English Cultural Programme

‘A guiri’s adventure: Barcelona through the eyes of an American’ by GRETA PAA-KERNER

This session with the author Greta will be a combination of readings, discussion and visual presentation.

The US and Catalunya, they are both part of the western world but they are separated by thousands of kilometres and by a different view point on life, culture and capitalism. Learn what it is to live in an American’s shoes settling into the Catalan culture.

It’s your chance to see your culture from an outsider’s point of view, and a chance to learn something about the US.

The author Greta Paa-Kerner will share highlights from her book as well as a visual presentation about the two worlds which she straddles.

Before the session participants will be given a copy of Greta’s book ‘ A guiri’s adventure: Barcelona through the eyes of an American’, and it is recommended that certain sections be read before the session. Participants are also recommended to consider some of the themes that Greta will discuss, such as culturally influenced views on life, culture, and capitalism.

REVIEW
A Guiri’s Adventure: Barcelona through the yes of an American is a shamelessly honest chronicle of Greta Paa-Kerner’s experiences living in Barcelona. Spiced up with cynicism, self-deprecation and dry humour, it is a recount of the history, geography, economics and cultural euphemisms of the region. It’s an armchair adventure about an American during her first year of living abroad.

With the disputed US presidential elections, the terrorist attacks of September 11 and Europe’s transition to the Euro monetary system, it was an eventful time to live in Europe. Every chapter in a Guiri’s Adventure captures this unique period in history. Through the highs and lows of settling into a new culture Greta learned that being a foreigner, a ‘Guiri’, meant more than merely speaking with an accent. For her it also meant taking a personal journey beyond one’s self made limits and stretching beyond what was comfortable. She wants you to take that journey with her.

VOYAGES AND TRAVEL : ‘Pilgrimage: Tales from the Open Road’ by PATRICK PFISTER

From his two books ‘Pilgrimage: Tales from the Open Road’ and ‘Over Sand and Sea’, Patrick Pfister will give readings. These will include his adventures in the Indian Himalayas and the Mojave Desert as well as his experiences in a Buddhist monastery near the Mynamar border and while waiting out the Zapatista revolution in Chiapas, Central America.

In discussion groups and question and answer sessions following the readings, Pfister will relate his experiences to the four great stages of travel found in both mythological journeys and normal family vacations in Mallorca.

Bringing his travels full circle, Pfister will read from his new book, ‘Pearls of Spain’, a work in progress, which paints a portrait of his adopted country and investigates the deepest meaning of the word home.

This session will require participants to have read sections of the book before the session. Copies of Patrick’s book will be made available to them with details of the required reading. Participants are also requested to reflect on his themes, ‘the four great stages of travel’, and the ‘deepest meaning of the word home’ before the session begins.

Reviews of ‘Pilgrimage’
Jack Beatty, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
‘Patrick Pfister is an awfully good writer; Pilgrimage is a real tour de force and deserves a wide readership.’

BOOKLIST ‘Pfister’s arrestingly low-key style distinguishes these collected vignettes of chance encounters and stormy travails during journeys to far- flung locales….(with) an invigorating clarity, (his) adventures fall into place as a complete entity: remote Himalayan treks are connected in the heart and mind to trips by car in North Africa and the Sahara.’

NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE ‘…his travel narratives are as fine as any I’ve read…Pfister is really good. Go with him.’

TOLEDO BLADE ‘(Pfister) conveys brilliantly the exhilaration of seeking, of trying, or reaching beyond, no matter where it takes you. And of being delighted with what you find, even if it’s not what you set out after.’

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Bay Area Best Seller List
‘Winning stories by (a) travel writer who leaves his expectations at home.’

TRAVEL BOOKS ‘From the interesting characters you meet in this book to his descriptions of the landscape, as well as personal emotions that come forth from the curative effects of travel, this is a good read and a spirited adventure.’

FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM ‘…An adventure through those parts of the world that don’t make it into the travel guides and aren’t photographed for postcards.Far from the Hyatts and the Hiltons, he burrowed into areas that most tourists couldn’t find on a map…’.

NOVEL ‘no wonder I take a drink’ by LAURA MARNEY

This session will be a mixture of readings by the author, and a discussion based on the themes contained in the novel. The themes include divorce, stress, adjustment to life’s shocks and surprises – and humour, it’s role in life and it’s role in the novel.

As the novel is written with a good deal of Scottish inflection, the discussion will help unravel some of these mysteries.

It is important that at least parts of the novel are read before the session begins, and details of these sections will be given to participants well in advance.

Laura lectures on creative writing, and part of the session will be devoted to giving some important tips for amateur writers.

REVIEWS of ‘No wonder I take a drink’

THE GUARDIAN ‘A gently humorous take on an incomer’s life in the West Highlands’

Zoe Strachan ‘Marney’s humour is a health hazard – if you suffer from giggle incontinence, beware!’

Louise Welsh ‘One of Scotland’s best-kept literary secrets… a biting laugh-out-loud satire with wide appeal’

SYNOPSIS
Lack of funds force Trisha, an unsentimental lonely boozer living in Glasgow, to return to her previous profession as a pharmaceutical rep, pouring tea and telling jokes to sad burnt – out GP’s.

The only good news is that Steven, her increasingly distant teenage son, is about to move back in with her. The bad news is that Bob, her ex – husband, wants the house.

Trisha’s mind is unexpectedly made up when she inherits a place in the Highlands. Having pictured a rural idyll, she finds rain, sheep, a jaywalking dog and kamikaze midges. And more rain. Her social life is so limited that she even contemplates joining the Inversnechty Mental health Awareness group just for the craic.

Then three nurses on holiday leave from Saudi invite Trisha to a ceilidh. A night of whisky-fuelled high jinks with a frozen salmon ensues which leads to a significant encounter with Spider, the local Lothario, and a dramatic discovery that will change Trisha’s future forever.