It was a quiet weekend, compared to most.  The Library asked me to photograph the Library's One Book One Calgary (OBOC) launch, which was really low key compared to past OBOC opening nights. Every November the Library picks a book that it recommends everyone in Calgary read and talk about. So far I've read every one and every year I've been asked to take photos of the opening night events and VIP gathering.  Last year Laurence Hill's "Book of Negroes" was the chosen one.  Other books include "The Book of Awesome" (which I didn't bother finish reading and "Cellist of Sarajevo" (which was intense, but in a good way).

This year's selection,Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by Calgary author Marcello Di Cintio, is the best book yet, I think. Di Cintio travels the world to explore areas that have erected walls (Gaza, Cyprus, Belfast, US/Mexico) and talk to the people that live on both sides.

This year there was no gathering of VIPs, which was a nice break... I'm always challenged by the elderly ladies with snow white hair.  Instead I took quick shots of the author, the two poets (one the new Calgary poet laureate), the Library's CEO  (or as one fellow asked me, "Is that Mr. Library?"), the Library Board chair, and the entertainment.  No stress.

Derek Beaulieu (Calgary's poet laureate), Marcello Di Cintio (author), and Bertrand Bickersteth (poet)

Marcello Di Cintio in front of a photo he took in Belfast, Ireland.

Mr. Bill Ptacek, Library CEO

Links:

• CPL One Book One Calgary Program and Events
• Marcello Di Cintio
• Derek Beaulieu