SECOND ANNUAL ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN LITERARY FESTIVAL KICKS OFF THURSDAY, JULY 11

Nelson’s second Elephant Mountain Literary Festival will begin on Thursday, July 11, with an opening gala featuring local poets, musicians, and B.C. wines as well as Nelson Brewing Company’s new Tall Tale Organic Wheat Ale, which the Festival has adopted as the event’s Official Beer.  The opening event, for which tickets must be purchased in advance, will be held at the Shanti Centre, the former Christian Science Church at 237 Baker

Theme of the this year’s second annual literary festival is “Paths to the Page.”  As in 2012, Oxygen is an official Festival Friend, lending logistical support in various ways. Reading on the evening of Friday, July 12 at the Hume Room of the Hume Hotel, 422 Vernon St., will be Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji, 2011 CBC Canada Reads winner novelist Terry Fallis, and Order of Canada and Order of B.C. winner Howard White, publisher, nonfiction author, and poet.

The following evening, a reading at the Hume Room features Trillium Award winner novelist Camilla Gibb, along with popular B.C. poet, fiction author and musician John Lent, and Quebec graphic novelist Pascal Girard.

The Elephant Mountain Literary Festival also includes a credit course in nonfiction writing by Cranbrook’s College of the Rockies, plus participation by publishers Kirstin Cochrane of McClelland & Stewart Doubleday Canada and Tracy Hurren, managing editor of Montreal’s Drawn & Quarterly.

Various panels during the day on July 13, and an opportunity for Festival-goers to pitch their manuscript to a literary agent, round out the event.

Full details on the Festival, including how to reserve tickets, are available on the Festival website, www.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, Selkirk College and Oxygen Art Centre.