Tension in the Middle East and serenity at the north end of Kootenay Lake are the subjects of books by two local authors published by two Nelson presses to be launched at Nelson’s Oxygen Art Centre on Friday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Talking about their books and reading excerpts will be Nelson’s Ernest Hekkanen with his new novel Heretic Hill published by New Orphic Publishers, and Argenta’s Ellen Burt with her new memoir/nature essays collection When the Path is Not a Straight Line published by Maa Press.
“Religion often lends itself to being hijacked by intemperate men,” Hekkanen said of his latest novel. “This is true of the three major religions that hail from the Middle East. Heretic Hill is a fictional account of how a religion can lend itself to intemperance that results in totalitarianism.”
Hekkanen, editor-in-chief of The New Orphic Review, is the author of 45 books, among them Of a Fire Beyond the Hills, a novel based on the recent controversy over a planned anti-war memorial in Nelson.
“Part memoir, part nature writing, and part adventure story,” is how Burt describes her debut collection of essays. “When the Path is Not a Straight Line tells of a life lived in deep contact with the natural world,” she said.
Burt has lived at the north end of Kootenay Lake for 40 years. She was a winner of the 2010 Kootenay Literary Awards, and has been published in the anthology The Purcell Suite, edited by K. Linda Kivi, as well as in local literary magazines Horsefly and Elephant Mountain Review.
The Oxygen Art Centre is located at 320 Vernon Street (alley entrance). The launch is free for the public to attend, as part of Oxygen’s Presentation Series supported by Columbia Basin Trust and the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance.
Donations will be graciously accepted ($5 recommended). Books will also be available to purchase.