One Book, One Community

This year on Saturday, 16 June, The New Quarterly (TNQ) celebrates OBOC’s selection of Lakelands with a bus tour of nearby lakes. Our two destinations will be Sunfish Lake, where Edna Staebler made her home, and Conestogo Lake, a key part of our regional water system. 

The day will begin at 9:30am as we depart by bus from Waterloo Recreation Complex on Father David Bauer Drive. You can park your car there for the day. We’ll head to Sunfish Lake first. We’ll have a talk about the unique features of this hidden gem on the lawn of Edna’s home. We’ll take the opportunity to celebrate Edna as one of the founders of The New Quarterly and imagine her looking out on the lake as she did daily.

Then on to Conestogo Lake where we’ll have a reservation at a picnic shelter. We invite you to bring your own picnic lunch this year but will have dessert for you courtesy of the TNQ master baker. Our talk will be provided by a member of the Grand River Conservation Authority Foundation. We’ll then have a chance to indulge in the pleasures of the lake. Perhaps some fun on the water or a simple hike; we’ll be doing some additional planning to see what options are available for us. We’ll depart so we arrive back at the Waterloo Rec Complex no later than 5pm.

The cost is $40 per person to cover the cost of the bus, admission to the park and to help TNQ keep bringing amazing stories and new writers to the attention of Canadians. Contact info@tnq.ca to reserve your ticket.

Come explore our waterways and water systems from geography to ecology. And we’ll wrap it all around the wonderful writing of Allan Casey.

Share your memories of the lake(s) in your life with us!  Whether it’s a photo or a written (a couple of sentences will do) memory, we’d love to hear from you.  Simply email shall@wpl.ca.

For example: 

We are pleased to announce that Kitchener Public Library now has 6 copies of Lakeland on Daisy** CD, on loan from the CNIB Library.  They may be borrowed for a standard Talking Book loan period of 6 weeks. 

Holds can be placed on the title by eligible Talking Book customers by searching the catalogue.  To find it, search “Lakeland” at www.kpl.org. The Daisy copies are listed along with all other formats.

**Daisy (Digital Accessible Information System) is a specially formatted audiobook developed for people who are blind or visually impaired.  An entire book is stored on one CD.  The special format provides accessibility features such as chapter, paragraph, phrase and word navigation, bookmarking, rate of speech, and tone of voice controls. 

Daisy discs cannot be played on a regular CD player.  The Kitchener Public Library owns 7 Daisy readers that are available for eligible customers.  To be eligible to borrow a Daisy book or Daisy reader, you need to be a registered Talking Book customer at KPL.  Please contact the Kitchener Public Library for more details.

The members of the One Book, One Community committee have created a list of resources to accompany your reading of Allan Casey’s Lakeland.

Events, and there will be some fun ones, will be posted as details are confirmed.

All participating libraries have extra copies of “Lakeland” in their collections, but you may need to place a hold as the OBOC selection is always popular.  Or buy your own copy at your favourite local bookstore to read, share, and have the author sign at an OBOC event in September.

This morning, at a special event hosted at the John M. Harper Branch Library in Waterloo, the One Book, One Community committee announced that the 2012 selection is Allan Casey’s award-winning book, Lakeland.

Lakeland, the winner of the 2010 Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction, is a thought-provoking book whose often playful prose reveal a passionate storyteller with a powerful message about Canada’s lakes. In Lakeland, Casey introduces the reader to the lives of cottagers, marathon swimmers, Aboriginal fishery managers, boat captains, hermits and more. Through Casey’s engaging and humourous style, the reader will learn about the unique cultures and enthusiastic champions of Canada’s lakes and waterways.

Allan Casey is a Saskatoon-based freelance author with a special interest in wilderness and adventure travel. His writings have won numerous awards and he shared a prestigious National Magazine Award with his team at Canadian Geographic. His writing and photography have appeared in many major Canadian magazines. He is the co-founder of a grassroots national forum at the Living Lakes Network Canada website (http://livinglakes.ca) promoting responsible use of private property in natural areas and protecting freshwater resources. 

One Book, One Community, now in its 11th year, celebrates the books and writing of Canadian authors. Through the shared experience of reading and discussing the same book, One Book, One Community has helped create a special sense of community in the Region.

Chair of the OBOC committee Christine Brown says “The book is sure to inspire reminiscences of childhood vacations and adventures and a renewed appreciation for Canada’s vast lakelands”.

Free author events will be held in Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Elmira from September 25 to 27. Watch the Waterloo Region Record and the official website for One Book, One Community (www.oboc.ca) for details on special events as they develop.

Lakeland is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a downloadable eBook. Visit your library or favourite bookseller today!

If you would like more information about One Book, One Community, contact Christine Brown, Chair, at 519-886-1310 ext. 146 or cbrown@wpl.ca.