Thematic displays illuminating English-language literary culture in Quebec
There will be two new Atwater Writers Exhibition (AWE) displays in the Library’s main-floor reading room in Fall 2017.
Award-winning game writer and novelist Jill Murray‘s display will explore game writing for people who know nothing — or who know lots — about video games. What is a game? Where does the story go? Who writes games? Is game writing even “real” writing? The display will address questions like when did game writing begin in this city, how many people practice it now, and what contributions is game writing making to literature, especially experimental literature? It will contain box art and screenshots from a few key locally produced AAA and indie games, samples of the very different script formats each employ, photos, short bios and quotations from a cross section of game writers. It will also be designed to inspire kids and teens who are interested in both games and writing, but who may not yet have a sense of what they can create, or how they might one day incorporate both into a career. Students are highly motivated by games to read and write.
Bonnie Farmer is a Kindergarten teacher, author, and playwright. Her latest picture book, Oscar Lives Next Door: A Story Inspired by the Childhood of Oscar Peterson, won the 2016 Quebec Writers’ Federation prize for children’s literature. Her display will play with children’s love of writing stories. Children often make books, using glue, staples, or yarn and all manner of writing tools from colored pencils to glitter makers. Sometimes these little books are the beginnings of a writer’s career. She will display hand-made books made by children from her classes as well as her own and some from grownup writers—stories they wrote as children. Little books made by children are as much a part of Quebec’s literary heritage as great books by English Quebec’s writing giants.
Photos of the first displays can be viewed elsewhere on this site.