Dave Kenny and Cail Judy created a writing collective in 2009 with the simple tagline: Making poetry tough again.
In other words, the duo behind Wolf Mountain Writing Collective is taking the pomposity out of literary events and creating a renaissance of social and interactive thinking.
The collective is a myriad of both professional and amateur opportunities. It is a publishing press, a performance space, and an interpersonal social haven where writers can get together to share their craft.
We want literary events to be popular and accessible like a music show, says Kenny.
We are not trying to intellectualize literature or poetry, Judy adds. We want the common man, or woman, to come in, and even if you havent ever read a poem in your life, still feel something.
Kenny and Judy met as UBC education students and the inspiration for starting Wolf Mountain was planted by one of their former writing instructors.
Our instructor said: Writing doesnt matter unless its for an audience. And we took that seriously. So instead of taking our work and sharing it in school and with our classmates, we took it to the public, said Kenny.
Last summer, funded by the Neighbourhood Small Grants Project, Wolf Mountain created the Main Street Trail. Its a public art project that evolved into a poetry scavenger hunt stretching along Mount Pleasant.
It also holds quarterly shows of curated pieces which can include a variety of literary works from poetry to monologues, to script readings.
Going to a [music] show, you know what to expect. But a lot of people dont know what to expect at a poetry reading. So we have a challenge to entertain people, said Kenny.
On the last Monday of every month, Wolf Mountain holds a writing club in the back of the The Main (4210 Main) a space open to the public for local writers to toss around their work to one another, distribute new ideas, edit, and meet with the writers that are behind the Wolf Mountain shows.
Writing needs to be heard. We live in a culture where we are learning new information all the time and we want to be creating space for work that is going to draw you in and light you on fire, said Judy.
You can find more information about Wolf Mountain at .
