July 7, 2006
Contact: Kim Lawrence
604-864-4611
Cell: 604-302-6257
kim.lawrence@ucfv.ca UCFV summer book club reflects on turbulent Partition period in India
Everyone invited to participate; activity to culminate with author’s visit to campus
Relax with a great book this summer…and then meet the award-winning author in September.
UCFV’s writer-in-residence Dr. Kuldip Gill is launching a summer book club in hopes of focusing all book-lovers across the Fraser Valley on a single, evocative novel:
What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin. Readers from across the region are encouraged to participate in a thought-provoking journey through Baldwin’s life-encompassing historical tale. In late August and early September, participants will be invited to engage in two open discussion sessions about the book, prior to the author’s scheduled visit to UCFV at the end of September.
What the Body Remembers won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2000 for best Book in Canada. It tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who is thrilled to learn that she is to become the second wife of a wealthy Sikh whose first wife has failed to bear him an heir. The conflict between the teen and the Sikh’s first wife mirrors the historical conflict in India between the Hindus and Muslims during the turbulent period of the Partition.
“This is a tremendous learning activity that can bring together people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and beliefs,” says Gill. “Shauna Singh Baldwin is an internationally renowned author whose work can help us all gain a broader understanding of the complexities of Indian cultures and faiths. For a region like ours, where ties with India go back over 100 years, such understanding is critical to a strong, healthy community.”
Shauna Singh Baldwin was born in Montreal and grew up in India. Published in 1999,
What the Body Remembers was her first novel and has been translated into eleven languages. It was also awarded the 2000 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best Book, Canada/Caribbean region.
Baldwin is also the author of
English Lessons and Other Stories and the novel
The Tiger Claw (nominated in 2004 for Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize). Her short fiction, poetry, and essays have been published in literary magazines in the USA, Canada, and India.
Copies of
What the Body Remembers are available at the UCFV campus bookstore on the Abbotsford campus (Tel: 604-854-4535) and at most bookstores. Readers are also invited to submit 350-word written responses to the novel, which will be reviewed by UCFV English instructor and author Andrea MacPherson. Responses, which can be submitted via email to
onebook@ucfv.ca, will be entered into a prize draw.
Additional information and updates about the book club will be made available online at
www.ucfv.ca/WIR.
-30-
