Knowlton Literary Festival
The Knowlton Literary Festival has invited two writers to engage in an on-stage conversation about an absorbing and often dramatic narrative of the evolution of one of Canada’s most iconic companies.
Novelist Anne Fortier (“The Lost Sisterhood”) will talk to author Helen Antoniou on Sunday morning, Oct. 14 beginning at 11 a.m. in Le Relais restauraunt in the Auberge Knowlton about “Back to Beer...and Hockey, The Story of Eric Molson,” Antoniou’s fascinating account of the evolution of the Molson company over the last 50 years. Founded in Montreal in 1786 by John Molson of Lincolnshire, England, the company, now merged with Coors, is one of the top five brewers in the world.
But the rise to world status has not always been easy. How the family nearly lost control of the enterprise, dedicated, as John Molson said, to the creation of an “honest” beer through “steady, patient industry” is the subject of Antoniou’s thoroughly researched and beautifully told biographical narrative by a person who has had privileged access to the inner workings and often complex corporate manouevres which have characterized the company in recent years.
Helen Antoniou is Eric Molson’s daughter-in-law, an executive coach for corporate leaders and family business owners. She has degrees from Mcgill University, the Universit de Paris II and Harvard University. Anne Fortier has a doctorate in the history of ideas from Aarhus University in Denmark.
“Back to Beer” has received high praise from readers. Roy Macgregor of the Globe and Mail has described the book as “both tender and rough,” a “quintessentially Canadian story.” Astronaut Chris Hadfield found the book “effortlessly readable, full of insights and never-told stories.” Daniel Lamarre, president and CEO of Cirque de Soleil, says the book is “more than a biography...it reads like a novel.”
Admission is $15 and includes free coffee and muffins, but you buy the beer.