Books are magical and important and should be treated with respect — but sometimes they can be transformed into a whole other kind of art. Introducing the world of Altered Books…

Winston is a reader, writer, designer, book collector, bookseller, holistic librarian, and all around book nerd. When not in the bookish world, Winston can be found singing in choir, playing with Lego, and just trying to make the world a better place. But he also sometimes wrecks books for fun. You can find him online at butterfliesandaliens.com.

Facebook: Winston Pei
Instagram: @winston_at_blackriders

What makes a book rare? What are “incunabula,” and why are they so desirable to collectors? How should you handle rare materials – gloves or no gloves? Step into the wonderful world of rare books in this crash course on all things old, rare and bookish.

Natasha D’Amours is a Master of Library and Information Studies student at the University of Alberta. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing from the University of Victoria, has worked in printing and bookbinding for several years, and is currently working at Bruce Peel Special Collections as a reading room supervisor and exhibition docent. As you can probably tell, she thinks that books are pretty neat.

Twitter: @natashadamours

The future of housing is captured in the word “sustainable”. Housing needs to be environmentally sustainable, socially sustainable, and financially sustainable. And at the heart of this future is the energy from the Earth, energy that is transferred using geothermal heat exchangers.

Yasushi Ohki is the executive director of the non-profit housing development called Green Violin Community Development Company. With an education in civil engineering and architecture, combined with a career in land development, Yasushi has just completed his fifth year advocating for housing and is about to embark on the next five year Mission to Demonstrate new housing forms.

Benjamin Lafferty is the founder and principal of an energy consultancy and design firm called Coulomb GeoExchange. With a thorough understanding of building performance and heat calculations, Benjamin designs and project manages the installation of complete energy solutions. His expertise sees him involved in projects ranging in size from the Tiny scale (tiny home communities) right on up to the Giga scale (think: Tesla’s new factory’s cooling towers)!

Facebook: Green Violin YEG
Web: Coulomb GeoExchange Inc.