Well, what did you expect? After all, we were pretty sure - speaking from experience (three appearances at our festival, just saying...!) - that we could count onTerry Fallis to bring his writerly wit and wisdom to our fourth annual Books & Beer evening in support of the Elora Writers Festival.
And yes, that's exactly what happened.
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| Checking in pre-party: "What are you reading?" |
Thanks to our wonderful sponsor,
Wellington Brewery, we had our bar set up, managed by our own Roxanne Beale, who doubled - or rather, tripled - as bookseller and raffle ticket seller as well!
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| Beer, raffle tickets and the prize - a collection of Terry's books |
We kicked off with something new for our Books & Beer program: a slide show in which Terry explained the background of his latest novel,
One Brother Shy. Secrets were revealed (about Terry, not about the plot), tales were told, names were dropped!
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| Does this guy know how to work a room or what?? |
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| The audience was enthralled! Er, when they weren't laughing out loud, that is... |
One Brother Shy is a story of twins. Guess who knows ALL about being a twin? Yup, that's a classic school photo showing little Terry and his twin brother, Tim.
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| "Not the same colour, but those shirts were definitely bought together..." |
One Brother Shy also delves into the hockey world. Guess who played hockey as a kid? And, guess who was on their minor hockey team in Toronto? Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, back row. (Audible gasps heard around the room!)
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| "Yes, it's really him." |
"He played right wing," we were told. "Just imagine what the path of Canadian politics would have been if he'd played centre. Or..." (wait for it...) "LEFT WING!"
Intermission arrived, with a chance to schmooze, refill the beer glasses and enjoy some of the tasty treats supplied by Nathalie of The Red Door Café.
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| Lively conversations all over the room! |
We kicked off the second half with the drawing of the winning raffle ticket by Terry, assisted by MC Dave Beynon.
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| "Wow. Nice prize!" |
And the winner is - BRIAN!
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| We have a winner! |
And then it was time for our favourite part of any Elora Writers Festival author event - being read to. We settled in for a session with One Brother Shy.
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| In which we hear about the boss from Hell.... |
Thanks, Terry! Thanks, Nathalie at the Red Door Restaurant! Thanks, Wellington Brewery! Thanks to all who came out to support books, authors, reading and creative writing in our Elora Writers Festival community and beyond. See you next year!
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And of course, let's not forget that our next big event is
Festival 2018, on Sunday, May 6, 1-4 p.m., at Aboyne Hall, Wellington County Museum and Archives, with authors Linden MacIntyre, Michelle Winters, Kathy Stinson, Kate Blair and Drew Hayden Taylor.
And one last thing: WRITING CONTEST DEADLINE IS MARCH 2 (for postmarked entries. Or local writers can drop submissions at Roxanne's Reflections in Fergus). Need more details? Check out the
contest information here.
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Want to re-visit our past Books & Beer events? Dive in!
