Friends of the Centre for the Book will be sad to learn that Dr. Keith Maslen passed away Monday night, peacefully, at Ross Home, after a few months with an inoperable cancer.

Founder of the Otakou Press as the Bibliography Room in the 1960s, Keith was a renowned historian of the printing of the Bowyers in London in the eighteenth century, as well as one of the three editors of Book and Print in NZ.  Keith has an entry in the Oxford Companion to the Book dedicated to his work.  He was a generous scholar who will be deeply missed.

The funeral will be held at Hope and Sons, Anderson Bay Rd., Dunedin on Saturday, 3 September at 2 pm.  The service will also be livestreamed; details at www.tributes.co.nz.

I’m pleased to inform Centre for the Book fans that Hannah August’s lecture will be livestreamed tomorrow at https://echo360.net.au/section/42b45b74-23be-4dd6-a7a7-b51534bf7d04/public

Currently the section will appear empty/greyed out to viewers, but when the live stream starts tomorrow at 5.20pm a green play icon will appear.  The lecture begins at 5:30 pm.

A livestream does not, alas, provide for interactive feedback and questions, but will allow you to enjoy the occasion if your circumstances prevent you from being there in person.

Curious to hear about the famously ‘difficult’ novel Ulysses by James Joyce? Intrigued as to why it was so controversial? Heard rumours of a connection to Aotearoa?

Join us for a hybrid online & in-person special edition of the Catch-Up Book Club* on James Joyce’s Ulysses, a celebration of the centenary of its 1922 publication. We will be screening the RTE documentary 100 Years of Ulysses and following that with short talks from Joyce scholars Chris Ackerley (Otago) and Marco Sonzogni (VUW), and some lively discussion. Bring your questions.

When: 6.00pm – 8.00pm, Tuesday 23 August 2022
Where: IN PERSON in the Burns 2 Lecture Theatre, University of Otago, or
ONLINE – https://otago.zoom.us/j/92891180760?pwd=N1RkZkRLUU1SNDVOOTRaaG1GRmVSUT09

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event, and no RSVP required. Mask wearing for in-person guests is strongly encouraged.

Co-presented by the University Book Shop, the English and Linguistics Programme, and University Library Special Collections, in association with the Irish Embassy of Aotearoa New Zealand.

* The Catch-Up Book Club, presented by the University Book Shop and the English & Linguistics programme at the University of Otago, is an informal group that meets to discuss classics you’ve heard about, have always meant to read, by writers you might be curious about, or perhaps you really liked the costumes in the BBC miniseries… this is your chance to finally read that classic! Or just to come along and decide whether you actually *will* read it…

Following Hannah August’s talk on Wednesday evening this week, Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival presents a talk with Ruth Shaw.

In conversation with Majella Cullinane, author Ruth Shaw discusses her memoir, which weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops, musings about her favourite books, and bittersweet stories from her full and varied life.

‘An extraordinary story…illegal gambling, pirates and numerous personal tragedies, all punctuated by warm stories from her bookshops and an ultimately resolved love story. It makes my life look pretty dull.’ – Shaun Bythell, author of The Diary of a Bookseller

Includes audience Q&A and book sales. Ruth will be available to sign books

THE BOOKSELLER AT THE END OF THE WORLD; RUTH SHAW
5.30pm, Thursday 18 August 2022
Dunningham Suite, City Library
Tickets $15 / $20 (fees may apply)
Reserve tickets here

The Centre for the Book is very excited to welcome back an Otago graduate to talk about her latest book history work.  You can hear a taster of her talk in an interview with Lynn Freeman this Sunday’s episode (14 August) of Standing Room Only.

Dr. Hannah August is Senior Lecturer in English at Massey University in Palmerston North. Originally from Dunedin, she holds several degrees, including a PhD from King’s College London and an Honours degree in Classics from the University of Otago.

Please join us for Dr. August’s talk on

“How to read a play in Shakespeare’s England – tips from the archives”

Over the past few decades, “reconstructed” Shakespearean theatres such as Shakespeare’s Globe in London and the Pop-up Globe in Auckland have given us a sense of what it might have been like to attend a play in early modern England. But what about reading a play? In an era in which the novel as a genre hadn’t yet hit its stride, 16^th– and 17^th-century Englishmen and women with a penchant for literature sought out poetry and plays. But what were they hoping to get from reading drama, and how did they respond to the plays they read? In this public lecture, Dr Hannah August draws on archival research conducted for her book, Playbooks and their Readers in Early Modern England, in order to answer these questions.