Circumstances Alter Photographs

On Friday, April 24, 1885, Captain James Peters took the world’s first battlefield photographs under fire at the battle of Fish Creek in the Canadian Northwest Territory of Saskatchewan. As Captain of the Royal Canadian Artillery’s “A” Battery—part of the North West Field Force—he subsequently managed to expose over seventy glass plates for the duration of the battles at Duck Lake and Batoche as well, many of them again during combat with the enemy, both on the ground and on horseback. This watershed in the documentation of history was created by photographic technology, advanced to the point where “naturalist” or “detective” cameras, which came on the market in 1883, could be carried slung over the shoulder. Their faster shutter speed now allowed for hand-held photography. Neglected for over 120 years, these images literally shine new light on the War of 1885—particularly the second part of the campaign against the Indians under Big Bear, Poundmaker and Miserable Man. They are frankly astonishing in both their eerily haunting visual impact and as much by the mere fact that they even still exist.

Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

In the tradition of Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water and Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees comes a hilarious romp about how the arrival of a mysterious stranger turns an Indian reserve upside down.

Otter Lake is a sleepy little community buried somewhere deep in central Ontario. There are a few problems: Maggie Second, the chief of the community, is trying to settle a dispute over a plot of land that is to be added to the reserve. And her son, Virgil, is desperately trying to survive the boredom of his time at school. But most of all, neither Maggie nor Virgil can come to terms with the fact that Lillian Benojee, Maggie's mother, is on her deathbed. But then a mysterious and handsome white stranger named John arrives, riding a vintage 1954 Indian Chief motorcycle. Who he is, nobody knows, except for Lillian.

A Hunter’s Confession

A Hunter’s Confession tells the story of hunting—both its history and the role it has played in David Carpenter’s own life, including the reasons he once loved it and the dramatic hunting incident that made him give up hunting for good.

Winding through this narrative is Carpenter’s exploration of the history of hunting, subsistence hunting versus hunting for sport, trophy hunting, and the meaning of the hunt for those who have written about it most eloquently. Are wild creatures somehow our property? How is the sport hunter different from the hunter who must kill game to survive? Is there some bridge that might connect Aboriginal to non-Aboriginal hunters? Carpenter ponders questions like these as he describes what hunting has meant to him and to others throughout history and in our own time.

Understanding Icons and Visual Shorthand

Facilitated by Nicole Berard.

Monday, April 19 6:00 – 7:30 pm (and every following Monday until May 17).

Join other graphic novel writers and artists aged 12 – 15 to improve your understanding of the process of graphic novel creation and discuss how writing a graphic novel is different from other kinds of creative writing. Both writers and artists are welcome.

The first four workshops will be an opportunity for participants to explore what makes graphic novels compelling and discuss why writers might choose the graphic novel genre to tell their story. There will also be time to work either collaboratively or independently on original compositions. The last meeting will be an opportunity for participants to share what they’ve been working on with workshop participants and their families.

The cost of the workshop is the purchase of the graphic novel of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline adapted by P. Craig Russell ($13.91 – tax included). The workshops will also reference the work of Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics and Reinventing Comics) and participants are encouraged, but no required to purchase these books. Register at the Kids Desk before April 10.

What Makes a Graphic Novel?

Facilitated by Nicole Berard.

Wednesday, April 21 6:00 – 7:30pm (and every following Wednesday until May 19).

Join other graphic novel writers and artists aged 9 - 11 to improve your understanding of the process of graphic novel creation and discuss how writing a graphic novel is different from other kinds of creative writing. Both writers and artists are welcome.

The first four workshops will be an opportunity for participants to learn what goes into creating a graphic novel and discuss the work of graphic novel writer and artist Jeff Smith, the author and illustrator of Out from Boneville. There will also be time to work either collaboratively or independently on original compositions. The last meeting will be an opportunity for participants to share what they’ve been working on with workshop participants and their families.

The cost of the workshop is the purchase of Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith ($11.54 – tax included). Register at the Kids Desk before April 10.

Watch

Blind from birth, Caitlin Decter received the gift of sight with the aid of a signal-processing retinal implant. The technology also gave her an unexpected side effect — the ability to "see" the digital data streams of the World Wide Web. And within the Web, she perceived an extraordinary presence. It is Webmind, an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin and has grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH — the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States — and the agents are fully aware of Caitlin's involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion — and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.

Curiosity

Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas blends fact and fiction, passion and science in this stunning novel set in 19th-century Lyme Regis, England — the seaside town that is the setting of both The French Lieutenant's Woman and Jane Austen's Persuasion.

More than 40 years before the publication of The Origin of Species, 12-year-old Mary Anning, a cabinet-maker's daughter, found the first intact skeleton of a prehistoric dolphin-like creature, and spent a year chipping it from the soft cliffs near Lyme Regis.

As an adolescent, Henry de la Beche found himself living with his elegant, cynical mother in Lyme Regis, where he pursued his passion for drawing and painting the landscapes and fossils of the area. One morning on an expedition to see an extraordinary discovery — a giant fossil — he meets a young woman unlike anyone he has ever known…

Date with a Sheesha.

When a mysterious card arrives in the mail, Russell Quant has a date with murder. From the glitzy high rises of Dubai and the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia, the gay Saskatoon PI takes a magic carpet ride, skidding to a deadly halt on a frozen Saskatchewan pond. This is Quant’s wildest case ever: carpet expert Nayan Gupta has been found murdered in Dubai’s old souk and Russell must sift through layers of deception to get to the truth. As his spicy foreign adventure heats up, Quant learns valuable lessons about love, life and seizing the moment.