Adventures in bugs, books and the search for God
As the temperatures get cooler, there are a lot of excuses for heading inside to enjoy the arts over the weekend. Here are some suggestions for things to do in the national capital region.
Ottawa International Writers Festival
It’s warm, informal and informative, the city’s biggest annual book club, Ottawa’s writers festival, which runs until Wednesday, is where book geeks gather to listen to prominent authors discuss the writing life and read their newest work.
Festival events are happening around town in churches, bars and galleries with the main venue at Christ Church Cathedral on Sparks Street.
There is something for every kind of reader at the festival, from mysteries to literary probings of the human soul, to pressing international issues.
Saturday at noon: Giller Award and Governor General Literary Award winner M.G. Vassanji will discuss his new book And Home Was Kariakoo: A Memoir of East Africa.
Saturday at 6:30 p.m.: The future of the earth’s environment and its resources is the topic of Oil, Gas and Water with authors Marq De Villiers, Louis Helbig and Andrew Nikiforuk.
Sunday at 6:30 p.m.: Ronald Wright, Don Gillmor and Tracey Lindberg will talk about how history intersects with individual lives in their new novels.
Sunday at 8:30 p.m. It’s scene of the Crime, for those who love to curl up with a good mystery. I’ll be hosting masters of the genre, Giles Blunt, Sara Blaedel and Steve Burrows.
Giant bugs at the Canadian Museum of Nature
On Thursday I came face to face with giant bugs, some were beautifully-crafted models, but others were actual creepy crawlers.
Bugs: Outside the Box at the Canadian Museum of Nature has enough science, art and insects to satisfy the budding entomologist in your family.
You can wander through the larger-than-life bug sculptures from Italian artist Lorenzo Possenti, and then spy on real live insects, from butterflies to beetles, from the Museum’s own collection.
The exhibition opened on Friday.
The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God
Now on stage at the NAC, the play is a joyful telling of the road to redemption with music, dance, drama and comedy.
Written and directed by Djanet Sears, the multi-talented cast of 22 performers kicks up all the high spirits of an old-time revival meeting.
Set in small black community in southern Ontario, the play follows Rainey, a woman who is grieving the loss of her daughter.
The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God asks some big questions about the meaning of life and the challenge of faith, but it does so with humour and music.
The play runs in the theatre of the NAC until Nov. 7.
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