The Book Drunkard Literary Festival

The Book Drunkard Goes Virtual Again!

This year, we’re hosting another fabulous virtual festival!

For our 2021 edition, our Signature Book Lush events return, and a special Half-Pint Kidsfest has been planned for little ones and adults alike! We’ve also added two special event packages this year — Book Drunkard Book Flights!

Remember to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and take a look at our upcoming events below! Come to one event or come to all!

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Featured Event

Quill and ink

A Taste of India - Alka Joshi and Uzma Jalaluddin

Zoom (virtual event) - November 18 | 2021 - 7pm

Alka Joshi, bestselling author of The Henna Artist returns with a follow-up to that critically acclaimed novel. To celebrate, we’re pairing with Lisa Hutchinson of The Passionate Cook’s Essentials to create a delectable evening of conversation, featuring the two fabulous novels, two recipes and two spice mixes, so you can re-create the story’s dishes at home!

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"An International Festival Done Local"

2021 SPECIAL EVENTS & PACKAGES

 

2021 Signature Book Lush events || Book Drunkard Kids Fest || Book Flight Event Packages

Our ‘Nod to Maud’ Events  – Celebrating Lucy Maud Montgomery

To honour LMM, this year we will be having not one, but TWO ‘Nod to Maud’ events — for adults and kids alike!

Nod to Maud with Heather Tucker and Carolyn Huizinga Mills

Join authors Heather Tucker and Carolyn Huizinga Mills in conversation with Lucy Black as they discuss their new novels, and celebrate Lucy Maud Montgomery and the lasting influence her stories have had on their writing and lives! Certain to be an unforgettable evening!

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Celebrate the Holiday Season Anne of Green Gables-style with Kallie George

Join us as we decorate vintage Christmas ornaments and write Christmas cards to our kindred spirits, in celebration of the holiday season and Kallie George’s new book Merry Christmas, Anne. With magical illustrations and a heartfelt message, this festive picture book is the perfect holiday read for Anne fans old and new and a joyous way to celebrate the season.

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"I am simply 'a book drunkard.' Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them." - Lucy Maud Montgomery

Spilled ink bottle

Introducing the Book Drunkard Ale Pairings!

Flight A: Elgin Blonde – blonde ale – 4.3% alc./vol.

Crisp, Bright and Thirst-Quenching

Easy-drinking blonde ale is known for clear, clean flavours and special attention to high quality malt. German Pilsner malt shines in our beer, providing a bready, biscuity aroma and rich mouthfeel for such a light-bodied, low alcohol beer. Accentuated with citrusy/floral Cascade, Herkules & Saphir hops – just a little more than your everyday blonde’s hop bill, to add some edginess.

Flight B: Monday Night Piper – Scottish-style ale – 4.8% alc./vol.

Bold, Dark and Delicious

This smooth amber-coloured ale is inspired by Scotland’s 80/- (80 shilling) beer style, priced according to its strength. The star of Monday Night Piper is its deluxe malt bill – best pale malt from England, and caramel and chocolate malts from Germany, add sweetness, rich colour and a tantalizing sponge-toffee flavour, all before finishing dry.

 

Available at The Second Wedge Brewing Co!

The “Kindred Spirits” Chocolate Bar by DesBarres Chocolate Returns This Year!

Introduced during our inaugural festival in 2019, this bar is in honour of L. M. Montgomery who penned many of her books a few kilometres away from Blue Heron Books and DesBarres chocolate factory. The bar combines the smooth and chocolatey richness of 70% Dominicana with tart freeze-dried raspberries and a hint of fresh lemon peel. Munch on this bar while re-reading the story of Anne Shirley, Diana Barry and the rascally “raspberry cordial.” You will fall in love with Anne and the Kindred Spirits bar!

Available for purchase at Blue Heron Books.

(Fun fact! The inner liner of your Kindred Spirit Raspberry Cordial bar is a beautiful bookmark, designed by artist Tracy Walker!)

More Events

The Book Drunkard Festival and HarperCollins Canada Present 'Read Better' with Jayne Allen, Kaitlyn Greenidge, and Myriam Chancy
The Book Drunkard in Partnership with Penguin Random House Canada Presents a Thrillingly Celestial Evening with Chris Hadfield
The Book Drunkard in Association with HarperCollins Canada Presents an Evening with Ann Patchett and Bianca Marais
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The Book Drunkard Festival and HarperCollins Canada Present 'Read Better' with Jayne Allen, Kaitlyn Greenidge, and Myriam Chancy

Celebrate the opening of The Book Drunkard festival with HarperCollins Canada and their national event, ‘Read Better’: an evening with Jayne Allen, Kaitlyn Greenidge and Myriam Chancy. Join these three fabulous authors in conversation as they discuss their new novels, their unique perspectives and experiences in the writing scene, and what it means to “Read Better”.

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The Book Drunkard in Partnership with Penguin Random House Canada Presents a Thrillingly Celestial Evening with Chris Hadfield

Join beloved Canadian astronaut, and bestselling author Chris Hadfield for a thrilling evening of suspense! Chris Hadfield will discuss his new novel The Apollo Murders, an exceptional Cold War thriller from the dark heart of the Space Race, in a virtual event that is sure to be spectacular. Presented in partnership with Penguin Random House, this is one event you don’t want to miss!

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The Book Drunkard in Association with HarperCollins Canada Presents an Evening with Ann Patchett and Bianca Marais

Join us for an evening with Ann Patchett and Bianca Marais as they discuss These Precious Days, a deeply personal collection of essays reflecting on home, family, friendships and writing.

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30 Years of Blue Heron Books

Celebrating 30 Years in 2019 – Blue Heron Books

In bookselling, 30 years is something worth celebrating. Small business is tough and bookselling even tougher. But Blue Heron Books succeeded! And the future is looking very bright indeed.

To mark this auspicious occasion, Blue Heron Books inaugurated The Book Drunkard Literary Festival in 2019. A longtime dream of owner Shelley Macbeth, the festival embraces all things dear to booklovers – great books and authors, great theatre, great food and drink and great music. You can count on being impressed by the depth and breadth of the festival. There truly is something for everyone!

In addition, 30 Random Acts of Book Kindness was Blue Heron’s way of acknowledging this milestone by giving back to the community that supported the store through thirty years of ups and downs. Blue Heron committed to undertake 30 acts of book kindness – big and small –to initiate or enhance the reading life of many. One of these projects, spearheaded and still implemented by the amazing Lucy Black, was establishing a read-aloud program at local nursing homes.

As well, a Facebook campaign to nurture indie bookseller love across the country was ushered in to encourage Canadian readers to continue supporting the indie bookstore in their neighbourhood.

And finally, what’s a milestone without a party? Blue Heron Books opened its doors to former staff and all customers during the fall of 2019, where an anniversary scrapbook was on display with LOTS of memorabilia. Stories were shared – a common occurrence at Blue Heron Books – and guests came armed with theirs!

 

View 2019 Festival Gallery

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