Iconic Cartoonist and Celebrated Mystery Writer to Grace April’s Author Talks
Connect with this month’s authors as they share dramatic narratives of the harrowing Alberta oil sands and a protagonist’s race against time to save his wife, a mysterious stranger, and an Ojibwe healer from bloodthirsty mercenaries.
Each talk features the opportunity to participate in a live Q&A with the author. Can’t attend live? No problem! Go ahead and register, send in your questions, and watch the event recording later in the author talk archive.
Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
Tuesday, April 4 @ 4 PM PDT
Join us for an enlightening hour online with highly acclaimed Kate Beaton, the New York Times bestselling author of Hark! A Vagrant! and Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands.
Her first full-length graphic narrative follows Beaton after university as she heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush, part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can't find it in the homeland they love so much. Arriving in Fort McMurray, Beaton finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world’s largest oil companies. Being one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. She encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. Her wounds may never heal.
Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is more than a memoir, it’s also an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
Send in your questions for Kate Beaton and check out Ducks and her other graphic novels from the Library.
William Kent Krueger, Fox Creek
Thursday, April 27 @ 5 PM PDT
You are in for a riveting hour online with New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger! Join us as he discusses his newest book in the Cork O’Connor series, Fox Creek, and his numerous other works.
Fox Creek follows Cork O’Connor in a race against time to save his wife, a mysterious stranger, and an Ojibwe healer from bloodthirsty mercenaries. The ancient Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux has had a vision of his death. As he walks the Northwoods in solitude, he tries to prepare himself peacefully for the end of his long life. But peace is destined to elude him as hunters fill the woods seeking a woman named Dolores Morriseau, a stranger who had come to the healer for shelter and the gift of his wisdom. Meloux guides this stranger and his great niece, Cork O’Connor’s wife, to safety deep into the Boundary Waters, his home for more than a century. Meanwhile, in Aurora, Cork works feverishly to identify the hunters and the reason for their relentless pursuit, but he has little to go on. He knows only too well that with each passing hour time is running out.
Send in your questions for William Kent Krueger and check out Fox Creek and the rest of the Cork O'Connor series from the Library.
The Library's virtual author talk series is supported by the efforts of the Long Beach Public Library Foundation and its generous donors.
