The Beltline is home to three landmark national heritage sites that teem with literary history: the Memorial Park Library, the Nellie McClung House, and the Lougheed House. On this guided walk, author Shaun Hunter will take us back to the early 20th century and Calgary’s burgeoning literary scene as it played out in and around these key sites. Along the way, you will meet three internationally successful Calgary writers of the 1920s: a bestselling author who championed women’s rights; a Chinese-Canadian novelist who masqueraded as Japanese; and an American reporter who wrote what is now considered the first Black prairie novel. Their stories add a fascinating layer to this storied Calgary neighbourhood.
Event details:
Date: Thursday, July 21, 2022, 7 to 8:30 pm
Meeting place: Memorial Park Library, 1221 2nd Street SW
Free admission
40 people maximum
Please email historicplacesdays@nationaltrustcanada.ca to register
Sites on walk registered as Historic Places: Memorial Park Library; Nellie McClung House; Senator Lougheed Residence (Beaulieu National Historic Site). Walk will also include Hester Apartments (listed on the Alberta Register of Historic Places)
Shaun Hunter
Shaun Hunter’s Calgary through the Eyes of Writers (Rocky Mountain Books, 2018) offers a literary tour of the city from its frontier beginnings to contemporary times. Her digital literary map of Calgary marks more than 500 sites in the city’s storied landscape. Her forthcoming map with the U of C’s Calgary Atlas Project charts the city’s 1920s literary landscape. Shaun served as the 2020 Historian in Residence at the Calgary Public Library, co-curated the exhibit “Storied City: Early Calgary through the Eyes of Writers” at the Lougheed House, and helped bring Project Bookmark Canada’s national literary trail to Calgary. She shares her passion for Calgary’s literary landscape on guided walks, talks, and on her website www.shaunhunter.ca.
