L.M. Montgomery Research Group

I will be interviewed by Line Boily on her radio show Les arts et les autres on Monday, 2 June 2008, at 1:05 EST, on Radio-Canada 1 (French-language CBC). The topic is Anne of Green Gables and I will be commenting on its origins, its continued international popularity in the centenary year, and its success in adaptations such as movies, musicals, and tourist sites in Ontario and Prince Edward Island. Since I am presently in Vancouver attending Congress, I will be speaking to her from Studio C at CBC Vancouver.

Les arts et les autres is broadcast across Ontario; to find your local frequency, click here. You can also listen to it live through the Radio-Canada website. On the homepage for Ontario, click on “Écoutez en direct—Première chaine” and choose your nearest location.

Also, today I am participating at a one-day symposium on Anne of Green Gables at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia. In addition to co-chairing an ACCUTE panel on “Anne of Green Gables: New Directions at 100,” I will be one of seven participants in a roundtable called “Anne of Green Gables: A Literary Icon at 100: Canadian Scholars and Critics Reflect on Anne of Green Gables in the Centenary Year,” chaired by Irene Gammel:

This round table of leading Canadian critics and scholars takes stock of Canada’s most famous literary icon, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, at its centenary anniversary. What is behind the popularity of the novel? What is its global value and status? What is its future in Canada and the world? We also invite the public to submit questions to our panel of experts via email: Anne100@mlc.ryerson.ca.

My five-minute paper is titled “Confessions of a Male Montgomery Scholar” and will include a discussion of my Green Gables toenail clippers. I am also presenting a paper as part of the ACCUTE conference on the fiction of Joy Kogawa.

Je serai l’invité de Line Boily à l’émission de radio Les arts et les autres ce lundi, 2 juin 2008, à 13h05 (heure normale de l’est), à Radio-Canada (première chaine). L’entrevue porte sur le roman Anne… La Maison aux pignons verts : ses origines, sa popularité internationale continue pendant l’année de son centième anniversaire, et son succès dans les médias connexes, telles que le petit écran, la comédie musicale, et le site touristique en Ontario et à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard. Étant donné que je suis présentement à Vancouver pour assister au Congrès des sciences humaines, je lui parlerai du Studio C à Radio-Canada Vancouver.

L’émission est diffusée à travers l’Ontario; vous trouverez votre fréquence locale ici. Vous pouvez également écouter à l’émission au site web de Radio-Canada. Une fois rendus à la page pour l’Ontario, choisissez la rubrique « Écoutez en direct » ainsi que votre région.

Posted today at CBC.ca:

A new theatre festival soon to begin in Cavendish, P.E.I., will present a suite of plays dating from the lifetime of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables.

The Island community, already a mecca for Anne lovers from around the world, is beginning the new summer theatre festival in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables.

Duncan McIntosh, a director of theatre, opera and special events, is the artistic director.

He plans a season based on playwrights who inspired L.M. Montgomery, who lived from 1874 to 1942, or whose works were influenced by the writer.

The first season will include:

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, dating from 1908, in a new adaptation by McIntosh.
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, first performed 1895.
• Village Wooing by George Bernard Shaw, written in 1933.

Previews begin June 20 with the season to run from June 27 to Aug. 31. Anne of Green Gables was first published on June 20, 1908.

A 200-seat theatre has been created in the Church at Avonlea Village, a church built in 1872 and moved from its original location in Long River.

“It was a church that Montgomery attended, that she dreamed and hoped and prayed and imagined her immortal stories in, this church,” McIntosh told CBC News.

“And we as a community of Cavendish thought this was a perfect place to make our contribution to the celebration of the 100th anniversary.”

McIntosh, who directed the dedication ceremonies of Canada’s war memorial in Vimy, France, also directed the world premiere of Anne and Gilbert, a spinoff of the long-running Anne musical in Charlottetown.

He is a past artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival, the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and Theatre Plus in Toronto, and has been a resident director at the Canadian Film Centre and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

Just found this upcoming event for anyone in the Guelph area…
Alumni & Friends - Get Involved | University of Guelph

Wednesday, May 21, 2008:  AIA Annual Spring Luncheon
Join the Alumni-In-Action at their Spring Luncheon in the Arboretum.  This annual event starts at 11:30 a.m. with a reception with lunch served at 12 noon.  At 12:45 pm, Professor Mary Rubio, editor of the LM Montgomery Collection at the University of Guelph will speak on the topic entitled “Anne in the Archives.”  2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the publications of Lucy Maud Montgomerys novel “Anne of Green Gables,” and we have great reason to celebrate at the University of Guelph.  The McLaughlin Library is home to the largest archival collection of LM Montgomery personal archival material in the world.  Tickets are $20 per person.  Registration can be done online, by email, by calling 519 824-4120 ext. 56934 or by mail:  Alumni House, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1.  Please note that the entrance to the Arboretum is now off College Avenue.

A recent article in the Telegraph-Journal, “Mining Montgomery,” reviews Elizabeth Epperly’s recent book Imagining Anne and includes several scans from the book. Thanks to Donna Campbell for sending it my way.

SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2008
Lillooet Room (Exhibit) & Dobson Room (Symposium)
Irving Barber Learning Center
University of British Columbia Library

Organized by
Ryerson University’s Modern Literature & Culture Research Center
With the Support of the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada and the International Canadian Studies Centre at UBC

These May 31 events mark the opening of the exhibition Anne of Green Gables: A Literary Icon at 100, May 31 to June 8, 2008. The exhibit takes place in the Historic Lillooet Room, Irving Barber Learning Center; the exhibit symposium takes place in the adjoining Dobson Room. Both the Exhibit and the exhibit symposium are open to the public.

Exhibit Symposium Program

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, DOBSON ROOM
Anne of Green Gables: A Literary Icon at 100: Leading and Emerging Scholars Reflect on Anne of Green Gables in the Centenary Year / Chair: Irene Gammel

This round table of scholars is dedicated to taking stock of Canada’s most famous literary icon at its centenary anniversary, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. What is behind the popularity of the novel? What is its current global value and status? What is its future in Canada and the world? Each speaker, a recognized or emerging scholar, has five minutes to make a brief statement, which can be personal and scholarly, before we open to general discussion and audience question and answer.

Participants include:

• Deirdre Baker, University of Toronto
• Dr. Cecily Devereux, University of Alberta
• Dr. Janice Fiamengo, University of Ottawa
• Dr. Irene Gammel, Ryerson University
• Dr. Carole Gerson, Simon Fraser University
• Dr. Benjamin Lefebvre, University of Alberta, L. M. Montgomery Research Group
• Dr. Mavis Reimer, Canada Research Chair in the Culture of Childhood, University of Winnipeg
• Dr. Margaret Steffler, Trent University, L. M. Montgomery Society of Ontario.

12:15 AM – 1:00 AM, DOBSON ROOM
Looking for Anne; Exhibit Opening and Booksigning: With Curator and Author Irene Gammel

The exhibit opening talk in Dobson Room is followed by an exhibit tour and book signing by Irene Gammel in Lillooet Room. Irene Gammel’s book Looking for Anne: How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic (Key Porter) accompanies the exhibit as the catalogue. Refreshments will be served.

1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Guided Tours of the Exhibit in Lillooet

4:00 4:30 PM Anne of Green Gables: New Directions
A Workshop Co-hosted with the University of Toronto Press

A workshop for contributors to the collection of essays edited by Irene Gammel and tentatively titled Anne of Green Gables: New Directions (papers due August 15). Informal question and answer format.

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM, DOBSON ROOM
Anne of Green Gables: New Directions at 100
ACCUTE: Association for Canadian College and University Teachers of English
Organizers/Chairs: Irene Gammel and Benjamin Lefebvre

Alexander MacLeod (Saint Mary’s), “On the Road from Bright River: Shifting Social Space in Anne of Green Gables”

Jason Nolan (Ryerson) “Anne of the Undead: Changeling Child and the Uncanny in Avonlea”

Alison Matthews David and Kimberly Wahl (Ryerson) “Taste and Transformation: Negotiating Codes of Fashion in Avonlea”

6:00 – 7:00 PM Exhibit Tour
Lillooet Room