Medicine Hat author Don Lemna launches his new book, Out In Left Field, at Medicine Hat Public Library on Sunday, April 1st. The reading takes place at 2:00 pm in the Library Theatre.

A sequel to When the Sergeant Came Marching Home published in 2008, Out in Left Field continues the adventures of Donald, an eleven year old boy growing up in post-World War 2 Montana. When an error in baseball costs his team the game, he knows the whole town is laughing at him. Desperate to redeem himself, Donald attempts to become a superstar (at hockey, archery, skiing) but all efforts end in disaster and comedy.

After a career as an electrical engineer in the Canadian Armed Forces, Don Lemna retired and now spends his time writing books for children and adults, plays and poetry. In Bubsy (1993), he drew on his experiences as a child growing up in Medicine Hat. While Out in Left Field and When the Sergeant Came Marching Home are set on the prairie landscape of Montana, the portrayal is very familiar to Prairie Canadians.

Don Lemna may be contacted at 403-529-6052. For further information, go to:

http://www.accessola.com/forest2010/Silverbirch/fiction/sb8/bio.php

Copies of Out in Left Field will be available after Don Lemna’s reading for sale and signing. A reception will follow.

Don Lemna’s book launch is cosponsored by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

For more information, contact Hilary Munro at 403-502-8533 or at hilmun@medicinehat.ca

Noted Vancouver poet and author, Evelyn Lau, will read from her work on Tuesday, March 20 at Medicine Hat Public Library. Her reading takes place at 7:00 pm in the Currie Room.

Evelyn Yee-Fun Lau was born in Vancouver to Chinese immigrant parents in 1971. They raised her in a traditional middle-class way with high aspirations for her future. As a young teenager she started writing and publishing her work, much to their dismay. At the age of 15, resenting her sheltered upbringing, she ran away from home to live on the streets for two years. During this time, she kept a diary which became a best seller. Runaway, Diary of a Street Kid, published in 1989, was later adapted as a television movie for the CBC in 1993. In her book of autobiographical essays, Inside Out, published in 2001, she states that the tumult of her early adulthood has coloured all aspects of her later life.

In addition, she has published several books of poetry: Living Under Plastic (2010), Treble (2005), In the House of Slaves (1994) and You Are Not Who You Claim (1990). She has two collections of short stories: Fresh Girls and Other Stories (1993) and Choose Me: Stories (1999).

Evelyn Lau lives in Vancouver where she was appointed as the city’s third Poet Laureate in October 2011.

Evelyn Lau’s visit is made possible through funding from the Canada Council of the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

For more information about Evelyn Lau, go to http://www2.athabascau.ca/cll/writers/english/writers/elau/elau.php

To contact her or for more information, call Hilary Munro at 403-502-8533.

AT THE MONARCH THEATRE, MEDICINE HAT
January 16 and 17, 2012

Travel to exotic lands and remote cultures! Be up close and personal with adrenaline-packed action sports! The Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival returns to Medicine Hat on Monday and Tuesday, January 16 and 17, 2012 at 7.00 pm sharp. Tickets are available at the Information Desk at Medicine Hat Public Library or through the students in the Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership program at Medicine Hat College. Tickets are also available at Valhalla Pure Outfitters, at 1667 Dunmore Road SE. The evenings take place at the Monarch Theatre in downtown Medicine Hat.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. If not sold out, there will be a limited number at the door at $12 each evening.

Two evenings of films, with different line ups, will be shown. Spoil, filmed on the remote west coast of BC, chronicles the attempt to photograph the elusive and legendary spirit bear in an area threatened by a proposed pipeline, currently in the news. Cold captures the interwoven roles of pain, fear and doubt as two climbers experience winter and the dangers of avalanches on Gasherbrum 11 in the Karakorum range of the Himalayas. In On The Trail of Genghis Khan, Australian Tim Cope, his band of horses and his dog travel overland 10,000 km from Mongolia to Hungary, following in the footsteps of the legendary warrior and nomad Genghis Khan. In addition films on tightrope walking across incredible abysses, kayaking, climbing in the desert and glaciers, as well as a nine year girl wonder climber, skiing and paddling will be featured.

For the past 36 years on the first weekend in November, people have gathered in Banff to see films and videos which celebrate the best in mountain culture, extreme sports and the environment. Once the festival has concluded, a selection of these films goes on the road across Canada and the United States and around the world.

The students in the Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership program at the College are an integral part of the evenings as they generously volunteer their time to help with the presentation of the Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Medicine Hat.

Two local companies, Criterion Catalysts and Technologies and Cancarb have generously sponsored the Film Festival, thus allowing for the proceeds of ticket sales to go towards library projects.

For more information, please call Hilary Munro at 403-502-8533 or email hilmun@medicinehat.ca.

For background information and a short preview of the some of the films, go to http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/

Medicine Hat Public Library and Cinema Politica partner in presenting H2Oil, a film about America’s thirst for oil and and the effect on Canada’s oil sands and environment. The film takes place on Monday, October 31 at 7.00 pm in the Library Theatre.

America’s biggest oil supplier has quickly become Canada’s oil sands. Located under Alberta’s pristine boreal forests, the process of oil sands extraction uses up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil.

Water has become the most important issue to face humanity in this century. At the same time, the war for oil is well underway across the globe. A struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil, with Alberta’s oil sands at the centre of this tension.

This recent film examines the social, ecological and human impacts and the coming crisis point, as pipelines move towards crisscrossing the continent from the Arctic to the southern U. S, leaving toxic water basins the size of Lake Ontario and surface mines as large as Florida.

Cinema Politica and Monday Night at the Movies/Friends of Medicine Hat Public Library have partnered to present this free program.

For more information about Cinema Politica, go to www.cinemapolitica.org

For more information about H2Oil, go to www.h2oildoc.com

Medicine Hat Public Library and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) present Going Blind, a film about glaucoma and vision loss on Saturday, October 29 at 2.00 pm. The film will be shown in the Theatre at Medicine Hat Public Library.

When American film maker Joseph Lovett developed glaucoma and subsequent vision loss, he decided to examine the different causes of vision loss, both from a medical and an emotional point of view. His film documents the experiences of a number of people: a young Iraq war vet, an art teacher, an architect and others who are coming to terms with their vision loss.

The Library and the CNIB invite those who may be losing their vision, along with their friends and family, to view this film and learn more about this devastating disease. For more information about the film, go to www.goingblindmovie.com

Admission is free and refreshments will be served following the film showing.

For more information, contact Hilary Munro at 403-502-8533 or at hilmun@medicinehat.ca

Ali Riley
Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Nanton poet Ali Riley reads from her work on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at Medicine Hat Public Library. Her reading takes place at 7:00 pm in the Currie Room.

Ali Riley’s first book, Wayward, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She has since released another book of poetry, Tear Down. A third poetry collection, Mile Zero, is being published in Spring 2012.

Ali Riley was born in Calgary, and was the singer/songwriter of the seminal psycho- country band Sacred Heart of Elvis. In Toronto, she acted in several theatre productions, including The Lorca Play, for which the company won a Dora Mavor Moore award for best performance by a female. Her produced plays include dog dream, Philosophy in the Bedroom and Hole in my Heart the Size of My Heart. Her poetry has appeared in Geist, The nth Position Anthology, Matrix, This Magazine, Event and the Moosehead Review, and she has performed at festivals, schools, and hootenannies across the country. She currently lives on a farm between Nanton and Vulcan, Alberta.

For more information about Ali Riley go to: www.frontenachouse.com

She may be contacted at soddydaisy@hotmail.com

Ali Riley’s visit to the library is cosponsored by the Literary Readings Program of the Canada Council and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

It’s time for the 7th annual One Book One Community (OBOC) in Medicine Hat. Winner of the 2010 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, Newfoundland author Jessica Grant’s quirky Come, Thou Tortoise is this year’s featured book. This delightfully offbeat story features an opinionated tortoise and an IQ-challenged narrator who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery.

The OBOC festivities will begin with ‘An Evening with Jessica Grant’ on Friday, October ^14th at 7:30 pm in the Medicine Hat College Theatre (refreshments and book signing to follow).

On Saturday, October ^15th, facilitated book discussions, readings from the novel by FUT in the Hat, and fun activities take place in Medicine Hat College, beginning with coffee at 9:30am. Everyone is invited to this book club! All events are free with the exception of Saturday’s lunch (tickets now available at Medicine Hat Public Library and at Medicine Hat College Vera Bracken Library).

For more information about Come, Thou Tortoise, Jessica Grant, and One Book One Community, visit the website at http://obocmh.ca.

This event is sponsored by the City of Medicine Hat, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Medicine Hat College, Medicine Hat Public Library, L.E.A.R.N., Medalta, Coles, and Safeway.

Medicine Hat Public Library and the Calgary Co-operative Memorial Society present an information session on preplanning for simple, dignified funerals at a moderate cost. This free presentation takes place in the Currie Room, Medicine Hat Public Library on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 from 10.30 am to Noon.

Since 1966, the Calgary Co-operative Memorial Society has been helping its members to preplan simple, dignified and economical funerals. The Memorial Society’s membership is wide ranging, covering southern Alberta.

The presentation, Sensitive Planning for the Future: a humourous approach to a Heavy Duty Topic, will be made by several members of the Calgary Co-operative Memorial Society and will be followed by questions and answers.

For more information about the Memorial Society: go to www.calgarymemorial.com

September 26, 2011

A National Film Board film detailing a crusade against a soft drinks giant, The Coca-Cola Case, is being presented by Cinema Politica at Medicine Hat Public Library on Monday, September 26, 2011. Screening time is at 7:00 pm in the Library Theatre.

Colombia is the trade union murder capital of the world. Since 2002, more than 470 workers’ leaders have been killed by paramilitaries hired by large corporations intent on crushing the unions. Among these corporate brands is Coca-Cola.

In a legal and human rights battle, three activists from the United States launch a crusade against the soft drinks giant, via the U. S. federal court and the Stop Killer Coke! campaign. This film documents the fight which ensues, pitting victims searching for justice against the lure of cash and power.

CINEMA POLITICA is a non-profit media arts organization based in Montreal with nearly 100 screening locations all over the world (as of September 2011). Each chapter (“local”) screens independent political documentaries for free or by donation to audiences, with guest filmmakers and speakers often invited to participate. Cinema Politica claims to be the “largest volunteer-run, community and campus-based documentary-screening network in the world”.

Cinema Politica and Monday Night at the Movies/Friends of Medicine Hat Public Library have partnered to present this free program.

For more information about Cinema Politica, go to: http://www.cinemapolitica.org/

For more information about The Coca-Cola Case, go to http://films.nfb.ca/the-coca-cola-case/

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The National Film Board documentary, Force of Nature: the David Suzuki Movie, will be shown at 2.00 pm on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at Medicine Hat Public Library.

In this recent film, the director, Sturla Gunnarsson, interweaves a lecture by noted Canadian environmentalist, Dr. David Suzuki, with scenes from Suzuki’s life and lifetime covering the major social, scientific, cultural and political events of the past 70 years.

This film is being presented by Medicine Hat Public Library and the National Film Board’s NFB Film Club as a joint presentation.

This program is free and will be shown in the Library Theatre.

For more information go to www.nfb.ca or contact Hilary at 403-502-8533 or hilmun@medicinehat.ca