The Community Library Lecture Room

Join us for a free screening of Ken Russell’s film ‘Prisoner of Honor.’

Directed by Ken Russell, ‘Prisoner of Honor’ is a made-for-cable retelling of the 1894 court-martial of French Army officer Alfred Dreyfus. The historical drama stars Richard Dreyfuss (no relation) as the head of counter-intelligence who uncovers several damning pieces of evidence. It turns out that the French government has sent an innocent man to prison for their own suspicious reasons, and Dreyfuss is the only man willing to fight for the prisoner’s freedom. Prisoner of Honor also stars Oliver Reed and Peter Firth, as well as featuring Lindsay Anderson, Brian Blessed, Jeremy Kemp, and Peter Vaughan. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as9sQl0B8dA

 

 

Join authors Alexander Maksik and Merritt Tierce as they read from and discuss their new novels and their lives as writers. Alexander will be reading from his as yet untitled novel to be published by Knopf. Merritt will be reading from her newly released novel Love Me Back.

Alexander Maksik is the author of the novels You Deserve Nothing and A Marker to Measure Drift, which was named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2013. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harper’s, Tin House, Harvard Review, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Salon, and Narrative Magazine, among other publications. He is a contributing editor for Condé Nast Traveler, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the Truman Capote Literary Trust and The Corporation of Yaddo.

Merritt Tierce was born and raised in Texas. She worked in various secretarial and retail positions until 2009, when she moved to Iowa City to attend the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as the Meta Rosenberg Fellow. After graduating in 2011 with her MFA from Iowa, she received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and she is a 2013 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Author. Merritt’s first published story, Suck It, was selected by ZZ Packer to be anthologized in the 2008 edition of New Stories from the South, and her first book, Love Me Back, has been recently released to rave reviews.

 

The Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s Upbeat with Alasdair presentation hosted by the Community Library is Tuesday, January 6 at 6:30 PM. The topic is “Sleeper Hits of the 2015 Season.” Here is a description of the topic:

Music Director Alasdair Neale gives a sneak peak of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s 2015 programming emphasizing two concerts that might not jump out at you as “must see” performances. Join Alasdair in a conversation about two Sleeper Hits of the 20154 season: Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 and Adam Schoenberg’s “American Symphony” (no relation to Arnold Schoenberg, the Austrian 20th century Expressionist!).

Upbeat with Alasdair is admission-free. Space is limited. To reserve your seat, please contact the Sun Valley Summer Symphony at info@svsummersymphony.org or 208-622-5607.

 

 

Join Professor Francisco Estrada-Belli of Tulane University as he returns to the Community Library to present his recent archaeological findings on the Mayan civilization.

“The discovery of a spectacularly decorated and inscribed building at Holmul recently brought this site to the forefront of Classic Maya history. These finds come to fill perhaps the largest gap in our knowledge, the sixth century CE. This was a time of great turmoil in the lowlands as the balance of power shifted across the land from the Tikal kingdom in the south to the Kaan kingdom in the north. It has been referred to as the “Tikal Hiatus” because of the dearth of historical texts at Tikal and elsewhere. New information is now revealing the existence of a royal lineage at Holmul with connections to both Tikal and the Kaan kingdom and the role it played during the initial phase of their long-lasting confrontation.” -Professor Estrada-Belli

Lecturer Bio:

Francisco Estrada Belli is an Italian-born Guatemalan archaeologist.  He received a Ph.D. in archaeology from Boston University in 1998. He currently teaches archaeology and geographic information systems at Tulane University in New Orleans having previously held positions at Harvard University, Boston University, and Vanderbilt University.  He is the author of “The First Maya Civilization. Ritual and Power before the Classic Period” (Routledge, 2011) the first book on the origins of Maya civilization since 1977. He is an active field researcher, and directs a multi-disciplinary archaeological dig at Holmul, in the Peten region of Guatemala.  He has research appointments with Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, and the American Museum of Natural History, is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a National Geographic Explorer. He is co-founder of the Maya Archaeological Initiative, a US non-profit organization that promotes research and youth education on Maya heritage as well as cultural site preservation. In 2002 he met Nina Neivens, Community School class of 1998, at an archaeology conference. She and her mom, Mary Neivens, also a Maya archaeologist and current Ketchum resident, later joined Francisco’s dig at Holmul. He and Nina married in 2004. They have two kids (Manolo 6 and Isabella 4) and spend their time between their home in New Orleans and their tent in the Guatemalan jungle.

Website: mayaarchaeology.org