UPEI book series examines Island research, topics, writers

A new book series called Open Pages has startedat UPEI, which focuses on local books and writers, and their research about the Island.

It's being hosted at the Robertson Library, and Wednesday night saw the first book in the series featured.

It was Time and a Place, the first environmental history of Prince Edward Island, featuring 12 essays on how the Island has evolved since the Ice Age.

One of the book's authors was at the event,Rosemary Curley, and sheexplained her work to CBC Mainstreet's Angela Walker.

"I did a chapter on wildlife, going back right to after the glaciers melted up to the present day," said Curley. "So it has a very wide scope, and was a lot of fun to research and I learned a lot doing it too."

Strong opinions

It also meant she got to present her opinion on some hot-button topics.

"Endangered species would be one, and the fact that none are listed under legislation today for protection in Prince Edward Island," something Curleywouldlike to see changed.

Other authors at thetalk wrote chapters on the energy policy on P.E.I., and on the pre-history settlement of the Island.

Simon Lloyd, the archivist and special collections librarian at the Robertson Library, said that's part of what will make the Open Pages series different.

"It's not just talking on the book itself, but really focusing on a number of the contributors," he said. "I think it's a group of people that really reflects what a well-rounded and insightful book it is."

The next event has already been planned, featuring New London: The Lost Dream.

"Another Island Studies Press book that's recently been launched, John Cousins' history of the Quaker settlement in New London, and that will be going Nov. 16," said Lloyd.

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