An in-depth portrait of Irving Barber appears in the June 24, 2010 issue of the South Delta Leader.
You can view the profile here.
Heather Spears – Required Reading: Reena Virk Trials, 1998-2000
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, and art exhibit in collaboration with the UBC Rare Books and Special Collections, Heather Spears discusses the murder of 14 year old Reena Virk by schoolmates, in Victoria. Virk’s death aroused deep concern in about violence among children in our society. Thoughout the trials Heather Spears recorded these children and their stories in an attempt to understand what happened and why it happened. Through the interpretations of her art, Heather Spears’ discusses her journey as journalist and artist in the courtroom over that one year with a reading from her book of poetry, Required Reading: a witness in words and drawings to the Reena Virk Trials, 1998-2000. The talk is part of the IKBLC Gallery art exhibition programming.
Biography of Author
Canadian writer and artists Heather Spears was educated at the University of British Columbia, The Vancouver School of Art and the University of Copenhagen. She has held over 75 solo exhibitions and published 11collections of poetry and 4 novels.She has illustrated numerous books and articles; and also draws courtroom, dance, theatre and childbirth. Specialising in drawing children, in particular premature and other threatened infants, she travels widely and has drawn in hospitals in the Middle East, Europe and America.
Author’s Titles at UBC Library
Spears, H. (2008). I can still draw. Hamilton, ON: Wolsak & Wynn. [Link]
Spears, H. (2000). Required reading: A witness in words and drawings to the Reena Virk trials 1998-2000. Toronto: Wolsak and Wynn. [Link]
Spears, H. (2004). The flourish: Murder in the family. Victoria, B.C: Ekstasis Editions. [Link]
UBC Library Research Guides
Book, Theatre and Film Reviews
Ananya Roy's "Poverty Capital – Microfinance and the Making of Development" IKBLC Webcast Online
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted and co-sponsored by the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, and the Liu Institute for Global Issues, Dr. Ananya Roy is Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning where she teaches in the fields of comparative urban studies and international development. The turn of the century has been marked by the emergence of a “kinder and gentler” project of development. From the recalibration of the World Bank as a “knowledge bank” committed to the eradication of poverty to the ambitious campaigns that imagine the “end of poverty,” a new global order is in the making. Through ethnographic attention to the Washington D.C.-Wall Street complex, this talk examines the circuits of capital and truth that structure “millennial development.” In particular, it focuses on microfinance, which is an active frontier of “creative capitalism.” But microfinance is also the site of important experiments in poverty policy, from the massive civil society institutions of Bangladesh to the Hezbollah militia of Lebanon. It is thus implicated in the emergence of counter-geographies of development.
Judy Fong-Bates' "Year of Finding Memory" IKBLC Webcast Online
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. In partnership with Random House Canada, UBC Community Partners for Learning, the Chinese Canadian Historical Society (CCHSBC), the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW), the North American Association of Asian Professionals (NAAAP), and ExplorAsian, the IKBLC presents author Judy Fong-Bates’ reading of “Year of Finding Memory.” An elegant and surprising book about a Chinese family’s difficult arrival in Canada, and a daughter’s search to understand remarkable and terrible truths about her parents’ past lives. Growing up in her father’s hand laundry in small town Ontario, Judy Fong Bates listened to stories of her parents’ past lives in China, a place far removed from their every-day life of poverty and misery. But in spite of the allure of these stories, Fong Bates longed to be a Canadian girl. Fifty years later she finally followed her curiosity back to her ancestral home in China for a reunion that spiralled into a series of unanticipated discoveries. The Year of Finding Memory explores a particular, yet universal, world of family secrets, love, loss, courage and shame. This is a memoir of a daughter’s emotional journey, and her painful acceptance of conflicting truths. In telling the story of her parents, Fong Bates is telling the story of how she came to know them, of finding memory.
Essentials of Tibetan Medical System and its role in Community Health Services IKBLC Webcast Online
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Contemporary Tibetan Studies Program (CTSP), this talk, titled “Essentials of Tibetan Medical System and its role in Community Health Services,” focuses on the role of traditional Tibetan medicine in providing primary health care in Tibetan refugee settlements in India. Dr. Neshar will discuss the essential elements and concepts of health care in traditional Tibetan medicine and its practical application in contemporary society.
UBC Library's strategic plan featured in CPSLD newsletter
UBC Library’s new strategic plan is featured in the latest issue of the newsletter from the CPSLD – the Council of Post Secondary Library Directors.
You can view the article here – it appears on page 23 of the newsletter.
Involving Minority Groups in Building Global Communities IKBLC Webcast
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by Africa Awareness Initiative as part of African Awareness Week. Mission city mayor, James Atebe, has been dubbed by some as the “Obama of Canada”. Hailing from the Gusii tribe of Kenya, he has managed to become a pillar of Mission. James Atebe has contributed a lot to the city of Mission and continues to do so amidst a wealth of obstacles. Winning his second election by a margin of over 80 percent along with being voted on of the TOP 25 IMMIGRANTS in Canada, he has proved to be the real embodiment of global citizenship and a poster child for immigrant success in Canada. Join us in learning more about Mayor James Atebe’s dedication to both his heritage and his adopted country and how he uses the two to better serve his community.
BC Books Online garners strong media coverage
BC Books Online, a project that is supported by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and UBC Library, is featured in the online publication The Tyee. You can view the article here.
BC Books Online is also featured in the Globe and Mail, the Nanaimo News Bulletin, the Harbour City Star, the Ladysmith Chronicle and the Prince George Citizen.
An exhibition of the drawings from the Reena Virk Trials at the IKBLC Gallery
By Heather Spears June 1-25, 2010
The murder of 14 year old Reena Virk by schoolmates, in Victoria, aroused deep concern in about violence among children in our society. Throughout the trials Heather Spears recorded these children and their stories in an attempt to understand what happened and why it happened. Through the interpretations of her art, this Gallery art exhibition will explore Heather’s approach of being artist rather than journalist.
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre,
1961 Main Mall, University of British Columbia
On June 24, 3-4 PM, at Lillooet Room (301) of IKBLC
Heather Spears will be present to read from her book
Required Reading, a witness in poems and drawings to the Reena VirkTrials 1998-2000
Gallery Opening Hours
Monday, Thursday & Fridays (9am – 5pm)
Tuesday, Wednesdays (9am – 9am)
Saturday (10am – 5pm)
Japan and the Special Olympics IKBLC Webcast
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Sociology and Anthropology departments at UBC, Dr. Millie Creighton, who discusses the Winter Olympics–as occurring in Vancouver, Canada in 2010, and the 2008 election of Barack Obama–as President of the United States, reflect globalizing insights on movements surrounding minorities and marginalization in Japan that contest hierarchies of people and of space and place. This talk explores dynamics involved when Japan, a society where the disabled were once hidden (relegated to the “back recesses”), took the lead in being the first (and still only) country to host the Special Olympic World Winter Games at the same sites as the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This is discussed in reference to other “coming out” movements of people with disabilities in Japan, and to President Obama’s comments on Special Olympics in a US popular culture television interview. The linkage of Obama and the Special Olympics circles back to Japan, through analysis of how, why and to what extent the US Presidential election of Obama (the “Back Horse”) coverage in Japan reflected a momentous change from prior projections of racial hierarchies and previously presented images of Blacks.
Webcast Sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.