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.

The 2013 Sulgrave Manor Watson Chair Lecture

Richard Carwardine: "Abraham Lincoln, Irish Americans and the US Civil War"

This year marks the150th anniversary of President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. While the Emancipation Proclamation did not mark the ultimate fulfilment of the declared American principle that "all men are created equal", it was a major and remarkable step, providing a route to the post-Civil War Constitutional Amendments ending slavery, establishing equal rights under law, and protecting the right to vote.

The Emancipation Proclamation signaled that the war to restore the Union had become a struggle for a more profound freedom. Such significant steps present challenges to society. On 18th March 2013, one day after St Patrick's Day, Professor Richard Carwardine, world-renowned expert on Abraham Lincoln, and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, examines in particular the trenchant questions asked of the Union loyalism of the Irish American community by his bold and public redefinition of the North's war aims.

The 2013 Sulgrave Manor Watson Chair Lecture is sponsored by Sulgrave Manor, ancestral home of George Washington's family in England, and supported by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library.

When: Monday 18 March 2013 18.30-20.00

Where: British Library Conference Centre, London

Price: Free but by prior reservation ONLY.