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Join Forsyth County Public Library in partnership with the University of North Georgia as we celebrate and explore some of America's greatest novels and authors. Don't forget to cast your vote for America's best-loved novel online or in The Great American Read information and voting booth when it visits the Sharon Forks Library.
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HEART OF DARKNESS AND INVESTIGATING HOW WE SEE VILLAINS AND MONSTERS Presented by Dr. Matthew Boedy Join Dr. Boedy as we explore Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and how it helps us better understand how we see villains and monsters. We’ll also investigate how we often miss many of the villains that are before our eyes. Matthew Boedy is an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia. Dr. Boedy is interested in the rhetoric of religion, specifically how we talk about evil. He is also interested in professional writing. Thursday, September 6 7:00 p.m. Cumming Library Monday, September 17 6:30 p.m. Hampton Park Library
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EXPLORING HEMINGWAY'S THE SUN ALSO RISES AND EXPAT LITERATUREPresented by Dr. Ann Marie Francis Dr. Francis will lead us on a fascinating journey exploring the profound impact of World War I on American literature, and how Paris played an important role as a place for artists and authors to thrive in society. We’ll look at the themes of Hemingway’s classic The Sun Also Rises and how those themes were defined by the author’s own experiences during the war. Ann Marie Francis is an Assistant Professor of English for the University of North Georgia where she teaches composition and literature classes. She has also worked with the European Council teaching literature classes in the study abroad program. Her primary research interests include multimodal composition, community-based writing, and undergraduate pedagogy. In addition to her teaching and research duties, she serves as the Coordinator of the English Department for the Cumming Campus. When not working, she enjoys quilting and hiking with her family. Wednesday, September 19 7:00 p.m. Cumming Library
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UNDERSTANDING THE WRITING PROCESS AND CONDUCTING RESEARCH FOR FICTIONPresented by Dr. Leverett Butts Join Dr. Butts as he discusses his fiction writing, from his research methods to his writing process and publishing experiences (both as a traditionally published and a self-published writer). He will spend time answering audience questions regarding the writing and publishing process, as well. Leverett Butts is a professor at the Gainesville campus of the University of North Georgia, and teaches composition and literature. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Eclectic, The Georgia State University Review, and various short fiction collections. He has also earned several fiction prizes offered by the University of West Georgia and TAG Publishing. His first collection of short fiction, Emily’s Stitches: The Confessions of Thomas Calloway and Other Stories, was nominated for the 2013 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Short Fiction, and the omnibus volume of his first two Guns of the Waste Land novels was nominated for the 2016 Georgia Author of the Year Award in First novels. He lives in Temple, Georgia, with his wife, son, their Jack Russell terrier, and a couple of antisocial cats (one is dead, but the other is just a jerk). He has recently edited H.P. Lovecraft: Selected Works, Critical Perspectives and Interviews on His Influence. Saturday, September 22 3:00 p.m. Post Road Library Tuesday, October 9 6:30 p.m. Sharon Forks Library
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JACK LONDON, AMERICAN NATURALISTPresented by Christopher Curran Jack London lived a fascinating, adventurous life. A prolific writer, London wove complex philosophical questions into visceral narratives about man's confrontations with the sometimes brutal natural world. In "Jack London, American Naturalist," we will discuss his biography, works, and his place within the American literary canon. In particular, we will focus on his famous novel The Call of the Wild, as it is one of the purest expressions of his literary preoccupations. Christopher Curran is a Lecturer on the University of North Georgia's Dahlonega campus. His research interests lie primarily with American literature, with a specific focus on American literary naturalism and authors such as Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, and Frank Norris. When not teaching composition, Christopher spends his time reading, writing, and enjoying the amazingly green city of Atlanta. Sunday, September 30 2:00 p.m. Sharon Forks Library
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FRANKENSTEIN: MARY SHELLEY'S 'DARE TO SCARE' AND THE QUESTIONS IT CONTINUES TO RAISEPresented by Lyn Froehlich Mary Shelley wrote this iconic and classic fictional story based on a "dare to scare" when she was 18 years old. Her literary imagination reveals layers of diverse and difficult circumstances in her young life. She raises the challenging questions of creation, abandonment, loneliness, "the other" and applying the advances of modern science. We continue to explore these issues two hundred years later and look for Victor Frankenstein's creation of the perfect human being. Join Dr. Froehlich and discover new elements of this important novel, and celebrate its 200th anniversary. Lyn Froehlich is an English Lecturer at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega. She has taught English and international students at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. She earned a Bachelors of Science from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and a Masters of Art in Teaching from Brenau University. Lyn's interests include painting, writing poetry, and the culinary arts. Recently she wrote and published a cookbook titled "Sweeter Roots" to celebrate her fondness for cooking vegetarian food, just like the creature in Frankenstein. Thursday, October 4 6:30 p.m. Hampton Park Library
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SCIENCE FICTION: ALIENS, ANIMALS, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Presented by Dr. Austin Riede Discover new elements of this popular genre as you investigate the allegorical representations of animal, alien, and artificial life in popular science fiction. Austin Riede is an associate professor of English at the University of North Georgia specializing in British Modernism, World War I literature, Speculative Fiction, and Film. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his MA at The Ohio State University. He has published on Ford Madox Ford, Vera Brittain, David Jones, W.B. Yeats, and Lewis Grassic Gibbon and has an article forthcoming on Jennifer Kent’s 2014 horror film The Babadook. His current projects include a new edition, with an introduction and annotations, of English novelist A.P. Herbert’s Great War novel The Secret Battle (1919), coming from the University of North Georgia Press, and a volume of collected essays for the University of North Georgia Press called Transatlantic Shell Shock: British and American Literatures of World War I Trauma, which explores the different ways in which Great Britain and the USA dealt with the phenomenon of shell shock. He teaches Modern and Contemporary British Literature, Literature of the Great War, Victorian Literature, Science Fiction, and Film. Saturday, October 6 3:30 p.m. Post Road Library
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EXAMINING THE CATCHER IN THE RYE AND ITS CONNECTION TO MENTAL ILLNESS Presented by Dr. Chris Bell While The Catcher in the Rye is generally understood as a gateway text for literary minded teens with a taste for the rebellious, Dr. Bell sees the text as one which offers a sympathetic portrait of a teenager, Holden Caulfield, with an unspecified mental illness. This makes the book equally, if not more, important nearly seventy years after its publication, with important lessons to teach adults about the complexities of teens. Dr. Bell will also discuss the history of the book, author J.D. Salinger's background, and Catcher's status as an American classic. Chris Bell is an Associate Professor of English at the University of North Georgia where he specializes in American drama, most specifically the plays of August Wilson. He also studies Post-World War II American literature and culture. He lives in Dacula, GA, with his wife Layla, and his three children, Miles, 14, Owen, 9, and Aniston, 7. He is an insufferable Dallas Cowboys fan and a fanatic of professional sports in general. Saturday, October 20 2:00 p.m. Hampton Park Library
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FRANKENSTEIN: MONSTER AND MYTH Presented by Dr. Melissa Schindler What makes us human? In this program, Dr. Schindler will take you on a journey of discovery as you consider some of the pertinent questions raised by the novel Frankenstein. Delve into the historical influences for this novel--scientific and political--as well as its legacy. Nowadays, we're surrounded by images of "monsters" like the one that Dr. Frankenstein created. Why do they fascinate us and what do they represent? Melissa Schindler is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of North Georgia. She has taught composition, World Literature, Multicultural American Literature and Africana Studies. She has lived in Brazil, India, Mozambique, Spain and Sri Lanka. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys long-distance cycling trips, visiting the sea (any of them!), listening to live music and gardening. Tuesday, October 30 6:30 p.m. Post Road Library
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Vote for Your Favorite Book The Great American Read information and voting booth will visit the Sharon Forks Library from October 15-23. Stop by and cast your vote in person through October 18, or learn about other ways to vote online.
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About The Great American Read
The Great American Read is an eight-part series that explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels. It investigates how and why writers create their fictional worlds, how we as readers are affected by these stories, and what these 100 different books have to say about our diverse nation and our shared human experience. The television series features entertaining and informative documentary segments, with compelling testimonials from celebrities, authors, notable Americans and book lovers across the country. It is comprised of a two-hour launch episode in which the list of 100 books is revealed, five one-hour theme episodes that examine concepts common to groups of books on the list, and a finale, in which the results are announced of a nationwide vote to choose America’s best-loved book. The series is the centerpiece of an ambitious multi-platform digital, educational and community outreach campaign, designed to get the country reading and passionately talking about books. READ THE BOOKS JOIN THE CONVERSATION Library staff and volunteers have been sharing their favorite books from The Great American Read list on Instagram. You can join the national conversation by posting photos of your own favorites and tagging them with #GreatReadPBS.
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Forsyth County Public Library 585 Dahlonega Street Cumming, Georgia 30040 770-781-9840www.forsythpl.org/ |
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