ALA Cognotes Midwinter Highlights 2010 - (Page 2)

Page 2 • Cognotes BOSTON • 2010 Midwinter Meeting Highlights Authors Discuss Print-to-Film Transition By Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr. The Library of Congress Al Gore Delivers Solutions to Climate Change By Brad Martin ABC News T he Exhibits Roundtable showcased authors Eric Van Lustbader, Chuck Hogan, Tracy Chevalier, and Julie Powell comfortably arranged on sofas and interviewed by Brad Hooper on January 15. Robert Ludlum’s estate selected Lustbader, author of many bestselling thrillers of his own including The Testament and The Ninja, to continue the Bourne series whose transition to film was the major topic of his discussion. Asked what it was like taking over a character from a popular author, Ludlum explained that he felt that he knew Bourne and, unlike many others, he also got along with Ludlum. Lustbader noted that “you take what you see in everyday life and extrapolate” when writing fiction. He does what is natural for him by reading newspapers and novels, which influence his stories, but not contemporary thriller fiction. He writes constantly, disclosing that “I do it because I love it….I am a bear when I am not working.” Chuck Hogan, author of several novels including The Standoff and Prince of Thieves and co-author of The Strain, jocularly admitted that there have been no drawbacks, so far, to having his books optioned as films. Like Lustbader, news stories also influence Hogan’s works. Hogan, for example, wrote a crime novel after learning that Charlestown in Boston was a virtual epicenter for armed car robberies although he also underlined the traumatizing effect such an event had on a bank teller. Among the writers whom he admires and reads are Dashiell Hammett and Richard Price. Tracy Chevalier, the author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, which became a film starring Scarlett Johanson, stated that she has to research the particulars of everyday life in her historical novels. Among these were what people ate and common household tools. She admitted that “she loved books so much when growing up that she often said that she wanted to be either a writer or » see page 8 Visit H.W. Wilson Booth #1714 At the Wilson Theater: n Fiction Core Collection—new 16th Edition n Careers—coming this winter n Art Suite—63 new Journals, New Images n Biography products—new graphical interface coming Drawing for a Gift Basket! Less Searching, More Finding REgistER foR a fREE tRial www.hwwilson.com/trial H.W. Wilson www.hwwilson.com Toll Free: 800-367-6770 • Tel: 718-588-8400 Fax: 718-590-1617 or 800-590-1617 E-mail: custserv@hwwilson.com l Gore began the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture Saturday, January 16, by joking that he was “formerly the next President of the United States,” but then set a serious tone as he gave the audience a tour of his latest book Our Choice. Gore, whose audience included children and grandchildren of Arthur Curley, acknowledged the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Haiti as a result of the recent earthquake, and said, “one of the secrets of the human condition is that suffering binds us together.” Moving to the topic of climate change and its global effects, Gore said, “one of the things the current crisis does is to cause Al Gore delivers the Arthur Curley Memorial us to consider those who will Lecture January 16. come after us,” adding that “the scientific community has reached a Inconvenient Truth, which was mostly consensus that is as strong as any you an exploration about the problem. He will find.” said that three years of research for the Gore then discussed the ideas he book gave him some hopeful signs, but presents in Our Choice, which he one big obstacle. “The good and hopeful described as an effort to focus on the news is that we have enough solutions solutions to the climate crisis, unlike An to solve three or four crises like this. But we have everything except the will to act.” Gore praised librarians by calling them “the stewards of that great institution that was created during the Enlightenment,” a time when the printing press helped spawn what he called a democratization of information, a “new information ecosystem.” Unfortunately, according to Gore, the rise of broadcasting has ushered in period that has seen a “refeudalization” of the information ecosystem. He cited the example of big tobacco’s public relations offensives having delayed action against the harmful effects of smoking, and said that similar forces are at work in the climate change debate “to oppose anything that might call for government response and to sow confusion.” While describing many of the solutions (solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels), Gore also pointed out that the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the national security crisis are all intertwined. He said this was because we have “an absurd, dangerous, ridiculous overdependence on fossil fuels.” Gore praised individual efforts at reducing carbon emissions, but said government action is needed more. “It is important to change light bulbs and windows, but it is far more important to change laws and policies.” Citing an African proverb that says “if you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together,” Gore stressed that “we have to go far and quickly.” Gore closed by recalling President Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon and how he had inspired a young generation to do just that. http://www.algore.com http://www.hwwilson.com/trial http://www.hwwilson.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ALA Cognotes Midwinter Highlights 2010

ALA Cognotes Highlights Issue 2010

ALA Cognotes Midwinter Highlights 2010