En Vino Novellus, a Mountain Fiction Event in Canmore

The seventh annual En Vino Novellus took place in Canmore on March 24. 

Six authors participated in the event, which paired books with wine. Three men and three women read from their new or old published books.

“It’s always important to me to have a balance of men and women, fiction and non-fiction,” said event organizer Jerry Auld to writer Lynn Martel.

“It’s like going to a bookstore and looking at the shelves and never knowing what you might grab. Sometimes you don’t connect, but sometimes the best book you ever read in your life is one that fell into your lap.

“I like the element of chance. We don’t grow as readers if we’re always reading the same thing.”

The event had around 100 people listen attentively to the authors read in the dining room at The Rose and Crown in Canmore. The wine was supplied by Canmore Wine Merchants and all of the books can be purchased online or at Cafe Books in Canmore.

Gripped’s editorial director David Chaundy-Smart celebrated the launch of his new book Above the Reich. The book is about a young alpinist from Munich in 1937 who struggles against the tide of history to stay among the peaks, a higher, peaceful, realm. Even as his world is torn apart. For more and to purchase visit here.

Layla Messner, daughter of Reinhold Messner and Canadian mountaineer and journalist Nena Holguin, read from her book Demolition Love. Layla was born in 1981 in Kathmandu. Few climbers know that Reinhold’s daughter was raised and lives in Canmore. Demolition Love is about two street kids from enemy gangs who fall in love while struggling to save their dance club from demolition. For more and to purchase visit here.

Mike Lauchlan, brother to the late ice climber John Lauchlan, read from his and Jerry Auld’s book, A Jazz Guide to Banff. The book is about Ravi, a jazz trumpet player at the Banff Centre for the Arts, who gets mixed up with the ghosts of the Banff Springs Hotel in all the wrong ways. For more and to purchase visit here.

Jocey Asnong read from the third installment to her series of children’s books centred around two cats named Nuptse and Lhotse. At Vino Novellus, Asnong read from her latest book Nuptse and Lhotse – Go To Iceland. The book is about Nuptse and Lhotse uncovering an ancient Viking helmet in their garden, which leads them to Iceland to learn more about Vikings. For more and to purchase visit here.

Jeremy Kroeker, who is a well-known Canmore author, read from Motorcycle Messengers, which is a collection of travel stories from some of the leading writers in genre. Plus a few people you’ve never heard of. For more and to purchase visit here.

Miji Campbell is a Red Deer-based writer who has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards. She read from her book Separation Anxiety, which is about the pivotal moments in a woman’s life where she lets go of her childhood beliefs about happily ever after and discovers her true self. For more and to purchase visit here.

– Be sure to follow Jerry Auld and Dustin Lynx’s publishing company Imaginary Mountain Surveyors on Facebook here.