Alaska Online With Libraries (OWL) Program

Presenter: Jim Hale
Description: Jim Hale discusses the two men who put together the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623 as a tribute to the memory of their late friend and colleague who had died seven years earlier. They are John Heminges and Henry Condell, and they left us a wonderful preface that tells us a lot about their plans in publishing the First Folio. Jim also talked about the physical production of the book and how, in odd ways, this has sometimes played into our critical understanding of the plays as literary works.

Presenter: Dr. Rick Knecht
Description: As part of the festivities for the Alaska State Library's special traveling exhibit First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, on tour from the Folger Shakespeare Library, we heard from Dr. Rick Knecht about some of the artifacts that he and his team have found at the archaeological site in Nunalleq, which dates back to Shakespeare's time around 1600.

Presenter: Professor Nina Chordas
Description: Shakespeare Professor Nina Chordas provided background and context about Hamlet, the reading by Theatre in the Rough which took place at the Fr. Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum Building.

Shakespeare Professor Nina Chordas provided background and context about Romeo & Juliet on August 19, 2016 at the State Library Archives & Museum building in Juneau. This activity was in support of the First Folio! traveling exhibit.

Presenter: Dr. Clive S. Thomas
Description: Dr. Clive S. Thomas spoke about possibilities for Alaska's economy and took questions from a live audience. Recorded at the lecture hall of the Fr. Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library Archives and Museum Building in Juneau, Alaska.

Panel discussion on the 150th Anniversary of the purchase of Russian interests in Alaska.
Presenters: Wayne Jensen, Juneau; Terrance Cole, Fairbanks; Stephen Haycox, Anchorage; Aaron Leggett, Anchorage
and Ross Coen, Seattle.
The panel was moderated by Ron Inouye in Fairbanks. This program was presented by the Alaska Library Network and funded by the Alaska Historical Commission.

Homer librarian and author Ann Dixon speaks to a group of adults and children on the process of writing books and the process of how books get made. Ms. Dixon concludes with readings from several of her children’s’ books.

Presenter: Seldovia Public Library
Description: Stories from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound Alaska.

Presenter: Tinashe Basa and Dennis Gaboury, Trustees Zimkids Orphan Trust
Description: Tinashe Basa, 25, was born in a village in rural Zimbabwe, in a traditional handmade hut with a thatched roof, no electricity or running water. Like most rural children, he grew up hauling water from the nearest well, almost a mile away, and watching his parents try to scratch a bit of corn out of the dusty fields in his drought-stricken nation. Like most young Zimbabweans, he lives with one foot in the traditions of his Shona people - with its great respect for Elders, belief that the clan is more important than the individual, visits to local healers instead of doctors, and marriages arranged through payments to a bride’s family – and the other in the modern Western world of airplanes, computers and social media. Now the director of Zimkids Orphan Trust, which cares for 200 AIDS orphans in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. AIDS has left tens of thousands of African children without parents, and Zimkids provides a safety net – a family – of food and medical care, tutoring, sports, art, traditional dance and vocational training for a group of the neediest. Read about them at www.zimkids.com. Tinashe is visiting the United States for the first time and will be in Fairbanks to raise money for Zimkids. Come to your local library on November 9 at 11 am and meet Tinashe over a video conference. He will be giving a presentation about his life and work from the Noel Wien library in Fairbanks over the OWL Network. You’ll be amazed at the similarities between Tinashe’s village and yours. (Thanks to Kenai Community Library for description.)

Presenter: Ron Spatz, Editor, Alaska Quarterly Review
Description: A dramatic reading of a short story written by Steven Shutzman and published in the Alaska Quarterly Review.

Presenter: Natalie D. Richards

Presenter: Maestro Randy Fleischer and Violinist Rachel Barton
Description: Maestro Randy Fleischer and Violinist Rachel Barton have a lively noon-time discussion of music.

On June 23, Ross Coen gave a lecture entitled "Fu-Go: The Curious History of Japan's Balloon Bomb Attack on America". This event was hosted and recorded by the Alaska State Library's Historical Collections in Juneau, Alaska.