Getting Started: Events
Thus began events that were informative and fun—sessions devoted to a topic, a genre, an author, an illustrator, an event, a celebration of some kind, or a theme. This last led to many a funny “theme” dinner (as, for example, a Grimm anniversary dinner with Golden Goose for mains and Snow White pudding for dessert at Cecil Green Park).
The first year began with a session on illustration awards and a theme night on dragons. The events of the second year highlighted links in the community of readers. The first was a Yule celebration featuring retired Dean of Education, Neville Scarfe, reading from Dickens as well as a reader’s theatre presentation of Jack Richard’s Johann’s Gift to Christmas. This event made for a good time as members enjoyed the Dean’s contributions and shared the acting up fun for a new book illustrated by the much-loved cartoonist of the Vancouver Sun, Len Norris.
The second was a talk by a soon-to-be world renowned Canadian authority on children’s books, Sheila Egoff from the Library School (later the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, SLAIS). A professor, historian and critic of children’s literature, Sheila talked about the history of children’s books and about the Arkley Collection of Early and Historical Children’s Literature.
And so it began. To see more about the hundreds of illustrators and authors who have visited, see the “events” section for the A-Z of who has been here — from Almond through Avi through Bettelheim and on to Zindel and Zipes. Some guests have been Roundable Returnees, by popular demand (for example, Tomie de Paola, Sarah Ellis, Michael Foreman, Linda Granfield, Jack Prelutsky, Michael Rosen, Tony Ross). Sadly, we haven’t been able to engage Phillip Pullman for a return date. Turns out he is one busy writer.
If you want to know about critics, editors, storytellers, translators and others who have visited, you will have to scroll through the events, by date.