Angelica Carpenter, curator of the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature and author of the book “Robert Louis Stevenson: Finding Treasure Island,” will speak about the famous writer at the Henry Madden Library’s “First Friday” event at 1 p.m. Dec. 7 at California State University, Fresno.
Carpenter’s talk, “Heather to Hibiscus: Robert Louis Stevenson from Scotland to the South Seas” will be in Room 1209 at Madden Library. It is free and open to the public.
Stevenson, author of such beloved works as “Treasure Island,” “Kidnapped,” “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “A Child’s Garden of Verses” was born in 1850 to a wealthy Edinburgh family. He met his American wife-to-be in France, and later traveled to America and on three famous voyages through the South Seas.
Carpenter will present a slide-illustrated tour showing historical photos and current views of Edinburgh, France, California and Samoa.
Carpenter joined the Madden Library staff in 1999 as the first curator of the Nixon Center. The author of three children’s books, she has continued Arne Nixon’s tradition of community speaking. Her next book will be a biography of Lewis Carroll for young people.
First Friday events are part of the Madden Library’s celebration of the acquisition this fall of its Millionth Volume. The Madden Library is the sixth-largest in the 23-campus California State University system and the only major research library between Sacramento and Northridge. The 1 million volumes consist of approximately 700,000 books and 300,000 volumes of bound periodicals.
For more information on First Friday events, call Tammy Lau at 278-2595.
