Nelson Brewing Company’s newest addition to their lineup, Tall Tale Organic Wheat Ale, has been named the official beer of the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival by the organizing committee of the Nelson event.
“Story is the beginning of literature,” said Festival director Lynn Krauss. “And here in Western Canada, tall tales were the first stories people loved to pass along. So we’re very pleased to name Nelson’s newest brew as our official drink.”
Krauss pointed to the Ogopogo sea monster supposedly inhabiting Okanagan Lake, and the mythical side-hill gouger — Cariboo-country range cattle with one leg shorter than the other, confining the animals to a single hill — as examples of BC tall tales.
Kraus said Tall Tale Ale would be served at the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival’s opening gala on July 11, as well as at evening readings by featured Festival authors on July 12 and 13.
“We’re very pleased to hear of the festival’s adoption of Tall Tale Organic Wheat Ale,” said NBC’s marketing and sales director Chad Hansen. “We hope it inspires authors and audience alike to enjoy all the delights that words as well as ales provide.”
The theme of the this second annual literary festival is “Paths to the Page.” The opening gala will feature local poets, musicians and BC wines, as well as Nelson Brewing Company products. The event will be held at the Shanti Centre, the former Christian Science Church at 237 Baker Street.
Reading on the evening of July 12 at the Hume Room of the Hume Hotel will be Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji, 2011 CBC Canada Reads winner novelist Terry Fallis, and Order of Canada and Order of BC winner Howard White, publisher, nonfiction author, and poet.
The following evening’s reading at the Hume Room features Trillium Award winner novelist Camilla Gibb, along with popular BC poet, fiction author and musician John Lent, and Quebec graphic novelist Pascal Girard.
The Elephant Mountain Literary Festival also includes credit courses in writing by BC’s Interior mountain colleges, plus publishers Kirstin Cochrane of McClelland & Stewart Doubleday Canada and Tracy Hurren, managing editor of Montreal’s Drawn & Quarterly. There will be various panels during the day on July 13, and an opportunity for Festival-goers to pitch their manuscript to a literary agent, rounding out the event.
Full details on the Festival, including how to reserve tickets and register for courses, are available on the festival website, emlfestival.com.
Festival sponsors, include the Canada Council for the Arts, Nelson and District Credit Union, Columbia Basin Trust, Kootenay Co-op, College of the Rockies and Selkirk College.