February 18, 2005

"Canada Reads" At the Dalhousie University Archives

by Tina Usmiani

	Frank Parker Day's 1928 novel Rockbound will be debated on CBC's "Canada Reads." The Frank Parker Day collection was donated to the Dalhousie University Archives in 1976. A display highlighting some of these materials will be mounted on the fifth floor of the Killam Library.

The Dalhousie University Archives found itself swept up in this year's Canada Reads "battle of books," when CBC came calling to do a story on the Archives' Frank Parker Day collection.

Day's 1928 novel Rockbound, which is set on an island off the coast of Nova Scotia, was chosen by Halifax-based novelist Donna Morrissey to be one of five books which will be hotly debated on CBC during the week of February 21 to 25. The other books are Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers, Volkswagen Blues by Jacques Poulin, No Crystal Stair by Mairuth Sarsfield and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Five writer/panelists ( Donna Morrissey, Olivia Chow, Roch Carrier, Molly Johnson and Sherraine MacKay) will vote one book off the short list each day. By the end of the week, only one title will survive. Will it be Rockbound? Stay tuned!

The Frank Parker Day collection was donated to the Dalhousie University Archives in 1976 by Donald Day. The collection features poetry, plays, short stories, and novel manuscripts, including typescripts and manuscripts of several drafts of Rockbound; correspondence; speeches and essays; personal documents; photographs; and various materials pertaining to Day's time in the military. A display highlighting some of these materials will be mounted on the fifth floor of the Killam Library during Canada Reads week.

CBC Newsworld will be airing a Canada Reads Preview Special at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19 and again at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 20, which will feature a spot in the Dalhousie University Archives. CBC Newsworld will broadcast the first Canada Reads program at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, February 21, and will air it again that evening at 8:30 p.m.

To learn more about Frank Parker Day, go to CBC's Canada Reads page.

Click on Dalhousie University Archives for detailed information about the Frank Parker Day collection at Dalhousie.

 

 

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CBC Newsworld will be airing a Canada Reads Preview Special at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19 and again at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 20, which will feature a spot in the Dalhousie University Archives.