It’s not often you get a chance to hear nine smart people wax poetic about cities. Here are five of the luminaries brought to town for The Walrus Talks: The Art of the City, part of the High Performance Rodeo.
Edward Burtynsky Photographer extraordinaire, Burtynsky’s photos of global industrial landscapes can be seen in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York, and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. The TED Prize-winner and Officer of the Order of Canada will be presenting on the “Art of the Image.”
Douglas Coupland He recently had an exhibit of his art at Trepanier Baer in Calgary, but he’s best known for his writing, including the seminal novel Generation X. He’s also designed clothes for Roots Canada and written and produced a television series based on his novel JPod for the CBC. Coupland will be talking about the “Art of Innovation.”
Lisa Moore The decorated Newfie author has been twice nominated for the Giller Prize, the first time for her second collection of short stories, Open (2002), and then for her 2005 novel, Alligator, which also won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Moore was short-listed for the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2010 for February. She’ll be tackling the “Art of the Story.”
Aritha van Herk
The Wetaskiwin-born and Calgary-based writer recently published a collaborative collection of photos and essays on Calgary with George Webber, called In This Place. She’s published five novels and two works of non-fiction and will be presenting on the topic of the “Art of History.”
Mark Kingwell The associate chair at the University of Toronto’s department of philosophy, Kingwell will be presenting on the “Art of Play.” He is the author of 15 books, including the national bestsellers Better Living and The World We Want, and is a contributing editor to Harper’s magazine.
The Walrus Talks: The Art of the City. Tuesday, Jan. 24 at Theatre Junction Grand, 608 1st St. S.W. 7 p.m. 403-294-9494, epcorcentre.org.
