Did the Maya have the movie “2012” in mind when they ended their calendar on December 21?

In the final event of its 3-part series, the Space Centre is screening Hollywood’s take on the end of the world in the Planetarium. General admission: $10.75 — apocalypse notwithstanding.

Call (604) 738-7827 or www.spacecentre.ca.

Join us for a winter celebration featuring Christmas games and crafts. Listen to a holiday story, create a nature-themed Christmas ornament, and munch on treats. Meet a special Christmas visitor from the forest too! This event is a free family event and great for all ages. It is being held at the Surrey Nature Centre, located at 14255 96 Avenue, Surrey, BC from 12-4pm. For more information, contact us at 604.502.6065  www.surrey.ca/naturecentre

Please join us as Craig Bowlsby presents his new book, Empire of Ice, one of the freshest views of hockey history ever published.

Vancouver did win the Stanley Cup. And so did Seattle and Victoria, in a league created a century ago. The PCHA rose and fell like the Roman Empire, leaving its own mark on history. Now fans can re-live how the Patrick brothers invented modern hockey, and brought the highest level of the game to the Pacific Coast and to the world.

This legendary league has never, until now, been comprehensively recorded. Craig H. Bowlsby has unearthed much new information, debunked common misconceptions and even solved many mysteries. Empire of Ice chronicles the rise of the PCHA to the pinnacle of its success, and then to its final, bizarre plummet. All the league’s exciting Stanley Cup struggles are described in detail, as well as the trials, experiments and scandals of the regular seasons. New light is brought to the techniques and exploits of the great hockey stars of both West and East.

Empire of Ice spotlights hockey greats Cyclone Taylor, Frank and Lester Patrick, Hugh Lehman, Moose Johnson, Frank Nighbor, Eddie Gerard, Nels Stewart and many others.

Craig Bowlsby is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR) and has appeared on Hockey Day in Canada as an expert historian. He lives in Vancouver, BC and is also an independent filmmaker and expert fencer.

Admission is free. Seating is limited.
For more information on Library events, visit http://www.vpl.ca

Please join authors Linda Svendsen and Rhea Tregebov as they read from their recent work.

Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive. A rollicking, cheeky, alternative history of big-ticket political items in Canada told from the perspective of Becky Leggatt (the sublimely capable and manipulative wife of a hard-right Conservative prime minister) and just a wink away at Rideau Hall, Lise Lavoie (the wildly exotic and unlikely immigrant Governor General) – two wives and mothers living their private lives in public. From Linda Svendsen’s sharp and wicked imagination comes a distaff Ottawa like no other ever created by a Canadian writer, of women manoeuvring in a political world gone more than a little mad, hosting world leaders, dealing with the challenges of minority government and worry about teen pregnancies and their own marriages.

Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls’ . Bluesy, opinionated, sly, self-chastising and tender, All Souls’ commands a range of tones wider and bolder than anything in her previous books. Inspired by crises both personal and societal, All Souls’ bracingly addresses the quandary at the heart of our present moment: the fear of change and the fear of standing still. These new poems capture life in all its rueful aspects and do so with a lyricism of considerable beauty and power.

Admission is free. Seating is limited.
For more information on Library events, visit http://www.vpl.ca