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Date: October 18, 2008, Dublin, Ireland BY: Dr. Irene Gammel
The rain has stopped. In the morning we head to The Church of Ireland College of Education for the Ireland Conference of IBBY, (The International Board on Books for Young People). Along with Sandra Beckett, a comparative literature scholar at Brock University, and author Tim Wynne Jones, I am one of the keynote speakers in this conference dedicated to Anne of Green Gables, Globalization and Cross-Over Fiction. The conference is energizing, as are all the presentations and the people.
Sandra Beckett talks about cross-over fiction, that is, fiction that targets both adults and children. Martina Seifert talks about Germany’s romanticizing of Canada as a land of snow and ice and rugged heroes. Tim Wynne Jones reads from “The Anne Rehearsals” in his book Lord of the Fries. It’s hilarious. At the reception we meet the Honorable Patrick Binns, formerly the premier of Prince Edward Island and now the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland. He recalls the surprise of Prince Edward Islanders when masses of tourists first arrived on PEI. When asked what made them come, they said, “Anne of Green Gables.”
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