Local author Erika Behrisch Elce speaks on writing about Lady Franklin, whose husband Sir John Franklin led an ill-fated 1845 expedition in search of the Northwest Passage.
When Sir John Franklin and his 1845 expedition to search for the Northwest Passage failed to return from the Arctic, his wife Jane embarked upon a campaign to rescue them. She spent her fortune offering rewards and mounting rescue expeditions, and she kept alive the public’s interest in the lost men. But above all she wrote a battalion of letters: to the Admiralty, to politicians, to the press, and to the prominent in Britain and America.
Erika Behrisch Elce’s fascination with the Franklins led her to publish first an annotated selection of Lady Franklin’s public letters in As affecting the fate of my absent husband. She then wrote a novel, Lady Franklin of Russell Square, which imagines Lady Franklin’s private world in London during the decade of search for her husband. In the first June installment of the KFPL Live monthly speakers’ series we are excited to host Erika as she explores the writer’s dance between history and fiction, the power of storytelling to move mountains, and the private tragedies that unfold beneath public adventures.
This presentation will take place at the Isabel Turner branch on Saturday, June 8, at 2 p.m. and is open to adults and teens. There is no admission charge, but seating is limited. To avoid disappointment, please register in advance at events.kfpl.ca or by phone at (613) 549-8888 as of 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 25.
Questions? Contact Anne Hall at 613-549-8888, ext. 3528 or ahall@kfpl.ca .