Lunchtime Series

The Atwater Library Lunchtime Series features once-a-week presentations by leading writers, musicians, intellectuals, scientists, and many more people sharing their knowledge and experience with the Atwater Library community. Lunchtime Series events usually take place on Thursdays (but sometimes are on other days), from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. Admission is free though we do appreciate donations! Everyone is welcome and we serve coffee and biscuits.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, November 21, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
IN PERSON AND BY ZOOM: JOHN REDPATH’S LIFE and LEGACY – Richard Feltoe traces the life of Scottish-born John Redpath and discusses his immense contributions to Montreal’s economy and social institutions, which included founding the St. Andrew’s Society and the Mechanics’ Institute, now known as the Atwater Library. Richard Feltoe is the author of
A Gentleman of Substance: The Life and Legacy of John Redpath (1796-1869) and copies of the biography will be on sale at the event.
The St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal is co-hosting the talk as part of their Ball Week program.
To REGISTER and get the Zoom link, click here.

Thursday, November 28, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
IN PERSON AND BY ZOOM: MARC GARNEAU – Hon. Marc Garneau discusses his memoir A Most Extraordinary Ride: Space, Politics, and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream.
To REGISTER and get the Zoom link, click here.

Thursday, December 5, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
IN PERSON AND BY ZOOM: CHRISTMAS CONCERT – Gifted singer Barbara Lewis and Toronto-based pianist and singer Doug Balfour perform a variety of Christmas music.
To REGISTER and get the Zoom link, click here.

Past 2024 Events

Thursday, January 11, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Janine Rogan, CPA discusses her book The Pink Tax, which “shine[s] a spotlight on the gender wage gap and the state of female wealth.”

FRIDAY, January 19, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Authors Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii) discuss their 2023 award-winning book Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation.

Thursday, January 25, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Writer and historian Justin Martin gives a talk on Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903), the landscape architect behind Montreal’s beloved Mount Royal Park and before that, New York City’s Central Park. Justin Martin’s 2011 biography of Olmsted, Genius of Place, chronicles not only his pioneering park design work but also his great influence as a social reformer, abolitionist, journalist and public administrator.

Thursday, February 1, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Renowned lawyer Julius Grey reviews the state of Anglophone rights in Quebec and discusses legal challenges to recent legislation.

Thursday, February 8, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Award-winning writer Taras Grescoe discusses his latest book The Lost Supper: Searching for the Future of Food in the Flavors of the Past.

Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Rapper and historian Aly Ndiaye aka Webster traces the life of Shadrach Minkins (1814-1875), a Black man who was born into slavery in Virginia and made his way to Montreal in 1850 via the underground railroad. He made a good life in Montreal, working as an entrepreneur, marrying and raising a family. In October 2023 a plaque honouring Minkins was unveiled at his burial site in Mount Royal Cemetery.

FRIDAY, February 23, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
To celebrate BLACK HISTORY MONTH, the IMANI Gospel Singers, directed by Marcia Bailey, perform a program of spiritual music and discuss the evolution of Black gospel music.

Thursday, February 29, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
A LEAP IN THINKING on LEAP DAY – Participants in McGill University’s Building 21 give an overview of their outside-the-box scholarship and futuristic thinking.

Thursday, March 7, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
READING JANE AUSTEN – On the eve of International Women’s Day, Elaine Bander discusses what makes Jane Austen special for readers. Elaine Bander is Past President of the Canadian division of the Jane Austen Society of North America.

Thursday, March 14, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
ST. PATRICK’S CELEBRATION – Festival Bloomsday Montréal presents a program of Irish music and words with Kathleen McAuliffe, Barbara Ennis Canella and Natalia Davidova.

Thursday, March 21, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
MONTREAL HISTORY – Robert N. Wilkins gives an illustrated presentation on his book 1901 Grandad’s Montreal.
Presented in collaboration with the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society of Montreal.

Thursday, April 4, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
SOLAR ECLIPSE – Trevor Kjorlien of Plateau Astro gives an illustrated presentation on the total solar eclipse passing over Quebec on April 8.

Thursday, April 11, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Award-winning writer Susan Doherty discusses her new novel Monday Rent Boy with journalist Anne Lagacé Dowson.

Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
To celebrate SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHDAY, Bishop’s University Professor Jessica Riddell discusses the book she co-authored, Shakespeare’s Guide to Hope, Life, and Learning.

Thursday, April 25, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
EATING CONFUSION – Dr. Joe Schwarcz, the popular author and Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, tackles the question “Eating: Is there a solution to the confusion?”

Thursday, May 2, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
FOOD in LITERATURE – Nathalie Cooke gives an illustrated presentation on Canadian Literary Fare, the delicious 2023 book she co-wrote exploring “food voices in a wide range of Canadian fiction, drama, and poetry.”

Thursday, May 9, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
WOMEN-LED CHARITIES IN MONTREAL – Historian Janice Harvey discusses her new book Their Benevolent Design celebrating “the remarkable ingenuity and independence of a group of Canadian women in shaping social aid and improving the grim realities of child poverty. (publisher McGill-Queen’s University Press).

Thursday, May 16, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
THE STORY OF MONTREAL’S FIRST ELECTED MAYOR – Eminent historian Joanne Burgess discusses the life and times of Charles Wilson (1808-1877), Mayor of Montreal from 1851 to 1854.
At the event the Atwater Library will present to Château Ramezay a portrait of Charles Wilson from the Estate of the late Frances Whelan.

Thursday, May 23, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
A.Y. JACKSON – Art historian and author Wayne Larsen gives an illustrated presentation on the life and art of A.Y. Jackson.

Thursday, May 30, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
THE VALUE OF THE ARTS IN EDUCATION – Katherine Nikidis, Head of School at Montreal’s Trafalgar School for Girls, discusses the importance of integrating the arts into a holistic approach to education, whether it be in STEAM (Science, Technology, Economics, Arts and Mathematics), Literature or the Social Sciences. With a performance by the Trafalgar School for Girls Choir.

TUESDAY, June 4, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
AN UNTOLD WWII STORY – Nahlah Ayed discusses her new book The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII. The book recounts the riveting wartime experiences of Sonia Butt, an adventurous young British woman, and Guy d’Artois, a French-Canadian soldier.

Thursday, June 13, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
FESTIVAL BLOOMSDAY – Festival Bloomsday Montréal opens with the musical “Danny Boy” by Lisa Forget and Chris Barillaro.

Thursday, September 5 ,2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
A LITERARY BIOGRAPHER’S MEMOIR – Montreal writer Judith Adamson discusses her new book Ghost Stories: On Writing Biography and shares stories about literary luminaries of the 20th century.

Thursday, September 12, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
PARIS CAFÉ CULTURE – Writer and part-time Parisian Lisa Pasold discusses the extraordinary, creative, revolutionary cafés of Paris. She will talk about how the café has inspired urban life and the work of leading thinkers and writers such as Diderot, Robespierre, George Sand and Mavis Gallant.

Thursday, September 19, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
AGING IN PLACE and TRANSITION TRENDS – Matt Del Vecchio discusses the pros and cons of aging at home versus transitioning to a retirement home. He will outline options for public and private home care as well as the process to get into public and private residences. He is a Certified Professional Consultant on Aging and host of the CJAD Radio show Life Unrehearsed.

Thursday, September 26, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
REINTERPRETING PAUL KANE and INDIGENOUS HISTORY – Author I.S. MacLaren gives an illustrated presentation on his four-volume Paul Kane’s Travels in Indigenous North America. “An all-encompassing exploration of the nineteenth-century painter’s documentary record and controversial place in Indigenous studies in North America.” – publisher McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Thursday, October 3, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
DEFENDING ANGLO RIGHTS – Andrew Caddell, President of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy, discusses defending the rights of Quebec’s Anglophone minority from an international perspective.

Thursday, October 10, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
THE ROOTS OF RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE – Maria Popova, McGill University Associate Professor of Political Science, discusses the book she co-authored with Oxana Shevel about the leadup to Russia’s war on Ukraine, Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States.

Thursday, October 17, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
MONTREAL CARTOONS – Esteemed Montreal political cartoonists Aislin (Terry Mosher) and Boris (Jacques Goldstyn) discuss their takes on Montreal characters and institutions. In conjunction with the Atwater Library’s Montreal Cartoons exhibition.

Thursday, October 24, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
MONTREAL’S SQUARE MILE – Elizabeth Kirkland and Don Nerbas give an illustrated presentation on the book they co-edited, Montreal’s Square Mile: The Making and Transformation of a Colonial Metropole.

Thursday, October 31, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
CRIME FICTION – Russell Fralich, Michael Kent and Del Chatterson, Montreal-area members of Crime Writers of Canada, discuss the thriller and crime genre, and talk about their own work.

Thursday, November 7, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
TALKING MONEY – Financial educator Lynn Bennett gives a talk to mark Financial Literacy Month in Canada.

Thursday, November 14, 2024 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm
CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHS – Esteemed photographer Geoffrey James gives a presentation on his new book Canadian Photographs.

 

 

Please click here to view the events list for January-December 2023.
Please click here to view the events list for January-December 2022.
Please click here to view the events list for January-December 2021.
Please click here to view the events list for January-December 2020.
Please click here to view the events list for September-December 2019.
Please click here to view the events list for January-June 2019.
Please click here to view the events list for September-December 2018.
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Please click here to view the events list for August-December 2017.
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