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Welcome to The Lavin Agency's
Newsletter! Every month we bring you the latest news from
our roster of outstanding speakers. For more information
on the speakers below, or to discuss needs for an upcoming
event, please call us at 1-800-762-4234. Or email us at
info@thelavinagency.com.
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Bruce Mau Shares His Thoughts on Massive Change, Innovation
and Creativity
An Interview With One of
the World's Leading Designers
Q. Your exhibition "Massive Change" just completed
a highly successful showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery
and is currently at the Art Gallery of Ontario. For our
readers who might not be familiar with it, can you give
us a quick summary of what the exhibition is all about?
A. The original project was commissioned by the Vancouver
Art Gallery on the future of design. At the same time we
were asked by George Brown College in Toronto to develop
a program for them that was new and unique - off the educational
grid. We decided to put the two ideas together and that's
how the project was born. We subsequently brought in other
partners - to do a book, and a radio program, and a speaker
series. The exhibition is really about the human capacity
to plan and produce desired outcomes. Rather than the traditional
view of design as being about objects, we decided to look
at it from a citizen's perspective, as a process leading
to outcomes. In our view, the definition of design is not
just the production of objects but is actually the expression
of human capacity. Design is the tool we have always used
to shape the way we live and Massive Change is an exhibition
of both the way we want to live and the tools we are going
to use to get there.
The more we got into it the more we saw a real conflict
between what we saw happening around the world - - this
new, unprecedented period of human possibility, where all
systems and economies are becoming global, relational, and
interconnected, which was a very positive, optimistic story
- and the general mood of the day as reported in the media
- which was very pessimistic.
And then, when we began our research, we came across this
speech by Lester B. Pearson, the former Canadian Prime Minister,
who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. In this speech Pearson
quotes the British historian Arnold Toynbee, who wrote that
the twentieth century would be remembered as the time when
we first dared to imagine "the welfare of the whole human
race as a practical objective." That's exactly the pattern
we've been seeing, and so we set out to see if it really
was true...
More...
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Chris Abani Wins PEN Hemingway Award
The Honors for His Novel Graceland
Keep on Coming
Chris Abani was presented with the 2005
PEN Hemingway Award at a gala ceremony at the John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library on April 10th. The award, presented
to Chris for his novel Graceland, is considered one
of the most prestigious honors a young writer can receive.
Congratulations to Chris for an outstanding achievement.
For more information on Chris Abani, please click on the
link below:
More...
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Karen Armstrong Tour Tentatively Scheduled for Spring 2006
A New Book Will Bring The World's
Foremost Scholar of Religion Back to the U.S.
With the success of her Spring and Fall
tours this year, and a new book scheduled to be published
in April 2005, we have been given the go-ahead to begin
preparations for a Spring 2006 Tour for Karen Armstrong.
Recognized internationally as a giant in the field of religious
studies, Ms Armstrong will be returning to the US for a
limited number of engagements. If you are interested in
bringing her to your campus, please contact your Lavin agent
today. This tour will get booked very quickly! To find out
more about Karen Armstrong, click on the link below:
More...
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Still Time to Enter Our Draw for an Apple iPod
Just Fill Out and Fax Back the Form
that Came With Our New Catalog
Our recent catalog mailing contained an
entry form for a draw for an Apple iPod. We've extended
the final date for entry to April 20th -- make sure you
fax back your form today. If you did not receive a form,
or have misplaced yours, please email info@thelavinagency.com
and we'll be happy to send along a replacement.
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Salman Rushdie
Tour Dates Still Available -- But Going Fast
New Novel One of the Major Publishing
Events of 2005
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Salman Rushdie
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Salman Rushdie's new novel, Shalimar
the Clown, will be published this September, and the
internationally-acclaimed novelist will be on a nationwide
tour from September to November. The Lavin Agency is currently
booking dates for the tour, and we have limited availability
for engagements. For more information, call us today,
or email info@thelavinagency.com.
For more information on Salman Rushdie, click on the link
below:
More...
David
Bornstein Wants to Show You How To Change The World
Read on for an excerpt from his recent Hart
House Lecture in Toronto
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David Bornstein
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David Bornstein's book, How to Change the
World, was described by The New York Times as "must
reading for anyone who cares about building a more equitable
and stable world." In his recent speech in the University
of Toronto's annual Hart House Lecture, David expounded
on his ideas and showed a sellout audience how individuals
can make a real difference in the world. A short excerpt
from David's lecture follows:
"Individuals with extraordinary access to information
are responding where traditional structures - governments, businesses,
media, universities - are failing. As the pace of change accelerates,
they know that our adaptive systems also have to speed up. Whether
it's the environmental threat, or AIDS, or the impact of unregulated
capitalism, we can't wait too long to fix things. This is why
social entrepreneurs have become a global force today ...
It is possible that over the next few decades we might be treated
to something new: a chance to watch the real history of the world
begin to unfold. Not the history of what people must do when they
are held captive, but the history of what people choose to do
when they have options."
For more information on David Bornstein, click on the
link below:
More...
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