Virtual Author Talk: Kate Beaton

Join us for an enlightening hour online with highly-acclaimed Kate Beaton, the New York Times bestselling author of Hark! A Vagrant! and Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands. 

Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark! A Vagrant! fame, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beatons, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. Her first full-length graphic narrative follows Beaton after university as she heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush, part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can't find it in the homeland they love so much.

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is more than a memoir, it’s also an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.

About the Author: Kate Beaton was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. During the years she spent out West, Beaton began creating webcomics under the name Hark! A Vagrant, quickly drawing a substantial following around the world. The collections of her landmark strip Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops each spent several months on the New York Times graphic novel bestseller list, as well as appearing on best of the year lists from Time, The Washington Post, Vulture, NPR Books, and winning numerous awards. She has also published the picture books King Baby and The Princess and the Pony.

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This is part of a series of author talks in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.  See all upcoming talks here.

The Author Talks series is made possible by Friends of the Library.