Freedom to Read Week 2015

Hello friends!

Freedom to Read Week is almost upon us!

In celebration of that, FLIF will have a table in HUB on Tuesday, February 24th from 10 am to 3 pm. Come talk to some lovely FLIF members and learn some interesting facts!

Have a lovely rest of your week,
Kyera

Homeless Connect Reminder

Hi everybody!


We hope the long weekend treated you well and you are refreshed for the coming weeks!


This is just a reminder that Sunday (October 19th) is Homeless Connect. We'll be at the Shaw Conference Centre (9797 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.


See you there volunteers!

Homeless Connect: It's that time of year again!

Hey everyone!

This is just a reminder that FLIF will be participating in Homeless Connect on October 19th from 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. (Two weeks from today!)

Homeless Connect takes place at the Shaw Conference Centre, 9797 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton.

If you're volunteering, see you there!

Freedom in Forgiveness

In conjunction with Freedom to Read week, Edmonton Public Library is hosting humanitarian and activist Amanda Lindhout as she speaks about her experience as a hostage in Somalia on Monday evening, February 24th, at the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS) on the University of Alberta Campus. Ms. Lindhout will also be signing copies of her book, "A House in the Sky." The event is free and begins at 7:30 p.m. More information can be found here: http://www.epl.ca/freedomtoread.

Freedom to Read Week Events in Edmonton

Today is the first day of Freedom to Read Week! See the event listing below to find out about the events taking place this week in Edmonton:

Sunday February 24

• The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) and the University of Alberta Libraries are hosting a talk with Chris Hedges, who will speak about his newest book Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.
• The EPL Woodcroft Branch is having a Banned Books Café.

Monday February 25

• Members of FLIF will hosting a Freedom to Read booth at the Jasper Place High School Global Café during their Living Library event. For more information, see Vue Weekly or the Facebook event page.

Tuesday February 26

• FLIF will again be promoting the Freedom to Read at the Jasper Place High School Global Café Living Library event.
• The EPL Stanley A. Milner Library is having a Freedom to Listen event.

Wednesday February 27

• Cabaret will be shown at the Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre as part of a Freedom to View event.

Thursday February 28

• Wiebo’s War will be shown at the EPL Idylwylde Branch as part of a Freedom to View event.
• The EPL Capilano Branch is hosting a Freedom to Create event.

To find out more about the EPL events, see the EPL Freedom to Read webpage.

Thanks to the FLIF Global Café Radical Bookshelf team for putting together FLIF’s Freedom to Read event this year! Watch this blog for more information about the Jasper Place High School Global Café Living Library event.

Update: The Jasper Place High School Global Café event was erroneously first posted on this blog as a closed event. We are happy to report that it is actually open to the public!

Human Library Events Recap

Local libraries and other centres across Canada, in partnership with the CBC, hosted a number of Human Library events on Saturday January 26. Events took place in Yellowknife, Surrey, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Windsor, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, and St. John's. In Edmonton, the event took place at the Stanley A. Milner branch of the Edmonton Public Library. The Edmonton Journal has written an article about the event and includes the perspectives of the “books” as well as the “readers.” An associate manager of Stanley A. Milner was also quoted, describing the purpose and importance of the event:

“An event like this provides people with the opportunity to have a conversation with a person they might not otherwise meet and to help them understand the world, maybe, in a different way.”

The CBC hosted live webcam chats with a variety of Canadians: Susan Ormiston, Measha Brueggergosman, Robert Munsch, Shad, Grace Park, Margaret Trudeau, and Tammy Marquardt. A recording of the sessions is available from the CBC.

Sweater Vest Sunday

Today is also Sweater Vest Sunday! Raise awareness of the need to report challenged material to the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) by wearing a sweater vest. Visit the OIF Blog to find out more about Sweater Vest Sunday and how you can show your support.

Reminder: Homeless Connect is this weekend

Just a quick reminder that the fall Homeless Connect event will be taking place on Sunday October 21 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Thanks in advance to everyone who will be volunteering at the FLIF table this weekend. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Keep an eye on this blog for pictures and details of FLIF’s involvement at Homeless Connect.

We also hope to see you at the next FLIF meeting to be held on Tuesday October 23 at noon in Henderson Hall.

Welcome Back!

With the new school year comes another great year for FLIF! We are hoping for another successful year with many familiar and new faces. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to our first meeting.

Here is a summary of some of the projects and events that we are looking forward to working on this year:

Edmonton Women's Prison Project – We are in a partnership with GELA for this project. FLIF is mainly involved in the Storybook Project (though volunteer opportunities exist for writing groups and book clubs). Inmates are recorded while reading a book as a part of this project. These recordings are sent, along with a copy of the book read, to the reader’s child, grandchild, niece, or nephew. 

Community Bookshelf – We drop off donated books to a variety of shelters and organizations in Edmonton. Deliveries typically take place once a month on a weekday afternoon. 

Homeless Connect - The Homeless Connect event is hosted twice a year at the Shaw Conference Centre. Various services are provided on this day for homeless and low income individuals. FLIF provides one such service by setting up a “library” to give away free books. The next Homeless Connect will be on October 21st. If you are interested in volunteering for this event, a sign-up sheet will be posted in the lounge.

If you have any questions or comments, or if you want to get involved, please email us at flifblog @ gmail.com. Email is also a great way of letting us know of any articles or announcements that you would like to see posted on this blog!

GELA-FLIF-APIRG Edmonton Women's Prison Tour Debriefing - TODAY!!

Update - **Cancelled**

Unfortunately the information meeting about the Edmonton Institution for Women (EIFW) prison library projects that was to be at 5:30 today has been canceled. If you are interested in participating in a discussion like this in the future please let us know and we will be happy to schedule a discussion date that works for the majority of people interested. 
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Don't forget that the GELA-APIRG-FLIF discussion about the Women's Prison Projects today at 5:30 in Humanities 4-42.

Happy Freedom to Read!

Live Blogging from the FLIF Table in HUB

Our information table in HUB is up RIGHT NOW and I am blogging from the table in between chatting with people passing by. Stop by on  your way for a coffee today if you have a chance, we are just across from the InfoLink window in the passage between HUB and Rutherford Library.

Thanks to FLIF member Andrea Pflug for writing up this description of one of the activities happening at our table in HUB today and Friday from 10-3pm and huge thanks to all of the FLIF volunteers who put together this display and have given their time to sit at the table and promote Freedom to Read Week on campus.

Come "Stand Against Censorship". Those who visit the booth in HUB and participate will have the chance to enter to win some great prizes including hockey tickets! We have a designated Free Reading space beside the booth. We invite you all to drop by, read from a banned book, and enter to win.

What do I do?
Drop by the booth, and select one of the banned books from the table. Stand beside our booth, open up your chosen book and start reading aloud.

Reading aloud?! Eeeek!
There is no microphone or speaker system, so you won't be booming down the corridor. Your voice won't carry too far as the HUB be pretty noisy! The important thing is that you will be actively sharing, even if you can only be heard a short distance away. You don't have to do voices, use a puppet, or wave your arms around gesturing (although all of these sound like fun!). If you still feel nervous, try the buddy system! Stop by with someone else. That way you already have a built-in audience, and can read to that person.

How much do I have to read?
This is totally up to you! Some people may be interested in only reading a particular paragraph, while others may want to read a whole picture book.

Why should I participate?
Through 'Stand Against Censorship', we are hoping to actively share materials that have been suppressed elsewhere. We want to exercise our freedom to read, and encourage others to do the same. Plus, all of those who participate will be entered into a draw for some great prizes... Did I mention the hockey tickets?

I have a favorite banned book. Can I bring it and read from that?
Of course!

When are you running the display?
Wednesday and Friday (this week), 10 am - 3 pm.
We are located in the HUB, right by the entrance point (pedway) from Rutherford.

Help us celebrate Freedom to Read Week, and enter to win!
We look forward to seeing you Stand Against Censorship!

FTRW: Free discussion with Paula Simons & Greg Hollingshead

The Canadian Literature Centre and the Writers Guild of Alberta are hosting a free discussion with renowned author Greg Hollingshead and his former writing student and Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons in celebration of Freedom to Read Week. This talk will focus on Simons' experiences as a local journalist who has received both acclaim and criticism for her journalistic writing. These two literary personalities will also discuss how Freedom to Read Week is connected with freedom of expression and challenges that both novelists and journalists face once their work is published.

Please join us in this discussion Thursday March 1, 2012 at 7pm in the U of A Law Centre 231/237. The event is free and open to the public, please RSVP via Eventbrite here:  
Celebrate Freedom to Read Week with the Can Lit Centre and the WGA

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Greg Hollingshead has published three novels and three story collections. In 1995 his third story collection, The Roaring Girl, won the Governor General's Award for Fiction. In 1998 his novel The Healer won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. His latest novel, Bedlam (2004), was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a Globe and Mail 100 Best Books of the Year and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice for 2006. Greg's work has been published in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and China. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Alberta and director of the Writing Studio program at The Banff Centre. In 2007 he received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Gold Medal for Excellence in the Arts. He is currently at work on his seventh book, a novel. He lives with his wife Rosa Spricer in Edmonton. For 2011-12 he is serving as Chair of the Writers' Union of Canada.

Paula Simons is the Edmonton Journal's award-winning City columnist. A born-and- bred Edmontonian, Simons is a graduate of the University of Alberta (BA Hon.) and Stanford University (MA), as well as a former fellow at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Over her years with the Journal, she has served as provincial affairs columnist, culture columnist and as a member of paper's editorial board. Simons has earned five prestigious National Newspaper Award citations of merit for her editorials, columns and investigative political reporting.