Author series offers something for everyone

“The library applies for a Canada Council grant to support these authors’ visits," said City Councillor Kathleen Duncan, Commissioner for Library Services. "We pick works of people of special interest, and people who have published recently.”

The first reading takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 26, with Julie Barlow, a bilingual journalist who has written for The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times and L’actualité. In 2003, she and her partner Jean-Benoît Nadeau collaborated to write Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t be Wrong, an examination of the society and character of France. Their second book, The Story of French, is an overview of the evolution of the French language from the 9th century to the present.

The following month, on Oct. 24, Heather O’Neill will read from her first novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, the story of a teenage daughter of a heroin addict who must struggle with a life of drugs and prostitution in Montreal. The book was championed in the 2007 edition of Canada Reads by musician John K. Samson, and ultimately won the competition. O’Neill has also written a volume of poetry, and the screenplay to the film Saint Jude.

On Oct. 29, the Vancouver-born poet, translator and critic Gary Geddes will read from his latest book, Falsework, an epic poem tracing the effects on a variety of lives of the true-life 1958 collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge, which killed 18 men.

November 28 will see Montreal short-story writer Neil Smith visit the library to read from his collection of his stories, Bang Crunch, which has been published by Knopf Canada under its New Face of Fiction program.

“It’s really nice to be able to feature young and upcoming writers, though we certainly have a number of established ones as well," said Duncan. "And, of course, all of these books are all available in the library.”

All readings will be held in the Westmount Room of the Westmount Public Library, 4574 Sherbrooke St. W., starting at 7 p.m. Coffee and refreshments will be available. The readings are free, but tickets should be picked up ahead of time at the circulation desk. For more information, call 514-989-5386.