Cover to Cover - Book Club
Book club for adults that love to share a good book!
Please register online (each date individually) and pick up your copy of the book about a month before the meeting date at the main desk of the Cumberland Branch.
These are the next books:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - March 28, 2023
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - April 25, 2023
A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson - May 23, 2023
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle - June 20, 2023
Using figures of speech and other simple literary techniques, learn to develop your writing skills.
Stimulate your imagination with a series of visual prompts to create original and lively works. With a few tools and strategies of the craft, discover the joys of writing poetry.
This workshop promotes the development of rich, colourful and personal work. No steadfast rules, no competition, just fun for everyone!
For adults and teens ages 15+.
About the presenter:
Michèle Vinet, guest of honour at the 2021 Salon du Livre de l’Outaouais, is an award-winning author. She has published three novels in French (Prise de parole) that have gleaned seven nominations and three awards: le prix Trillium, le prix Émile-Ollivier (Conseil supérieur de la langue française) and le prix littéraire Le Droit. She has also published poetry in English, Tendrils (BookLand Press). Her novel Le malaimant (L’Interligne), published in 2021, was finalist to the Trillium Book Award and is the winner of the City of Ottawa Book Award 2022. JAZ, her next novel will be out in September 2023.
The author offers creative writing workshops to the public as well as for the Ottawa Public Library, in schools and universities, community centres, in the penitentiary system, in the field of mental health and Amnesty International.
Her work is the subject of interviews, articles, signings, book fairs, videos, podcasts and various literary presentations.
The world is on fire and nothing is okay. What does this feel like? There are a lot of standard names for what we feel when we think about global warming, wide-spread extinction of creatures, and, well, [gestures generally]: Anxiety, grief, anger, fear, blankness. Sometimes the way we talk about feelings shapes what we feel, and so it matters what words we have. We might not have all the words we need to understand the experience of climate crisis.
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll discuss some theories about emotions and expression, why writing is a good way to explore feelings we don’t have a name for, and how to practice finding our “outlaw emotions” about big problems.
About the presenter
Alexis Shotwell is a professor at Carleton University, on unceded Algonquin land. She is a writer, SF nerd, queer, functional potter, currently obsessed with doing handstands. She’s the author of Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times and working on a book about getting together to solve big problems in which we are complicit.
Presented in partnership with the Ottawa Writers Festival.
Using figures of speech and other simple literary techniques, learn to develop your writing skills.
Stimulate your imagination with a series of visual prompts to create original and lively works. With a few tools and strategies of the craft, discover the joys of writing poetry.
This workshop promotes the development of rich, colourful and personal work. No steadfast rules, no competition, just fun for everyone.
For adults and teens aged 15+.
About the presenter:
Michèle Vinet, guest of honour at the 2021 Salon du Livre de l’Outaouais, is an award-winning author. She has published three novels in French (Prise de parole) that have gleaned seven nominations and three awards: le prix Trillium, le prix Émile-Ollivier (Conseil supérieur de la langue française) and le prix littéraire Le Droit. She has also published poetry in English, Tendrils (BookLand Press). Her novel Le malaimant (L’Interligne), published in 2021, was finalist to the Trillium Book Award and is the winner of the City of Ottawa Book Award 2022. JAZ, her next novel will be out in September 2023.
The author offers creative writing workshops to the public as well as for the Ottawa Public Library, in schools and universities, community centres, in the penitentiary system, in the field of mental health and Amnesty International.
Her work is the subject of interviews, articles, signings, book fairs, videos, podcasts and various literary presentations.
The completely bilingual virtual book club Un livrel / One eRead Canada, offered in Canadian libraries from one ocean to the other, is launching its third edition.
In April 2023, we offer you Ce qu’on respire sur Tatouine/Tatouine par/by Jean-Christophe Réhel. For the month of April, the eBooks and eAudio will be available for simultaneous access.*
Come and join us for a discussion with the English translators, Katherine Hastings and Peter McCambridge, who will be interviewed by Shelagh Rogers. You can join them on the Zoom call or watch live on YouTube.
Registrants will receive an additional email with the Zoom link two days before the program.
This event is happening in partnership with CULC. The Canadian Urban Libraries Council has the mission to facilitate advocacy, collaboration, and research that strengthens and promotes the value of Canada’s urban libraries as integral to a vibrant democracy, a strong economy, and thriving communities.
Peter McCambridge
Originally from Ireland, Peter McCambridge holds a BA in modern languages from Cambridge University, England, and has lived in Quebec City since 2003. His translations have been World Literature Today Notable Translations, longlisted for Canada Reads, and finalists for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for Translation.
Katherine Hastings
Katherine Hastings is a Quebec-based French-to-English translator and English copyeditor. She has translated two novels by Jean-Michel Fortier, The Unknown Huntsman (published 2016) and The Electric Baths (2020); co-translated Tatouine, a novel by Jean-Christophe Réhel (2020); and revised numerous other books for QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books, including Éric Dupont’s 2018 Giller Prize finalist Songs for the Cold of Heart. She has also translated several works of non-fiction, including Montreal and the Bomb by Gilles Sabourin (2021) and The Plains of Abraham: Battlefield 1759 and 1760 by historian Hélène Quimper and the National Battlefields Commission, published in 2022.
Shelagh Rogers
Shelagh Rogers is a veteran broadcast-journalist, currently host and co-producer of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, devoted to writing in Canada. She is an honorary witness to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2016, she was awarded the inaugural Margaret Trudeau Award for Mental Health Advocacy. She holds honorary doctorates from eight Canadian universities and is Chancellor of the University of Victoria. Shelagh is of Métis and Scottish ancestry. Her great-grandmother Edith Rogers was the first Michif woman, and the first woman, elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Edith was from Norway House, where David A. Robertson’s family has deep roots.
*The French eAudio is available from a special production of Radio-Canada’s OHdio, available now.
English conversation group
Practice your English conversation skills in a relaxed and friendly environment. All levels are welcome to this drop-in program.
Meet with fellow food enthusiasts and put a cookbook to the test. Sample a few recipes from the selected cookbook and review your results with the group. Drop-in program.
Community Volunteer Income Tax Program
Do you have a modest income and/or a simple tax situation?
Our community volunteers may be able to take care of your tax return this year! Click here to check your eligibility before dropping by (scroll down and click the Eligibility Criteria drop down to view the full list).
The North Gloucester branch will be offering free English tax clinics that will operate on a first come, first served basis. Add your name to the day's list at the front desk. Expect appointments to run about 45 minutes. Please note that partners looking to get their taxes done together will need the time of two appointments (90 minutes). You do not need a library membership card to attend a tax clinic (though we'd love to get you set up with one while you wait, or after your taxes have been filed!)
Any questions can be directly emailed to Celia.
Clinics start March 20 with a varied schedule throughout March and April. Click on the "View full schedule" link to the right to see dates and times offered.
**Our volunteers will not be processing self-employed or business taxes - simple returns only. They may refuse anyone that does not meet the eligibility criteria.
Stories, rhymes and songs for babies and a parent or caregiver. 0-18 months. 30 min.
Stories, songs and rhymes for babies and parent or caregiver. Stay & Play afterwards 0-18 months. Drop-in.