Launched in 2020, Conversations about L.M. Montgomery is a virtual discussion series that gathers people together to discuss all aspects of L.M. Montgomery’s life, work, and legacy, in the form of readings, round tables, formal papers, workshops, tours, and other activities. Most events will be held live over Zoom for interested participants and archived on YouTube.
Steering Committee
Melanie J. Fishbane, Sarah Goff, Daniela Janes, Caroline E. Jones, Yuka Kajihara, Benjamin Lefebvre, Andrea McKenzie, and Kate Sutherland
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Schedule
2021
6. L.M. Montgomery’s Kindred Spirits: The One in Scotland
Saturday, 4 December 2021, 2:00 p.m. (EDT)
In this presentation, Mary Beth Cavert shares parts of her ongoing research projects on the friends and family members to whom L.M. Montgomery dedicated her books, with a particular focus on G.B. MacMillan of Alloa, Scotland, to whom Montgomery dedicated Emily of New Moon. Their forty-year correspondence reveals a unique intellectual connection between them, in spite of the fact that they met in person only once during that time.
Host
Daniela JanesModerator
Caroline E. JonesSpeaker
Mary Beth Cavert (Minnesota)
5. Round Table on Ontario Heritage Sites
Saturday, 6 November 2021, 2:00 p.m. (EDT)
This round table focuses on three Ontario locations that were central to L.M. Montgomery’s life and writing and are significant to her continued literary legacy: Leaskdale, where she and her family lived from 1911 to 1926; Bala, where she and her family vacationed in 1922 and which became the setting for her celebrated book The Blue Castle; and Norval, where she and her family lived from 1926 to 1935. All of these locations have become significant heritage sites, and our round table will include representatives from each location who will share with us their involvement in preserving an aspect of Montgomery’s legacy for the benefit of her worldwide readership. As always, registration is free and all are welcomed to join us.
Moderator
Sarah GoffSpeakers
Kathy Wasylenky (Leaskdale)
Linda Jackson-Hutton and Jack Hutton (Bala)
Kathy Gastle (Norval)
4. Round Table on Emily of New Moon
Saturday, 25 September 2021, 2:00 p.m. (EDT)
After a summer hiatus of a few months, we are pleased to return for our fourth Conversations about L.M. Montgomery event for 2021: a round table on Emily of New Moon, which we recently finished reading on the L.M. Montgomery Readathon. Each of the three speakers will discuss a specific aspect of this complex novel as a way to jumpstart a conversation about its importance and appeal. As always, all Montgomery readers are welcome to join us!
Host
Andrea McKenzieModerator
Benjamin LefebvreChat Moderator
Caroline E. JonesSpeakers
Brenton D.G. Dickieson, The Megan Follows Audiobook Version of Emily of New Moon
E. Holly Pike, Age Values in Emily of New Moon
Kate Sutherland, Lessons in Law in Emily of New Moon
3. L.M. Montgomery’s Bookshelf
Saturday, 22 May 2021, 2:00 p.m. (EDT)
After a hiatus of a few months, we are pleased to return for our third Conversations about L.M. Montgomery event for 2021: Yuka Kajihara, a long-time contributor to L.M. Montgomery studies, will share with us many of the reading materials that had an impact on Montgomery’s early life and literary imagination, with a particular focus on items that are part of the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books at the Toronto Public Library.
Moderators
Melanie J. Fishbane and Daniela JanesSpeaker
Yuka Kajihara
2. L.M. Montgomery’s Character Pairs
Saturday, 13 February 2021, 2:00 p.m. (EST)
For our second Conversations about L.M. Montgomery event for 2021, we invite readers of L.M. Montgomery’s fiction to consider their favourite character pairs in her work: a romantic couple, a pair of friends, an adult and a young person, a pair of siblings, or two people in conflict. What is it about these relationships that are mutually supportive and enriching—or not? What is the secret to their bond, whether or not they are kindred spirits? And what motivates some characters to sacrifice personal relationships for the sake of something else, like higher education or an artistic practice? Participants will be invite to share their ideas, read a key quotation, and reflect on the choices Montgomery made—and didn’t make—as she wrote her books.
Host/Moderator
Benjamin LefebvreChat Moderator
Caroline E. Jones
1. An Archive of Her Own: L.M. Montgomery’s Scrapbooks and Other Records
Saturday, 30 January 2021, 2:00 p.m. (EST)
For our first Conversations about L.M. Montgomery event for 2021, Carolyn Strom Collins will discuss L.M. Montgomery’s Prince Edward Island scrapbooks, in which Montgomery preserved text and images from periodicals. As a form of personal archive, these scrapbooks offer us a fascinating window into the visual imagination that created works of fiction that continue to engage readers decades after their publication.
Moderators
Sarah Goff
Caroline E. JonesSpeaker
Carolyn Strom Collins
2020
3. Trivia Contest
Saturday, 12 December 2020, 2:00 p.m. (EST)
The third event of Conversations about L.M. Montgomery for 2020 is a trivia contest! Answer our fifty questions on L.M. Montgomery’s fiction, poetry, and life writing and join us for our next Zoom event on Saturday, December 12, at 2:00 p.m. (EST), to find out the answers and watch those with the highest scores advance to a final round of questions!
Host
Andrea McKenzieModerators
Sarah Goff
Caroline E. Jones
Benjamin LefebvreContestants
Allison Hudson
Kate Jones
Audrey Loiselle
Mary Ev Goyett Smith
2. Round Table on Rilla of Ingleside
Saturday, 21 November 2020, 2:00 p.m. (EST)
Our second event is a round table discussion of L.M. Montgomery’s 1921 novel Rilla of Ingleside, a sequel to Anne of Green Gables and a work of historical and literary significance as one of the few near-contemporaneous fictional accounts of the Canadian home front during the First World War. This is also the book that started the L.M. Montgomery Readathon in March 2020.
Host
Kate SutherlandModerator
Caroline E. JonesChat Moderator
Sarah GoffSpeakers
Maureen O. Gallagher, L.M. Montgomery’s Reframing of the Great War through Women’s Homefront Experiences
Benjamin Lefebvre, The Abridgement of Rilla of Ingleside
Andrea McKenzie, L.M. Montgomery’s Subversions of Cultural War Myths
1. Round Table on The Blue Castle
Saturday, 17 October 2020, 2:00 p.m. (EDT)
Our inaugural event is a round table discussion of L.M. Montgomery’s 1926 novel The Blue Castle, set in Ontario and depicting twenty-nine-year-old Valancy Stirling, who flees her oppressive home life after she receives life-altering news. This novel is frequently claimed as a favourite Montgomery novel from her worldwide readership and is the current book that is discussed on the L.M. Montgomery Readathon. The discussion will contain plot spoilers, so first-time readers are encouraged to finish the book before joining the conversation.
Host
Andrea McKenzieModerator
Benjamin LefebvreChat Moderator
Kate SutherlandSpeakers
Caroline E. Jones, The Blue Castle and the Bad Girl
Rachel McMillan, The Blue Castle and Romance
Tara K. Parmiter, The Blue Castle and the Environment