LAKEPORT, Calif. – The NEA Big Read, which this year spotlights Jack London's “The Call of the Wild,” is planning a series of events for the rest of this month.
The event's keynote speaker is Dr. Jonah Raskin, whose presentation “Jack London: Genius Lives” will take place at the Mendocino College Lake Center, 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23.
The program is billed as “a look back at the life and the work of Jack London,” who wrote 50 books including “The Call of the Wild.”
London died 100 years ago, on Nov. 22, 1916, at his ranch in Sonoma County.
Raskin holds a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in England. As a Fulbright professor, he taught American literature at the University of Antwerp and the University of Ghent.
From 1985 to 2005 he was the book critic for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. He reviews books for the San Francisco Chronicle and writes for the Rag Blog and Swans.
He is the author of 14 books, including most recently “A Terrible Beauty: The Wilderness of American Literature,” “James McGrath: in A Class By Himself,” “Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War” and “Field Days: A Year of Farming, Eating and Drinking Wine in California.” He has published six poetry chapbooks, among them “Rock ‘n’ Roll Women: Portraits of a Generation.”
NEA Big Read events will occur around Lake County all through October. Events for the last half of the month will include a nature walk, a discussion of film versions of “The Call of the Wild,” a presentation on living with wolves, a program on respecting the wild, a radio call-in book discussion, an Alaskan meal, a presentation on sled dogs and a talk on memories of living in Alaska.
Take a nature walk at Clear Lake State Park, 5300 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville, on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 9 to 11 a.m. and enjoy a discussion of “The Call of the Wild” with the Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association. Park outside the gate and walk in to enter for free.
“The Call of the Wild” has been filmed numerous times. A book discussion and comparison of scenes from the multiple film renditions and the novel will be presented at Lakeport Library, 1425 N. High St., on Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Guests will watch clips from the films.
Have an Alaskan lunch and learn about Alaskan sled dogs at the Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College on Thursday, Oct. 20. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. the college’s culinary program will prepare and have for sale an Alaskan meal consisting of Alaskan salmon, Yukon gold potatoes and blueberry cobbler in Aromas Restaurant at 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake.
At 1 p.m. in room 209 of the campus geology professor Montana Hodges will have a presentation about the summer she spent conducting research in Alaska.
She will talk also about the plight of Alaskan sled dogs. Her first-hand experience with sled dogs led to her involvement with Sled Dog Sanctuary and her personal adoption of several rescue sled dogs.
Ben Cox-Frankenfield will talk about living with a wolf hybrid. In 1993 Cox-Frankenfield and his wife Patty adopted a rescue wolf-dog hybrid they named Pretty Girl who lived with them 12 years. This free program takes place at Lakeport Library on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Also on Oct. 22, Victoria Brandon, a member of the Sierra Club, will present a discussion of the importance of respecting and preserving wild spaces, nature and the environment with examples from the novel “The Call of the Wild” from 2 to 3 p.m. at Redbud Library, 14785 Burns Valley Road in Clearlake.
Tune in to a radio call-in discussion of “The Call of the Wild” on KPFZ 88.1 FM. Susan Krones’ Bookends program live from the KPFZ studio will feature a call-in book discussion with county librarian Christopher Veach on Oct. 22 from 4 to 5 p.m.
Local professor and literacy coordinator Virginia DeVries will reminisce about her adventures living off the land and the sea, off the grid in the Alaskan frontier, followed by a discussion of “The Call of the Wild” at Lakeport Library on Tuesday, Oct. 26, from 2 to 3 p.m.
For more information about the NEA Big Read, please visit www.neabigread.org . Downloadable copies of “The Call of the Wild” are available through the Big Read Web site.
The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .
Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.