A scene from Books & Brunch 2012
If you were asked to pick ten books which you have ‘known and loved” which would they be? This is the question the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library has asked two people every Spring since 2006. And then we have asked them to come to a brunch and tell a couple of hundred people what those books are and why they are known and loved.
Books & Brunch, a signature fundraiser for the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library, has been held for the past few years in the beautiful surroundings of The Gates on Roblin. The event attracts book and library lovers who enjoy good food, good company and interesting presentations.
Doug Speirs
This year we are delighted that Doug Speirs and Jila Ghomeshi are the guests who will share their book choices with us. Doug is a humour columnist with the Winnipeg Free Press and the author of Bite-Sized Doug. Jila is an associate linguistics professor at the University of Manitoba and is the author of Grammar Matters: The Social Significance of How We Use Language.
The Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library has been around since the early 90’s. In the beginning the main focus was advocacy, education and the distribution of library-discarded books to social service agencies. Now we focus on our two signature events, Books & Brunch and the big Fall Used Book Sale and the running of the Best of Friends Gift Shop in the foyer of the downtown Millennium Library.
Jila Ghomeshi
We use the funds raised to support ongoing programs of the public library such as the Writer-in-Residence, Spring Break Family events and the TD Summer Reading Club as well as one-off projects such as populating the children’s areas of all branches with animal ottomans and funding further digitization for the recently launched PastForward website.
The Friends are people who love libraries and believe that they are a vital part of a vibrant and caring community and we want to make sure that they can continue to deliver programs for all of us. In short, we want to help make our public libraries the best they can be!
This year’s Books and Brunch is being held on Sunday, May 5 at 10:30 a.m. and tickets ($55 – with $28 tax receipt) can be purchased by calling 204-488-3217 or emailing info@friendswpl.ca or pop into the Best of Friends Gift Shop between 11 and 4 Monday – Friday, noon – 3 on Saturdays. We’d love to see you!
