Canadian University Press Releases/Newswire

Source: University of Waterloo
http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4793

UW bookstore hosts talk by Adrienne Clarkson

October 20, 2006

WATERLOO,
Ont. (Friday, Oct. 20, 2006) -- The University of Waterloo bookstore will
host a talk by Adrienne Clarkson, Canada's 26th Governor General, at the
University of Waterloo next month.

Clarkson, journalist and Companion of the Order of Canada, will speak about
her new book, Heart Matters, at UW's humanities theatre on Nov. 9, beginning
at 7 p.m. UW students, faculty and staff tickets may be purchased through
the bookstore at $5 each. UW alumni and community member tickets are $10
each, available at the humanities theatre box office. A book signing will
follow the presentation.

Heart Matters, Clarkson's much anticipated memoir, is more than a public
life remembered. It chronicles an astonishing journey through triumph and
turmoil.

"Waterloo is the only university scheduled for Adrienne Clarkson's book tour
in Ontario," said May Yan, director of UW's retail services and acting
manager of the bookstore.

In her book, Clarkson reveals that life was not as smooth as it appeared.
With remarkable candour and poignancy, she reflects on the heartaches of her
earlier years -- her beautiful but troubled mother, the death of an infant,
a divorce, as well as the estrangement from her two daughters and their
later reunion.

Clarkson's beginnings -- her family escaped from Japanese-occupied Hong Kong
in 1942 -- were a harbinger of the drama that would echo through her life.
After growing up in Ottawa and studying in Toronto and France, she launched
a successful CBC television career that lasted nearly three decades.

Clarkson forged a unique bond with the military in her position as
commander-in-chief and travelled to Kosovo, Bosnia, the Arabian Gulf, and
twice to Afghanistan to visit Canadian troops.

Her determination to invest meaning in all her official actions created
controversy at times, whether it was refashioning Rideau Hall into a real
home and showcasing it for the public, or including writers and artists on
state visits. Clarkson reflects on some of the behind-the-scenes
machinations with a close-up view of how politics sometimes works.

She has received numerous prestigious awards and honorary degrees in Canada
and abroad. A member of the Queen's Privy Council and Commander of the Order
of Military Merit, Clarkson now lives in Toronto.