Eleanor Wachtel unveils The Lives of Writers

McGill University Library and Friends of the Library host free lecture series

CBC Radio host Eleanor Wachtel will lift the veil on the relationship between writers, their work and their audience as part of a series of annual lectures presented by the McGill University Library and Friends of the Library.

The Hugh MacLennan Memorial Lecture, titled The Lives of Writers, takes place Thursday, April 17, 5:30 p.m. at Moyse Hall. Admission is free.

The lecture will touch on how knowledge of the life of the writer may affect the reader’s appreciation of the written work, how writers reveal themselves in their writing and the image of the writer as an outsider, on the margins of society.

Eleanor Wachtel studied English literature at McGill. She has hosted CBC Radio’s award-winning Writers & Company since its inception in 1990, was host of The Arts Tonight between 1996 and 2007, and now takes an in-depth look at ideas in the arts in as host of Wachtel on the Arts.

Wachtel has contributed to best-selling publications, co-edited two books (The Expo Story (1986) and Language in Her Eye (1990), and co-authored A Feminist Guide to the Canadian Constitution (1992). Her interviews have been published by Knopf Canada and HarperCollins in three separate collections, and she has received six honorary degrees in recognition of her work – most recently from Dalhousie University and Simon Fraser University.

Named for distinguished Canadian author Hugh MacLennan, Thursday’s lecture is one of a number of events sponsored by the Friends of the Library each year. Now in their 20th year, the Friends promote awareness of the McGill Library, support library activities and services, and seek to enhance the Library’s role on campus and within the Montreal community.

Moyse Hall is in the Arts Building on McGill’s downtown campus, 853 Sherbrooke St. W.