From the Garden to the Trenches

Hi Folks,Here's a media release from a conference in May that I'll be attending. I'm very much looking forward to spending time with my fellow Canuck writers and meeting Michael Morpurgo...Art

Media ReleaseConference AnnouncementApril 10, 2012 – TorontoTitle: “From the Garden to the Trenches: Childhood, Culture and the First World War”Dates: May 10-12, 2012Locations: Niagara and Toronto
How did children’s books prepare young people for the Great War?How did WWI-era children’s culture reflect the experience of war? How do children’s writers today grapple with the Great War?
Join international speakers and children’s writers in conversation about the First World War in children’s literature and culture.
Children’s writers include Michael Morpurgo on his award-winning WWI drama “War Horse”, and Deborah Ellis (The Breadwinner Trilogy) on children, war and hope. Also featuring: Linda Granfield, Sarah Ellis, Kevin Major, John Wilson, Hugh Brewster, and Art Slade.
Speakers include Paul Stevens on how Winston Churchill's boyhood reading prepared him for the trenches of Flanders; Andrea Mackenzie on L.M. Montgomery's WWI novel “Rilla of Ingleside'; Margaret Higonnet on stories of heroic girls; and Hans Heino Ewers on WWI-era novels for traumatized German children.
Conference website:http://www.fromthegardentothetrenches.com
For more information and/or interviews contact: Deirdre Bakerdf.baker@utoronto.caTel: 416-927-1099 Linda Granfieldlindagranfield@sympatico.ca416-626-8429 Lissa Paullpaul@brocku.caTel: 416-944-1587