Canadian best-selling author Adam Gopnik explores “Winter” to celebrate anniversary of annual cross-country lecture series

September 28, 2011 - This fall marks 50 years of the Massey Lectures, CBC’s thought-provoking lecture series. Best-selling author, essayist, cultural observer, and famed New Yorker magazine contributor Adam Gopnik delivers this year’s lectures on a quintessential Canadian subject - winter. Beginning October 12, 2011 the CBC Massey Lectures travel to five cities - Montreal, Halifax, Edmonton Vancouver and Toronto - to present and record this year’s lectures. Titled Winter, Five Windows on the Season, the series will be broadcast on CBC Radio One’s Ideas from November 7 to 11, 2011.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have renowned Canadian writer Adam Gopnik help celebrate 50 years of Massey Lectures,” says Chris Boyce, Executive Director, Radio & Audio, CBC English Services.  “His thoughts on the notion of winter and what it means to Canadians will be a treat for the imagination for all who attend the live lectures, as well as those listening on CBC Radio One and online.”

Co-presented by CBC Radio One, House of Anansi Press and Massey College in the University of Toronto, the Massey Lectures celebrate its 50-year milestone with Adam Gopnik’s exploration of winter.  In his wide-ranging yet intimate tour of the season, Gopnik illustrates how science, economics, psychology and religion made for a new and modern idea of winter, emphasizing a recurring theme: our love for the winter world outdoors can’t be separated from the struggle to understand our own interior world. The five lectures - Romantic Winter, Radical Winter, Recuperative Winter, Recreational Winter and Remembering Winter - are also published as a book by House of Anansi Press and available in stores as of September 24, 2011.

The 2011 Massey Lectures series with Adam Gopnik:

Wednesday, October 12, 8 p.m.: Romantic Winter: The Season in Sight
  McGill University, MONTREAL
  Venue: Telus Theatre, 1280 Rue St-Denis

Friday, October 14, 8 p.m.: Radical Winter: The Season in Space
  University of King’s College, HALIFAX
  Venue: Cohn Auditorium, 6101 University Ave.

Friday, October 21, 8 p.m.: Recuperative Winter: The Season in Spirit
  University of Alberta, EDMONTON
  Venue: Myer Horowitz Theatre, 8900 - 114 Street NW

Sunday, October 23, 8 p.m.: Recreational Winter: The Season at Speed
  University of British Columbia, VANCOUVER
  Location: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd.

Wednesday, October 26, 7:30 p.m.: Remembering Winter; The Season in Silence
  Massey College, University of Toronto, TORONTO
  Venue: Koerner Hall, Royal Conservatory of Music, 273 Bloor Street West

About the CBC Massey Lectures
  The Massey Lectures are named in honour of the late Governor General of Canada, Vincent Massey. CBC Radio has commissioned the lectures annually since 1961 with the aim of providing a forum on radio where major contemporary thinkers could address the important issues of our time. Among the Massey Lecturers of the past 50 years are Martin Luther King Jr. (1967), Jane Jacobs (1979), Noam Chomsky (1988), Michael Ignatieff (2000), Stephen Lewis (2005) and Margaret Atwood (2008).

Today, the Massey Lectures are recorded in front of an audience each fall in five cities across Canada and broadcast on CBC Radio One’s Ideas. The lectures are also available for podcast download through iTunes. Since its creation in 1961 by the CBC, the Massey Lectures have established their place as a Canadian institution and become an annual highlight of our cultural life.

For more information on the CBC Massey Lectures series visit cbc.ca/ideas/masseys.

About CBC/Radio-Canada
  CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada is celebrating 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.

For further information, contact:
  Melissa Prince, Veritas Communications
  P) 416-482-2669
  C) 416-704-8733
  prince@veritascanada.com