DECEMBER

CLUB NEWS
For the Love of Reading BY ALMA BOYD
On the evening of last September 16, at the
invitation of The Page Turners (aka Book Club 2),
members of various other Ballantrae book clubs
gathered to hear two very diverse speakers.
Marissa Campbell introduced us to her debut
novel Avelynn. While this is her first novel, Marisa
also co-authored an award-winning self-help book
entitled Life: Living in Fulfillment Every Day.
Avelynn, titled after the protagonist, is an historic
romance set in Anglo-Saxon England. Ambition,
lust, and betrayal weave their fateful threads
through Avelynn’s destiny. Against the political
backdrop of Alfred the Great’s war against the
Vikings, Avelynn brings the Dark Ages to light
and illuminates one woman’s struggle to fight
for what she believes in.
In addition to reading from her book,
Marissa took us through the writing process
and described the methods used to create
a work that is hopefully worthy of publication.
Though Avelynn was just released on September
8 of this year, Marissa is already busy, at the
request of her publishers, writing the second
book in an Avelynn series.
Hugh Hallam, a community resident and our
second guest of the evening, told of his volunteer
association at CNIB as a Braille transcriptionist.
He began his talk by introducing the audience
to Louis Braille who was blinded at age three,
due to an accident in his father’s
harness-making workshop.
At age 10, he was admitted to the school for the
blind in Paris. Here he was exposed to a tactile
reading system designed by Captain Charles
Barbier. This system used a cell which was too
large and had too many raised dots for the size
of the students’ hands. By the age of 15, Louis
had created his own system using a smaller sixdot
cell. Known as Braille, this system is used
throughout the world today.
When he completed his studies he was hired at
the school as a teacher of history, algebra and
geometry, becoming a full professor in 1833.
Louis Braille died in 1852 at the age of 43.
Louis was an accomplished musician, playing
the piano, cello and organ. During his years
at the school he was also the organist at a
large cathedral in Paris and travelled widely
throughout France giving music concerts.
While electronics has advanced in the field of
Braille transcription, there is still a need for a
transcriptionist to proofread the copy to insure
that the final text is “as written” and that the
formatting is correct.
Hugh’s presentation made our audience
extremely aware of the time and dedication
it takes to learn Braille and to bring the love
of words to those who do not have the gift
of sight.
The Page Turners wish to thank the speakers
and the audience for making this a most
enjoyable evening.
38 DECEMBER 2015