Upcoming British Library Events

The 18th Annual Douglas W Bryant Lecture: From Acadie to Arab Spring: Reflections on America's Place in the World

When: Monday 13 May 2013. Lecture 19.00 - 20.00, preceded by reception from 18:15

Place: Conference Centre, British Library

Born in the Acadian heartland of eastern Canada, BBC Presenter and Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet has been reporting from around the world for the past thirty years.

Her BBC work includes postings in Abidjan, Kabul, Islamabad, Tehran, Amman, and Jerusalem. In recent years her travel has often taken her to the Middle East, including Syria, as well as to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Lyse was educated at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario) and the University of Toronto. Her work has won a series of journalism awards and she holds honorary doctorates from universities in both Canada and the UK.

Price: Free, but attendance is by prior reservation ONLY. Send an email to eccles-centre[at]bl.uk to reserve places. Tickets are not issued for this event so, for the guest list, please provide your full name and the name(s) of any companion(s).

Conference: Movies for Hard Times: Hollywood and the Great Depression

When: Monday 22 April 2013. 10.00-17.00

Where: Conference Centre, British Library

A one-day conference, with the participation of nine eminent scholars, who will analyze the Depression Era context of some classic movies, stars and studios. Among the subjects considered are Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Mickey Mouse, Chaplin's Modern Times and John Ford's Young Mr Lincoln.

Detailed programme and registration form http://www.bl.uk/eccles/events.html#hollywood

Price £20, includes refreshments and buffet lunch. Limited places so early booking advised.

Amiri Baraka to read at NUI Galway

Courtesy of the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, in association with Arts in Action, NUI Galway will be treated to a reading by poet, activist, and award-winning writer Amiri Baraka on Thursday, 25 October, in the O'Flaherty Theatre.

From the Marketing & Communications Office, NUI Galway:

The writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and jazz criticism, Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1957 and founded Totem Press, which first published works by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and others.  He moved to Harlem in 1965 where he founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School.

His reputation as a playwright was established with the production of Dutchman at Cherry Lane Theatre in New York in 1964. The controversial play subsequently won an Obie Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and was made into a film. The author of several volumes of poetry, an autobiography, and numerous essays on culture, music and politics, Baraka also founded the jazz/poetry ensemble Blue Ark.

In 1994, Amiri Baraka retired as Professor of Africana Studies at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, and in 2002 was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey and Newark Public Schools. In the fall of 2002, Baraka came under fire from the New Jersey office of the Anti-Defamation League, the New Jersey Assembly and others after a reading of his controversial poem ‘Somebody Blew Up America’ about the 9/11 attacks.

According to Professor Sean Ryder, Chair of English and Acting Director of the Moore Institute at NUI Galway: “Amiri Baraka has been a cultural catalyst in the US for over 50 years, impacting upon and inspiring writers, students and the wider public. We are thrilled that he is coming to our campus, and our students of English are enthused about meeting in person an author they study and admire.”

Amiri Baraka’s numerous literary honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and many others. His book Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music was selected as a winner of the 31st annual American Book Awards for 2010.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5pm in the O’Flaherty Theatre in the Arts/Science Building.