently named a finalist in the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards.

On Saturday, May 4, 2-3 pm at Lillian H. Smith, actor and documentary writer William Whitehead will talk about his life and work in the arts. Whitehead's memoir, Words to Live By, centres on the 40 years of his life spent with his partner acclaimed novelist Timothy Findlay.

The next program in the series is at the St. Lawrence branch on May 7, 7 pm. Here in a talk entitled Challenging History: Sexuality and Sport,  Helen Lenskj (above, right) picks up the story of the prejudice against gays, lesbians and intersex people that has been an underlying part of the Olympics for over a century. One has only to think of the backlash against the South African athlete Caster Semenya to appreciate that such bigotry has not disappeared.

To mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the Palmerston branch features a panel discussion, Querying the Page with Farzana Doctor, Nancy Jo Cullen, Debra Anderson and Zoe Whittall, all past winners of the Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie prize. The panel discussion will be moderated by Vivek Shraya.

 On May 22  Yorkville, where Toronto Public Library's extensive Lesbian Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Collection is housed, historian Steven Maynard of Queens University will deliver a historical talk, "Pansy Boys and Hell Witches": Queer Visibility in Early-20th-Century Toronto.This illustrated talk looks at the emergence of modern gay and lesbian identities in Toronto during the 1920s and '30s.

Also at Yorkville during the entire month of May is an  exhibit, Pride and Prejudice Three Decades of LGBT Community Organizing, by the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. The exhibit highlights the people, events and publications that shaped Toronto's queer community from the 1970s to the 1990s.

      

 

 

 

 

The series wraps up on June 13, 7 pm, at Parliament Street with author and journalism professor Kamal Al-Solaylee. His book Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes recounts the story of his family's remarkable travels back and forth between Yemen and Egypt during the 1960s, and his own struggle to find a way to live as a gay man.

 

Culture Days at the Library: Get Your Proposal in Now!

This fall, On September 27-28, more than 40 Toronto Public Library branches will be opening up their spaces to artists and performers of all kinds during the Culture Days events. Culture Days @ the Library is part of a country-wide festival of the arts and a wonderful opportunity for artists--musicians, painters, photographers, actors, sculptors, poets--to display their craft and invite the public to take an inside look at how and why they create.To participate, just fill out the simple application online form.

The deadline is April 15, so don't delay!

Last year, more than 2220 people attended Culture Days events at library branches across the city. There was jazz, guitar lessons, a weaving demo, felting demonstrations and much more more. Check out the blog postings from last year to see the enormous variety that was on offer.

Sneak Preview of Culture Days 2013

On April 2, the Toronto Star featured an article about the Tamil Literary Garden and its annual awards which take place in June. These awards recognize the finest Tamil writers from around the world, from India to Sri Lanka, Singapore, Canada and other places. (Pictured left is Appadurai Muttulingan, noted Tamil author and one of the founders of the Tamil Literary Garden. Credit: Richard Lautens/Toronto Star)

The Tamil Literary Garden does more than present awards. This fall, they will also be presenting a unique art form at the Malvern Branch on Saturday, September 28, 2-4 pm., as part of the Culture Days festival. The King’s Fury—a Tamil Folk Drama is a presentation of an ancient traditional musical art form from the north and east of Sri Lanka. Known as Naadu Koothu, the dance will be demonstrated in its original style by Manuel Jesudasan and Group. Jesudasan is with the Tamil Literary Garden. This event will be quite an extravaganza.

Keep following this blog, and check out the Culture Days website for more information about library events and other events across the city.

 

The eh List for Fall 2012: October and November

Here at 'eh List Central' we are keen to provide Toronto with the finest festival of Canadian letters anywhere in town. The fall 2012 list is pretty close to our model season: mystery, local flavour, literary titles, expert interviewers, some of the country's best mystery writers, great comedy... in all, a wide swath of Canadiana with enough variety to keep even the most critical minds happy.

In the last instalment of this blog, we looked at the September lineup. In this piece, we will look at the lineup for October and November. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Do you understand the American Empire and its hold on the world’s economy? Do you see it changing any time soon? Come out and hear a couple of experts who have studied the history and future of global capital, and who can explain it in language you will understand. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin are the real deal and their new book will be a signal publication in the study of economics. Join us for the launch of their new book, The Making of Global Capitalism at the Toronto Reference Library, Oct. 4 at 7 pm.

Kamal Al-Solaylee is an openly gay Torontonian who hails from Yemen. As a child, his evident difference from other boys was a source of benign tenderness from his siblings and parents. As the Arab world witnessed a resurgence of religious fervour, his world, and his family, spiralled into intolerance and religious extremism. While he went abroad for education, his sisters traded in their bikinis for burkas and his brothers became intense in their devotion. There was no longer room for an openly gay man in the household or in the society. Al-Solaylee presents this memoir as an homage to his former Arab world: Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes. Join Al-Solaylee at North York Central Library auditorium on Oct. 17 at 7 pm.

 

Farzana Doctor’s newest novel, Six Metres of Pavement, tells the story of a father trying to come to grips with the tragedy of his baby daughter’s death and the guilt he feels for causing it. Finally, twenty years later, he begins to recover his life. Doctor is able to bring her reader into her visceral world, where we really care what happens. Join Farzana, TPL’s new Writer in Residence at 7 pm on Oct. 18 at Toronto Reference Library for a reading and discussion of this exciting new book.

When former Globe and Mail columnist Jan Wong suggested that there might have been a connection between Quebec nationalism and mass killings at Quebec educational facilities, all hell broke loose. Hate mail piled up in the mailroom. The editor-in-chief, who had personally vetted the story, immediately denounced it. The publisher excoriated one of his prize journalists. The Prime Minister wrote a damning letter to the editor. And Wong, for the first time in her life, suffered a mental collapse. Out of The Blue documents the issues, her clinical depression, her firing and the fallout.  This important book was in serious jeopardy of never seeing print. Lawyers threatened and almost everyone involved backed away from Wong and her story. Wong is an engaging and fearless speaker. These visits will be up-front and personal. Don’t miss Jan Wong at Barbara Frum library on October 22 and at Taylor Memorial on Oct. 23. (Don’t worry: Lunch will not be served.)

When Peter Robinson releases a new book, half of the population of the British Isles dawdles along to the bookshop to pick up a copy. They can’t wait for the story to appear on the tube. The successful TV series DCI Banks will have to wait to get the latest instalment on the screen, but you can meet the author at your local library. Canada produces its fair share of police procedurals, but Robinson’s are among the best. Watching the Dark, the twentieth and most recent DCI Banks novel, will keep you thoroughly engrossed in what is said to be the best of the Banks stories. Come and meet Peter, buy or borrow a book, and ask him when we get to see the series here in Canada! Join Peter Robinson at Norh York Central Library on Oct. 14 at 7pm, or at Northern District on Oct. 26 at 12:30 pm.

Imagine a world where the things we have taken for granted for a generation begin to disappear. Scott Fotheringham takes us to the backwoods of Nova Scotia where a man with a secret past slowly withdraws from a world where catastrophe lurks like a wolf in the night. The Rest is Silence, Fotheringham’s portrait of environmental apocalypse, calls for a real life expert to help us fathom the magnitude of the issues in the book. Award-winning author and environmental journalist Alanna Mitchell will speak with Fotheringham about the size and scope of disaster and about the suspension of belief which drives both this book and our continued roulette game with the Earth. Join us for this one-time event at Toronto Reference Library on Oct. 25 at 7 pm.

By all appearances, Canadian politics has taken a decided turn to the conservative end of the political spectrum. For some people, that’s a good thing. For Warren Kinsella, Prime Minister Jean Chretin’s former special assistant, it is not a good thing. Not by a country mile. In Fight The Right: A Manual for Surviving the Coming Conservative Apocalypse, he calls for liberals and progressives everywhere to dig in for the fight of their lives. This partisan author will not be treading on eggshells. If you want to know what outspoken Liberals and progressives are thinking, join us at Toronto Reference Library on Nov. 1 at 7 pm, and at Runnymede Library on November 8 at 7 pm.

This Just In: Award-winning author and journalist Noah Richler will join Warren at TRL for an on-stage interview. Richler's own newest title What We Talk About When WE Talk About War is a polemic which yearns for the Personian Era of Canadian and world poltics, when Kinsella's kind of guys were winning elections around the world. Tune in here for a meeting of progressive minds.

Terry Fallis is a very funny man. He probably thought it was funny that nobody would publish his first book, The Best Laid Plans. Until his self-published version started winning prizes.  Before the dust cleared, he had a multi-book deal with a major publishing house, and the prizes and accolades kept on coming. CBC Canada Reads declared The Best Laid Plans “The Essential Canadian Novel of the Decade.” The TV mini-series is underway, and Fallis produced first a sequel, The High Road, and now, Up and Down, a hilarious romp through Cigar Lake B.C and the International Space Station. This is a very funny book. It’s quintessentially Canadian, and unless you snap to attention at the first bars of the Star Spangled Banner, you will find this a fun book that will leave you smiling and cheering for Team Canuk. Terry is scheduled for one night only: Barbara Frum Branch, Nov. 7 at 7.

If you have ever wondered why cereal gets soggy when you go to answer the phone, or if your friends make prank calls to your ex-girlfriend, you will probably have some sympathy for Jonathan Goldstein, hapless host of CBC’s Wiretap. In his latest inquiry into life and the workings of the world, I’ll Seize the Day Tomorrow Goldstein laments his fleeting youth and his ponderous passage into the next stage of life. Join us for an unforgettable evening with Jonathan Goldstein at North York Central Library on November 7 at 7.

Things happen fast in Algonquin Bay. You would think this picturesque city on Lake Nipigon would be a sleepy northern town without much going on. And you would be dead wrong. Algonquin Bay, as created by Giles Blunt, is a very happening place with more gruesome murders and payback crime than the average crime-ridden big city. When a senator’s wife turns up dead, and a wandering wife disappears from a no-tell hotel, Inspector John Cardinal and Detective Lise Delorme are keenly aware of a pattern of frozen women. A floating ice island, a celebrity sex addict and a rogue Toronto cop populate Blunt’s newest novel, Until the Night. Join us for one appearance only at Northern District Branch on November 13 at 12:30 pm.

Our series concludes with a very powerful story by an emerging giant of Canadian fiction. Vincent Lam's The Headmaster's Wager takes place in Vietnam during the conflict which we in the West calls The Vietnam War. The war looks a lot different to Percival Chen, the Headmaster of Saigon's (ther former Ho Chi Minh City) most prestigious English acadamy. When his son's Chinese swagger attracts the attention of the Vietcong authorities, Percival requires all of his guile and influence to get his son out of danger. Join us for readings with this Giller Award winning author on Nov. 20 at Taylor Memorial and Nov. 28 at North York Central Library.

 

 

RMS Titanic: Gilded Lives on a Fatal Voyage

One hundred years ago, on April 14, 1912, the great ocean liner Titanic went down. Toronto Public Library is pleased to welcome award-winning writer Hugh Brewster to talk about his new book on this disaster which continues to grip readers. A real expert on the Titanic, Brewster was for two decades an editor and publisher at Madison Press Books where he helped edit and compile the images for Dr. Robert Ballard’s bestseller, The Discovery of the Titanic and Titanic: An Illustrated History. 

Brewster’s R.M.S. Titanic weaves the story of that fateful crossing with compelling portraits of the people on board--those who survived and those who tragically lost their lives--allowing us to place ourselves on that sloping deck and ask, "What would we do?"

Tue Apr 3, 2:00 - 3:00 pm Toronto Reference Library Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium  Tue Apr 10, 7:00 - 8:00 pm Albert Campbell Tue Apr 17, 7:00 - 8:15 pm Port Union Wed May 02, 7:00 - 8:00 pm Danforth/Coxwell Tue May 08, 7:00 - 8:00 pm Annette Street

For more Thought Exhange Programs, visit: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/featured/thought-exchange.jsp

The eh List for April 2012: Some Great Expectations

The eh List for April 2012-02-21

There is so much going on in April, that I'm breaking this into sections. Here is what we have planned for the first couple of weeks of April, TPL's Keep Toronto Reading month.

Suzette Mayr visits Runnymede on April 3 at 7 pm with her powerfully sad and humorous  Monocerous, a heartbreaking look at the days and weeks following the suicide, in chapter one, of a gay teenager.  What follows isn’t a news report: it’s a careful, blow by blow deconstruction of the effects of the suicide as they ripple through the lives of the teachers, students and parents affected by the tragedy. A timely book rendered with care and intelligence.

Esi Edugyan’s latest book, Half-Blood Blues, imagines a possible history of jazz. A history which is very much like the history which we know, but which enjoys the music and myth of Hieronymus Falk, the most influential jazz man of them all. This fictional Falk was arrested in Nazi-occupied Paris and died shortly after being released from a concentration camp in Poland. One recording of his spectacular sound exists, barely, but it was enough to carry the myth of Falk to  the stratesphere where  Satchmo, Ellington and Parker hold center court.  Edugyan writes beautifully, catching the shimmer of the language of the 1930s’ Jazz Cats and Kittens, and the ethos of invention and creation among the musicians. Edugyan turned heads with her nominations for the Governor General’s Award, the Man Booker Award and the Giller Award, the latter of which she won, but crack the spine of this one and you will see why there is so much fuss.  You can meet Ms. Edugyan at North York Central Library on April 4 at 7 pm and at Toronto Reference Library at 12:30 on April 5. At TRL, she will be interviewed by novelist Susan Swan.

Canada’s most loved and hated politician may well be one man. In fact, many Canadians both loved and hated the same man at the same time. Pierre Trudeau was not someone you could feel neutral about; he infuriated as much as he made a nation proud to have him as a leader. The only point of agreement among Canadians is perhaps that he was enigmatic. Max and Monique Nemni pull back the covers from some of that ambiguity, but they also set some of it in concrete. Trudeau Transformed is a definitive book by people who left nothing to the imagination, and who investigated every possible lead in understanding him. Why did he consider himself a ‘Citizen of the World’? What did he mean by posting a note to this effect on his student dorm room door in Boston, and what were the factors leading up to his adoption of this position, when did he renounce it, and who might have spoken to him about it in between?  Surely this is too much information to know about most of us... but when the subject is a man whose opinions still inform much of Canadian politics 20 years after his death, the Nemnis give him the rigorous attention he deserves. Meet the Nemnis in either Official Language: In French at Northern District Library, April 17 at 7 pm and in English on April 18, 7 pm, North York Central Library.

 A World Elsewhere is Wayne Johnton’s latest. In it, Landish Druken, the son of a Newfoundland sealer forswears the rubber boots, the sow’ester and the fortune that goes along with owning a sealing dynasty. Using a thinly veiled Vanderbuilt family and their famous Biltmore castle as the central cast and set for the action, Johnston gives the reader an eye-opening ride through the lives of the exceptionally wealthy and their ‘help’.  As usual, Johnton gives us very readable text, and sets hilarious dialogue and clever language games above the heads and onto the lips of his odd and variable cast of characters. Meet Wayne Johnston at Northern District Library on April 18 at 12:30 noon.

 You could probably stump Holger Petersen. You could ask him for an appraisal of Hieronymus Falk’s devastating solo in the Hot Time Swingers only hit song; THAT might stump him. (Unless he is a Can Lit devotee, of course;  because Falk and the band and the song are fictions from Esi Edugyan’s novel Half-Blood Blues). But stumping Petersen on the subject of music, particularly ‘roots’ music, is going to be difficult without resorting to fiction. The founder of Stony Plain Records and host of CBC’s Saturday Night Blues has finally committed all that talk to paper. Talking Music includes interviews with some of his most important and intriguing musicians, including: Bonnie Raitt and Maria Muldar, Long John Baldry, Eric Burdon, Alan Lomax, Ike Turner,  Mavis Staples and Ry Cooder.  Meet Canada’s itinerant Bluesologist at S. Walter Stewart library on April 18 at 7 pm and on April 19 at Cedarbrae at 1 in the afternoon.

Nahlah Ayed is an international correspondent who has been based largely in the Middle East. Ayed reported for CBC news around the Middle East, and has been stationed in Amman, Baghdad, Beirut and now, covering the pro-democracy movement, she is based in Toronto. Ayed is from Winnipeg, a graduate of University of Manitoba, and has received accolades and awards for her reporting and investigations. Ayed will speak about her new book, A Thousand Farewells at the Toronto Reference Library on April 19, at 12:30.

Watch for more great eh List readings during April and May!

Another Story Bookshop is now our official eh List Bookseller. They will attend all events to sell the author's new works.

Short Stories from the Universe: Johannes Hirn

Wherein we hear stories of the Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, extra-dimensions, parallel universes, quantum computers and more. Johannes Hirn of U of T's Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics has some incredible stories to tell in Black Holes are like Kinder Surprises and Other Short Stories from the Universe. You can hear him speak at three branches, east and west:

Gerrard/Ashdale  Thus Jan 12, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm; Richview Sat Jan 14, 10:30 am - 11:30 am, and Don Mills Wed Jan 18, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm.

Dr. Johannes Hirn is a bilingual science writer and photojournalist and he is the New Media Specialist, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto. Armed with a doctorate in theoretical physics (Université Paris Sud (Paris XI), Hirn went on to get a Master's degree in science journalism at Boston University. 

What all this means is that he has that rare ability to explain highly complex ideas in a way that is accessible to the rest of us. His talk about black holes will delight and inform. He has written for Sky and Telescope (see "Black-Hole Missing Link Found?" for example), and many other magazines.

F. Bresolin, R.-P. Kudritzki, R. Mendez (Institute for Astronomy, Univ. Hawaii). Galaxy NC 3621 may have three black holes.	Photo credit: Rachel Blumenthal

If you are interested in astronomy, the Dunlap Institute's webpage is full of interesting articles and reports on research. As well, the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at U of T has free tours and lectures for the public--a great way to hear about the remarkable work that goes on in this field.

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.

When Politics and History Collide--Building Postwar Toronto

Annette Street Branch  Monday, November 7,  7-8 pm

How are cities built and developed? Who decides? The History Matters series continues with Stephen Bocking’s talk on Toronto’s history in the rapid-growth decades following World War II.  Debates about land use and infrastructure are not new, nor are the tensions between urban planners and scientists on the one hand, and politicians on the other, as this talk will show.

Stephen Bocking is a Professor and Chair of the Environmental & Resource Studies Program, Trent University. In addition to his research interests, he writes for the Alternatives Journal , contributing articles on the “unnatural disaster” that was Katrina, to art and science, DDT and much more. (Photo above is from Toronto of the 1950s by Derek Flack, blogto.com)

History Matters 2011 has brought some fascinating talks to Toronto Public Library branches. We began at Lillian H. Smith Branch near the old Spadina garment district with a talk by Professor Ruth Frager on the lives and struggles of Jewish garment workers. Other talks explored the work of environmental activist Rosalie Bartell; the uses and abuses of the Don River Valley; the building of Dufferin and St. Clair; the history of Labour Day; Walkerton and the devastation of e.coli. The talks have been recorded so if you missed one, you can listen to a podcast www.activehistory.ca. The series has been possible by a genorous grant from The History Education Network.

History Matters wraps up with Producing History in an Auto Town: Oshawa After World War II on Wednesday, November  16, 6:30-8 pm at the Pape/Danforth Branch. For more information, call 416-393-7657. The speaker is Christine McLaughlin, York University.

Part of Thought Exchange. Click here for more Thought Exchange programs.

Stuart Clark's Vast Canvas

The extraordinary thing about Toronto Public Library, is that on any given day, you can go to a library branch and hear and meet and talk with remarkable and well-known authors as they discuss a new book or some breathtaking new idea or direction in research.

Widely read and acclaimed astronomy journalist Stuart Clark is visiting Canada this week to promote his new book The Sky's Dark Labyrinth and tomorrow, October 19,  7 pm, he will be at the Runnymede Branch. The Sky's Dark Labyrinth, the first in a trilogy, tells the story of Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, two men trapped by human ignorance and irrational terror in one of the darkest, yet also enlightening periods of European history.

Simon Wallace, www.meltingpotpictures.co.uk

Clark, who usually writes non-fiction, has devoted his career to presenting the complex world of astronomy to the general public. Many of his books are in TPL collections.

 

To place holds, click on bookcovers

This is a great opportunity for all those who love and are intrigued by science, history and literature. Stuart Clark holds a first class honours degree and a PhD in astrophysics and he is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Back in 2000, the UK daily newspaper The Independent placed him alongside Stephen Hawking and the Astronomer Royal, Professor Sir Martin Rees, as one of the "stars" of British astrophysics teaching. For more information, visit Stuart Clark's website: http://www.stuartclark.com/.  

  

 

 

Culture Days – Tar Sands Exploration Station

Tar Sands in Toronto?  by Diana (Downsview)

Yes. Specifically, the Tar Sands Exploration Station (TSES). This is an interactive art installation housed in a 1982 Dodge Ram camper van that will be open for visitors in the Richview Library parking lot from 10am - 4 pm on Saturday October 1!  

Visual artist Allison Rowe created the TSES as a way to help people learn more about the tar sands and how they really affect the world. The TSES carries a wealth of information and resources such as environmental samples, 3D models of tar sand extraction methods, and different multimedia.

I spoke with Allison to ask her a couple questions about her fascinating art installation:

Q: After reading your TSES website, it sounds as though you’ve had some interesting experiences! Any you’d like to share? Anything you would do differently?

A: On our cross country trip in the TSES we met some amazing people and saw some very interesting places. I particularly enjoyed Texas where conversations and ideas about oil and fossil fuels were quite different than in the rest of the country. A lot people in Texas were very disturbed that their oil would not be coming from within the United States. Whereas in California, people were excited to hear that Canada had oil, even if it is isn't a particularly environmentally friendly kind.

Q: The TSES is a very creative and interesting way to educate people all over about the Canadian Tar Sands. Did you learn something new from your travels this summer?

A: I discovered that people across the U.S. and Canada are very concerned about sustainability but are uncertain what they as individuals can do to address it. We all seem to be searching for leaders but don't have anyone in government to look to.

I also learned a few things about the design of the TSES itself. Parents kept coming to visit but not staying long because their kids weren't interested in chatting about oil. This Fall I have added some new interactive elements just for kids that I am excited to officially launch at the TPL!

Q: Although your final stop is Toronto, if you could drive your TSES anywhere in the world, where would you go?

A: The TSES initially began as a research vehicle that I used to travel to Fort McMurray to gather data on the tar sands. Now that the TSES is complete, I am planning to travel back to Alberta and see what people their think of the project.

Thank you Allison for the mini interview!

The Tar Sands Exploration Station has travelled all over Canada and the US and has finally come to Toronto, so don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to check out this creative and educational mobile art installation dedicated to Canadian environmental issues and art.

For all Culture Days @ the Library events visit www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ and click on Culture Days @ the Library under What's New. For all Culture Days activities, visit go to Culturedays.ca.