Ashley Fellow Lecture at Trent University to “Revisit Vimy”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Revisiting Vimy” the second in a series of Ashley Fellow Lectures by visiting author Sherrill Grace

Friday, November 5, 2010, Peterborough

“Revisiting Vimy” will be the second in a series of talks presented by Ashley Fellow Dr. Sherrill Grace at Trent University on Wednesday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Bagnani Hall at Catherine Parr Traill College, followed by a reception in the Sunrise Café at the Trend.

In "Revisiting Vimy" Professor Grace will explore the myth of Vimy Ridge as Canada's  ‘coming of age' story by looking at recent representations of Vimy in fiction, drama, and film. In post-1977 works on the topic, authors such as Pierre Berton, Jane Urquhart and Vern Thiessen, based their narratives on memory. Prof. Grace asks: How does remembering Vimy change the story?  Is remembering Vimy important to Canadians in the 21st century and if so, why?

Other Lectures in the Ashley Fellow Series include:

Thursday, November 18, 7:30 p.m., Lady Eaton College lecture hall 201
"Landscapes of Memory and the Ethics of Writing about World War II post-1977", and;

Wednesday, November 24, 7:30 p.m., Bagnani Hall at Catherine Parr Traill College
"Standing on Guard: The Canadian North in the 21st Century" (part of the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies’ “North at Trent 2010 Lecture series”)

Sherrill Grace is a professor of English at The University of British Columbia, where she teaches Canadian literature and culture.  In 2008 Prof. Grace won the Canada Council Killam Prize in Humanities and this year she has won the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of Canada for her books on the North.  She has published extensively on Canada and given lectures in Canada, the USA, Europe, and Asia.  Among her most recent books are Canada and the Idea of North (2001; 2007), Inventing Tom Thomson (2004), Making Theatre: A Life of Sharon Pollock (2008), and On the Art of Being Canadian (2009).  She is currently completing a book about Canada and the two world wars called Landscapes of Memory, and she is working on a biography of Timothy Findley.

The Ashley Fellowship is funded by a bequest from the late Professor C.A. Ashley, long-time friend of Trent University and an enthusiastic proponent of the role that informal contacts of college life can play in the academic pursuits of the University. The Ashley Fellow is therefore a visiting scholar who is a resident guest in one of Trent's five residential Colleges.

All events are free, and open to the public.

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For more information, please contact: James Struthers, professor of Canadian studies, 705 748 1011 x 6021.