At the County of Prince Edward Public Library, we have two tremendous online author events scheduled for May – Linwood Barclay and Maude Barlow.
CBC describes Maude Barlow as “Canada’s best-known voice of dissent.” Barlow’s involvement in feminism, the fight against globalization and in pursuit of water justice across the globe has made her a well-known Canadian. She describes herself as an “activist and water warrior.”
Her latest book, Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism describes how she stays positive through many years of this work. On Thursday, May 12 at 2 p.m., she will join us in conversation with Jane Lesslie. Barlow’s participation is thanks to financial assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts through the Writers’ Union of Canada.
Jane Lesslie is Chair of the Prince Edward County Environmental Advisory Committee. The committee, comprised of volunteer members of the community, councillors and technical experts provides recommendations to council on environmental issues and initiatives. Jane previously spent 24 years in Canada and the UK managing investment portfolios of global government bonds of developing countries for RBC Global Asset Management. She spent the last four years of her career screening governments for their vulnerability to, success in managing, or contributions to environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. Jane holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA institute and a MSc in Finance and Investment from the Bayes Business school, City University – University of London in the UK.
Linwood Barclay, a New York Times bestselling author with twenty novels to his credit, spent three decades in newspapers before turning full time to writing thrillers. His books have sold millions of copies, and he counts Stephen King among his fans. He was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent. His new book Take Your Breath Away will be released on Tuesday, May 17, and he will join us online to celebrate the new book at 7 p.m.
Vicki Delany, one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers, will join him for the conversation. Delany has written more than forty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. All are available at the library! It’s sure to be an interesting discussion between two heavy-hitting writers.
-Liz Zylstra