Rock Island, IL: Rock Islanders were busy founding a new City in 1841, but that wasn't the only notable event of that year. The 2016 Frieze Lecture Series discussion theme celebrates "1841: The Year That Rock Island Began," with a series of four lectures from Oct. 18 to Nov.8.
Dr. Kelly Daniels, associate professor of English, speaks Nov. 1 on "A Punch of Literary Humor," which covers the 1841 birth of the British humor magazine named Punch, and all that has meant for for satire and humor in writing through National Lampoon, The Onion, and beyond. Daniels helps lead Augustana’s creative writing program and is the author of Cloudbreak, California, and recently won first prize in Creative Nonfiction at the San Miguel Writers Conference.
The series ends Nov. 8 with a lecture by Dr. William Hammer on "The Dawn of Antarctic Exploration." Dr. Hammer, the Fritiof Fryxell Chair in Geology, will note the 1841 voyage of British naval Captain James Ross, commanding HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The expedition discovered what they named the Victoria Barrier, later renamed the Ross Ice Shelf. Dr. Hammer is an Antarctic explorer in his own right, having discovered the first dinosaur remains unearthed in Antarctica. Teams led by Hammer discovered Cryolophosaurus ellioti in 1991, and Glaciasaurus hammeri in 2004.
All lectures begin at 2:00 pm in the Rock Island Main Library Community Room, 401 19th Street. The series is free and includes coffee, cookies and conversation afterwards.
The series was created by the late Ruth Evelyn Katz, a library board member, as part of the library's 125th anniversary. The name comes from the 1903 library's frieze, an architectural feature around the top of the building that is engraved with the names of writers.
For more information about the Frieze Lecture Series, visit the library's website at www.rockislandlibrary.org or call the library at 309-732-READ.
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