The Bilson Lecture series was established by the Department of History to honour the memory of Dr. Geoffrey Bilson, a member of the department who died suddenly in 1987. In addition to his academic work on American history, Geoff Bilson wrote several acclaimed works of children's fiction: the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People was established in his honour by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. The Bilson Lecture series is intended to honour both sides of Geoff Bilson's writerly interests.

For the 2008 Bilson Lecture, we are delighted to present one of Canada's leading writers of historical fiction for children, Sarah Ellis, whose talk is entitled The Historian As Chrysanthemum. The lecture will be held Monday, November 3 at 7:30 pm at the Radisson Hotel, Room Michelangelo C (reception to follow). EVERYONE WELCOME!

Sarah Ellis was born in Vancouver. During her ten years as a children's librarian she discovered a delight in performing—in puppetry and storytelling. At the same time she became interested in writing about children's books, spending a year at the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College in Boston. She now writes a review column for Quill and Quire and lectures internationally on Canadian children's books. It seems inevitable that having had this much pleasure from children's books she would one day try her hand at writing juvenile fiction herself. A dozen books later she is well and truly hooked.

Click here to learn more about Sarah Ellis and her books.

Hope to see you there!