Rossland Reads: Debates, Voting and Prizes
By Contributor
Seven years ago, the board of the Rossland Public Library started what has come to be a well-loved annual event: Rossland Reads.
Taking its cue from CBC’s popular Canada Reads, Rossland Reads starts with four books defended by four passionate debaters but only one can be the final “Rossland Read”, the book all Rosslanders should read.
Rossland is a town of readers, with roughly a dozen book clubs and 32,000 books borrowed from the library in 2015. “The debates are a fun way to celebrate great reading,” said Beverley Rintoul, director of the library. “I keep telling debaters there will be hecklers, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
Even if you aren’t coming to heckle, you can take part in the voting and you could win a great door prizes from Rossland Beer Co. and Mountain Nugget Chocolate Company.
For the second year, Aerin and Jimmy Guy from SpaceRace Digital Inc. will be creating podcasts of the debates which will be available on the library’s website for those who can’t attend or who just want to recap the fun they had at the event.
Local author Jennifer Ellis is returning for her fourth year as moderator. On why she does this every year, Ellis says “I love to host Rossland Reads because it really forces me to examine on a myriad of levels what makes books work, and what makes different writers unique. It’s also lots of fun to hear the impassioned, intelligent, and sometimes hilarious responses of the participants in defense of their books. I also like to see the expressions on their faces when I spring a surprising question on them.”
This year’s book and defender line-up:
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, defended by Veronique Darwin
Nod by Adrian Barnes, defended by Kathleen Hill
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, defended by Nicola Kuhn
Sweetland by Michael Crummey, defended by Nicole Tigchelaar
Debates will be held at the library 20 October, 27 October and 3 November at 7:00pm.
