Grendel

In his effort to understand and work with the Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, Michael Walton spent years reading and familiarizing himself with the ancient language and grammar.  Old English is different than modern.

His The Book of Beowulf reflects those long hours of study.  It is arguably one of the best translations of Beowulf.  We know that this epic poem came from as early as 1000 A.D. ~ passed down orally until finally preserved in a manuscript.

We will have the rare opportunity to learn from Mike Walton the process which brought us this modern version.  The author will be in The Neat Little Bookshop on Thursday, February 21 at 1:00 p.m. 
It's informal.  All are welcome.  "Coffee pot's always on..."

Retired from teaching, Mike lives on an old farm outside of Cayuga, Ontario.

*The Book of Beowulf, Michael Walton, 2007, Printed in Aylmer, Ontario, by Aylmer Express.  Bound at Bookshelf Bindery, Ridgetown, Ontario.
Image of Grendel: McMaster Humanities

On Reading & Writing ~

"I never write metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city.  I never write policeman because I can get the same money for cop."
~ Mark Twain

"People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff.  I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy ~ and I keep it in a jar on my desk."
~ Stephen King

"I'm a publisher because it's a cover for my indulgence.  I love to read all day.  But I come from nice Puritan stock, and I grew up believing that you have to work all day, so I made reading my work."
~ Ann Getty

"I read books like mad, but I am careful not to let anything I read influence me."
~ Michael Caine

"I would sooner read a timetable or a catalogue than nothing at all."
~ W. Somerset Maugham

"I read a book twice as fast as anybody else.  First I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whichever end I like best."
~ Gracie Allen

~ True Confessions,  Edited by Jon Winokur, Penguin, 1992

Smile for Today ~

"If I had learned to type, I never would have made brigadier general."
~ Brigadier General, Elizabeth P. Hoisington, U.S. Army

"I always wanted to be a writer, but I became an actor because we were very poor and I had an uncle in show business who was making $200 a week, and I wasn't making anything..."
~ Groucho Marx

"If my books had been any worse I would not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better I would not have come."
~ Raymond Chandler

"My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably."
~ George Bernard Shaw

~True Confessions, Edited by Jon Winokur, Penguin Books, 1992

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words ~

"We've dug ourselves out!"

Photos:  Looking at Cayuga Street

Postcard Circa 1922

(Postcard collection ~ J. E. Walker)

More than a thousand years ago, Anglo-Saxon,"Old English,"was the main language of Britain.

Not Shakespeare's language (that's Modern English), not Chaucer's (that's Middle English);  Old English.  Almost impossible for most of us to read now, its literature must have been rich and sophisticated. But only a few pieces have survived--and one is the thoughtful, stirring, brawling, book-length poem, Beowulf.

Mike Walton will discuss

Beowulf and his translation at

The Neat Little Bookshop

29 Talbot Street West, Cayuga

Thursday, February 21, at 1 p.m.

It's informal.  All welcome.

Text & Poster design by Lawrence Miller.  Thank you, Laurie.