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Musgrave offers critique sessions at Elephant Mountain Literary Festival

Famous author will provide feedback to 12 writers
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Author Susan Musgrave will be providing feedback to 12 writers at the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival in July. Photo submitted

Nelson’s Elephant Mountain Literary Festival (EMLF) is offering the opportunity for 12 local writers to receive one-on-one feedback on their work from a noted Canadian author.

Multi-disciplinary, award-winning, and unforgettable author Susan Musgrave is this year’s writer-in-residence for the Holley Rubinsky Blue Pencil Sessions, named for the late Kaslo author and mentor. The sessions will be held at the Nelson Public Library July 12 and 13.

Registration opens June 2 at www.emlfestival.com. Places will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Registered writers will be asked to submit in advance a project description and up to 2,500 words of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or writing for children for discussion and critique in a 40-minute one-on-one session with Musgrave.

In addition to the Blue Pencil Sessions, Musgrave will give a public talk on the writing craft on Thursday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Nelson Public Library. Admission is by donation ($5 suggested).

Susan Musgrave, a recipient of the Matt Cohen Award in recognition of a lifetime of distinguished work by a Canadian writer, has enjoyed a career of more that 30 years during which she has produced 27 works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s literature. She has edited many manuscripts and anthologies and mentored writers through a score of writer-in-residence positions across Canada.

Musgrave appears at Elephant Mountain Literary Festival with her husband Stephen Reid as part of the Festival’s “Literary Couples” theme. In fact, Musgrave met her husband, a convicted bank robber, after he sent her a manuscript from Millhaven Penitentiary; she subsequently became his writing tutor, and they were later married in Kent Prison.

In an entry on the website abcbookworld.com, Alan Twigg writes “Musgrave is one of the most prolific, hard working and written-about writers in Canada.” According to her own website, Musgrave, who lives on Haida Gwaii, “has been labelled everything from eco-feminist to anti-feminist, from stand-up comedian to poet of doom and gloom, from social and political commentator to wild sea-witch of Canada’s northwest coast.”

Says EMLF Executive Director Natasha Smith, “Having Susan Musgrave as our 2018 Writer-in-Residence is an exceptional opportunity for local writers. We are so excited to have her with us.”

The 7th annual Elephant Mountain Literary Festival runs July 12 to 15 in Nelson and features a variety of events and panel discussions with noted writers and artists. For the complete schedule and event tickets go to www.emlfestival.com.

Contact: Natasha Smith, emlf@emlfestival.com or 250-551-5122

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Author Susan Musgrave will be providing feedback to 12 writers at the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival in July. Photo submitted