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Panel Discussion to Re-examine Public Response to Margaret Laurence’s Last Novel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Banning of The Diviners in Peterborough Area Schools to be Discussed at Rooke Lecture on January 18

Wednesday, January 17, 2007, Peterborough

As part of the ninth annual Rooke Lecture series, a panel discussion examining the public response to Margaret Laurence’s novel, The Diviners, will take place on Thursday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Peterborough Public Library.

The panel discussion will aim to pay homage to the great Canadian author 20 years after her death by returning to a major chapter in the history of censorship in Canada – the banning of Ms. Laurence’s novel, The Diviners, in Peterborough area schools. Members of the panel are: local editor and former journalist Jean Cole, Trent English professors Leonard Conolly and Fred Tomly, and former Peterborough Mayor Sylvia Sutherland.

The annual Rooke Lectures, which have been presented annually since 1998, honour the memory of the late Barbara Rooke, who was chair of Trent University's Department of English Literature from 1969 to 1973. This year's series explores what it means to “go public” -- to “publish” – and how that act resonates in the political, economic, and aesthetic spheres to influence our culture.

All Rooke Lectures are free and open to the public.

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For more information, please contact:
Department of English Literature, Trent University, (705) 748-1011 x1733.