“There is a kind of connection to us,” Outreach Librarian Donna Lach said of this year’s author series, which includes two Westmount authors, two well-known Montreal media figures, and one former library employee.
“We’re very lucky that we really have a wealth of talented authors here in Westmount and locally,” Lach said. “It’s harder than you think [to select writers to read at the Library], because we have a lot of good writers here. We try to highlight as many as we can.”
The Heart Specialist is Rothman’s first novel, a story about a woman in the early 20th century determined to establish a career as a doctor. Rothman has previously written two volumes of short stories, and translated both fiction and non-fiction. Her translation of Philippe Aubert de Gaspé’s novel The Influence of a Book won the John Glassco Translation Award in 1993.
The second reading in the series took place on Oct. 14, when Bill Brownstein visited the Library to read from his book Montreal 24: Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a City. Brownstein, a columnist for the Montreal Gazette for the past 21 years, has made two documentary films, published a collection of poetry, edited an anthology, and written two non-fiction books besides Montreal 24. That book, his most recent, is a round-the-clock guide to the city, ranging around the island to present a different city landmark each hour on the hour.
On Oct. 21, the library hosts Bill Haugland, who will read from his detective novel, Mobile 9. Set in 1969, the book follows a television reporter who becomes mixed up in a mystery that takes him from an FLQ bombing to the Grey Cup. Haugland was a reporter and anchor for CFCF-TV from 1961 to 2006. Mobile 9 is his first novel.
Andrew Steinmetz will return to the Westmount Library, where he used to work at the reference desk, on Nov. 17. He’ll be reading from Eva’s Threepenny Theatre, which presents the story of his great-aunt, who acted in a production of Brecht’s Threepenny Opera in 1928. The book mixes fiction and biography with Brecht’s work and ideas. Steinmetz, who has previously written a volume of memoirs and two books of poetry, is the editor of Esplanade Books, the fiction imprint of Véhicule Press.
The final reading in the fall author series is on Nov. 18, when Barbara Meadowcroft will present her biography Gwethalyn Graham: A Liberated Woman in a Conventional Age. In 1944, two-time Governor General’s Award-winning writer Graham became the first Canadian writer to have a book reach number one on The New York Times’ best-seller list. Meadowcroft, like Graham a Westmount resident, is a Research Fellow at Concordia University’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute, and has previously written a book, Painting Friends, about the Beaver Hall group — 10 women painters from Montreal who were contemporaries of the Group of Seven.
Each hour-long reading in the fall author series will begin at 7 p.m., and be followed by a question-and-answer session. Coffee and refreshments will be served. Copies of all the books featured may be found at the library, 4574 Sherbrooke St. W. Further details about the readings can be found at the Library’s web site, http://www.westlib.org.
