Orbital-UNSDG Month: March 19th Online Discussion
By Samantha Harvey
Climate+ Challenge Book Club
March 19, at noon, on Teams
The KPU Climate+ Challenge and the KPU Library invite you to join us for a virtual book club where we will be discussing Orbital, a novel by Samantha Harvey. It’s a slender novel – just 207 small pages – that describes one day in the lives of six women and men travelling through space on a space station mission. The astronauts are from America, Russia, Italy, Britain and Japan. Orbital won the Booker Prize and the Hawthornden Prize and was shortlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for fiction.
British author Samantha Harvey has written five novels and one work of non-fiction. Her work has been longlisted for the Booker Prize and the Women’s Prize.
To learn more, pick up a copy of Orbital at the KPU library, and join us for the March 19 online discussion (link below), facilitated by KPU Journalism Instructor and former Vancouver Sun books editor Tracy Sherlock. Questions? Ask Us or email Tracy Sherlock at tracy.sherlock@kpu.ca
Event details: Climate+ Challenge Book Club
Book: Orbital: A Novel, by Samantha Harvey
When: Wednesday, March 19, noon to 1:00 PM
Where: Online, Microsoft Teams. Join Now
Event description: KPU Journalism instructor, Tracy Sherlock, will facilitate a book club discussion about the book. The discussion will be informal – your thoughts, ideas, and feelings relating to the book are all welcome topics!
Orbital: A Novel
Previous KPU Fall 2024 Employee and Student Book Club
The Fall book club will take place Wednesday, November 20th, 2024, 12:00 pm-1:00 pm on Teams.
The Right to Be Cold
How Climate Change is Affecting the Arctic and the way of Life for Indigenous peoples.
Written by Sheila Watt-Cloutier
The KPU Climate+ Challenge and KPU Library invite you to join us for a virtual book club where we will discuss The Right To Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet by Inuk activist, Sheila Watt-Cloutier.
Called “courageous and revelatory” by Naomi Klein, as well as “deeply inspiring” by Quill and Quire, The Right to be Cold is both Watt-Cloutier’s memoir and call to action.
As a powerful voice for climate and environmental issues affecting the Arctic, Watt-Cloutier’s advocacy draws on her life experience and grounding in community. Reflecting on the details of her “ice and snow” childhood, surrounded by the warmth and love of her family, and contrasted with her experiences in the residential school system, she illustrates the profound connection between Inuit people and the Arctic, framing climate change as threat to human rights.
Join us to immerse yourself in Watt-Cloutier’s weaving of a powerful glimpse into her unique life and her personal journey into climate advocacy on the global stage.
To participate in the Climate+ Challenge Book Club, pick up a copy of The Right To Be Cold at KPU Library (available in print and ebook) or at another book provider and register online via Teams. Then join us for the online session on Nov 20th, 12pm (PST), facilitated by KPU Indigenous Studies Chair, Allison Hotti.
Previous Fall 2023 Book Club
The Fall book club will take place on Wednesday, November 15th 2023, 2:30 pm-3:30 pm on Teams! Register to join!
Enter to win a copy of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast on by commenting on Instagram, details are in the caption.
KPU employees and students can enter by November 15, 2023 11:59pm PDT.
John Vaillant is winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for The Golden Spruce and British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for The Tiger. He has written for, among others, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Walrus. Fire Weather was recently longlisted for the 2023 National Book Awards. John Vaillant lives in Vancouver.
On Wednesday, November 15th 2023 from 2:30pm to 3:30pm KPU students, KPU staff and KPU faculty are all welcome to join on Teams for a virtual book club where we will be discussing Fireweather: The Making of a Beast, by author John Vaillant.
Critics have called Fire Weather a “stunning account of a colossal wildfire” and a “panoramic exploration” of the rapidly changing nature of wildfire and our relationship to it. Weaving together an account of the 2016 Fort McMurray disaster with the legacy of this continent’s fossil fuel industries, Vaillant paints the shocking picture of a new kind of fire that is burning hotter and with more intensity than what we have previously known. Read against the backdrop of this latest fire season in British Columbia and around the world, Fire Weather is both an urgent call to action and a warning of this new destructive force.
“Reading Fire Weather this summer, seeing reports of wildfires in Greece, Hawaii, Chile, Australia, and speaking to friends as they fled their homes in the Yukon and the interior of B.C. means this book’s topic is already a reality for too many people around the world. John Valliant’s writing hits hard – he looks at just how we got to this point, he is unequivocal about the role of fossil fuels, and he covers the risks we face. I look forward to discussing ways to integrate the content into student learning.” (Sue Fairburn, Design Faculty / Researcher)
We invite you to read or listen to the book in print, eBook, or audiobook format and sign up for the online discussion. Wilson School of Design instructor, Sue Fairburn, will facilitate a discussion about the book. The discussion will be informal – your thoughts and feelings relating to the book are all welcome topics along with your ideas for how you might apply the book’s content to your courses!
KPU employees and students can find us on Instagram at kpuclimatechallenge! Contest closes November 15 2023 at 11:59 pm PDT.
The Book Club and Giveaway are open to KPU employees and students only.