Carleton to Host Shannon Lecture on Modern Audiences and Writer Bias in Biography
Carleton University’s Department of History will host the Shannon Lecture New Vehicles for Old Stories: Canadian mining history in a True Crime frame, presented by Prof. Charlotte Gray.
Gray will open the 2019 lecture series by discussing how contemporary writers in the field of Canadian history are tackling the increasingly important challenge of engaging non-academic audiences.
When: Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 at 1 p.m.
Where: Room 2017, Dunton Tower, Carleton
Info: This event is free and open to the public.
Media are invited to attend the event.
Gray will discuss her new book on the life and death of Sir Harry Oakes, Murdered Midas, using a crime story to illuminate Canadian mining history. She will explore the way the story was previously covered to illustrate how writer bias creeps into accounts of the past.
Gray has written 10 bestsellers of popular history and biography, including The Promise of Canada, Sisters in the Wilderness and The Massey Murder. Her award-winning Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike was the basis of both a Discovery Channel miniseries and a PBS documentary.
About the Shannon Lecture Series
The theme for the 2019 Shannon Lecture series is “rebooting biography.” Historical biographies have always been a popular avenue into the past, but with the facts about the famous and not so famous available at the tap of a keyboard, today’s historians and biographers are reshaping the genre.
The conventional chronology of a life is giving way to group biographies, micro-histories and previously unheard voices. Writers continue to use biography as a vehicle for wider social and cultural histories, assessing the past in ways that resonate with contemporary audiences. Increasingly, authors are embracing the freedom offered by digital publishing.
Lecturers will discuss the subjects of their recent biographies and the choices they made in presenting their material.
Media Contact
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