Summer reading

Just a few items of interest before I disappear up to Courtenay to the Vancouver Island Music Festival where I will be cheering the likes of Roberta Flack and Nanci Griffith in the sweltering heat.

Lots of thoughtful reading to be had on food security and related issues in recent months (would that I had time to digest every word!) The City of Victoria Food System discussion paper, published in December 2009, aims “to present a synthesis of the issues, opportunities and challenges related to Victoria’s urban food system for the purposes of providing direction for City of Victoria policy.”

In April, Agribusiness Action Initiatives published A Harvest of Heat: Agribusiness and Climate Change— How Six Food Industry Giants Are Warming the Planet.

And the NDP released Food for Thought: Towards a Canadian Food Strategy in June.

Here’s a useful guide for gardeners from The Union of Concerned Scientists: The Climate-Friendly Gardener: A Guide to Combating Global Warming from the Ground Up.

And if you’re in the Victoria area and fancy some poetry, here’s a rare summer reading from Copenhagen-based poet, artist Heather Spears (who is also reading at 4pm this afternoon at the Metchosin Summer School of the Arts, out at Pearson College).

Poetry Reading: July 10, Saturday 2-4 pm
Graduate Student Centre, University of Victoria

HEATHER SPEARS

Heather Spears will read from her poetry at a public event on Saturday July 10, 2-4 pm, at the University of Victoria Graduate Student Centre.

Ms Spears has received many awards for her work including the Governor-General’s Award, the CBC Literary prize and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She has published 11 volumes of poetry as well as novels and books of her drawings. Her drawings of the Reena Virk trial are known for their sensitivity and accuracy.

Much of her poetry is inspired by her passion for peace & social justice.

She will be reading after teaching at the Metchosin Summer School of the Arts; admission is free and all are welcome.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and The League of Canadian Poets. Locally Ms. Spears is sponsored by the Gadrian Society.

Information: 250 595-7519