Montana poet and author Robert Pack will talk about his work on Thursday, March 29, 7 p.m., at the Center for Conferences and Institutes at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. A new collection of his poems, Still Here, Still Now, will be published this year. Admission is free. Sponsored by the LCCC Foundation. FMI: 307-778-1285.

Labels: poets, readings

- posted by Michael Shay @ 11:11 AM 0 comments

 
Teton County Library Hosts Fantasy Author

T.A. Barron, who writes "epic tales of young heroes on their paths to self discovery," will conduct a talk and book signing at the Teton County Public Library in Jackson from 7:30-8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 2, in the Ordway Auditorium. The program is free and open to the public.

"Barron’s talk will explore how he finds great inspiration in the wonders of nature and the heroic potential of every person," says Lara Lovett, Young Adult Coordinator. "During the talk, he will illustrate his words with pictures and welcome questions from kids, teens and parents."

Lovett says that Barron’s stories of heroic young people set in a variety of places and times have proven to be a popular pick among the library’s young adult readers. "Fantasy fans have devoured The Lost Years of Merlin epic and are equally enthusiastic about Barron’s most recent trilogy," says Lovett. The new trilogy, The Great Tree of Avalon, has become a New York Times bestseller, while Barron’s The Lost Years of Merlin is being developed as a feature film.

Barron says that he cultivated a love of the outdoors while growing up on a ranch outside Colorado Springs, Colo. In elementary school, he wrote, illustrated and printed his own magazine called The Idiot’s Odyssey. He continued to write in college and during backpacking journeys through Asia and Africa.

Barron took a detour through the business world where he worked as president of a venture capital firm in New York. In 1989, Barron moved back to Colorado where he now lives with his wife and five children on a small farm. Barron has been awarded the Wilderness Society’s highest honor, the Robert Marshall Award, for his efforts to protect America’s wilderness heritage.

While in town, Barron will also make presentations for Jackson Hole Middle School, Summit School and Journeys School students.

FMI: Lara Lovett at 733-2164 ext. 221 or via e-mail

Labels: book discussion, readings, writers, Wyoming

- posted by Michael Shay @ 11:53 AM 0 comments

 
Ron Franscell Returns

Ron Franscell announces "Wyoming Book Tour II" for his book Fall: The Rape and Murder of Innocence in a Small Town, which the Chicago Sun-Times has called "heartbreaking ... the girls' last terrifying moments are delivered with such vivid texture that they are almost too painful to read. The technique and execution is not unlike Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.... And just when your heart is broken by this terrible tragedy, Franscell adds a coda that will further disturb your peaceful sleep."

Here's Ron's schedule:
Saturday, March 10, 7-9 p.m., Discussion and Q&A, Natrona Co. Library, Casper
Monday, March 12, noon-2 p.m., Hastings Books, Gillette
Monday, March 12, 6-7 p.m., Book Shop on Main, Sheridan
Tuesday, March 13, 1-3 p.m., Books & Briar, Riverton
Wednesday, March 14, 1-2:30 p.m., Wheatland Mercantile Book Nook, Wheatland
Thursday, March 15, 5-7 p.m., B. Dalton Books, Rock Springs
Friday, March 16, 4-7 p.m., Off the Beaten Path Bookstore, Rawlins
Saturday, March 17, 1-3 p.m., Main Street Books, Lander

Go to Ron's web site for more info.

Labels: book discussion, booksellers, readings, writers

- posted by Michael Shay @ 7:57 PM 0 comments

 
Reading Under the Stars

Wyoming summers are short.

That thought occurred to me (not for the first time) as I prowled around Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis a few weeks ago on a below-zero morning. My ears froze to my head and my breath formed clouds as I chugged along. I was transfixed by the patterns made by the ice which froze as it spilled over the hot springs terrace. Local ducks seemed content floating on the section of the Big Horn River where the geothermal flow spilled into the stream's icy waters.

During my gawking tour, I checked out the park's pavillion. At a meeting in Cheyenne in November, HSSP Superintendent Kevin Skates had offered the pavillion as a venue for summer arts events. Now that I had a chance to look at it, buried as it was under several feet of snow, I could see its possibilities. I suggested to Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference planners that it would make a great place to hold open readings during its annual conference June 1-3 at the Holiday Inn, located right inside the park.

So that's what we're going to do. Our sunset readings will be held on Friday, June 1, 7:30-10 p.m. and on Saturday, June 2, 8:30-10 p.m. I will serve as emcee, a role I've grown into the past few years. Charles Curley and I are looking around for a sound system and Kevin Skates promised to set up chairs for both nights. Although the pavillion is located within spitting distance of the hotel, a shuttle service will be available. Park visitors are also being invited to come out and see some of the best writers in the state read their work. This is part of Kevin's goal to add more arts programming to his summer events' schedule.

Some long-time Wyomingites might be remembering that the first weekend in June can be warm and dry and calm. Or cold and wet and windy. The pavillion stage is sheltered. Alas, the audience area is not. Never fear -- we're making contingency plans.

Still, how could you come to such a gorgeous place in the summer and not want to read your poetry outside?

Labels: nature, poetry, readings, writing conferences, Wyoming Writers, WyoPoets

- posted by Michael Shay @ 11:30 AM 0 comments

 
Line-up Announced for Jackson Writers Conference

The 15th annual Jackson Hole Writers Conference will be held June 28-July 1 in Jackson. Special tracks for this year include travel and outdoor writing, with featured speaker Daniel Glick, young adult fiction with Todd Strasser, and a teachers’ track with Lee Zacharias. An array of other fiction and nonfiction writers will talk about their work. They include Tiffanie DeBartolo, Terry Tempest Williams, and William Haywood Henderson.

Attendees can discuss their work through individual manuscript critiques with local writers (including Tina Welling and John Byrne Cooke) and these New York agents and editors: Katherine Ives, Alpinist Magazine; Amanda Murray, Simon & Schuster; Zoe Pagnamenta, PFD; Rebecca Friedman, Sterling Lord Literistic; and Karen Marcus, Doubleday.

JHWC offers a special offer for parents of teens interested in writing. Register and bring your teen (or teens) for half-price. Full registration info will be available soon at the conference web site.

Labels: literary agents, readings, writing conferences

- posted by Michael Shay @ 12:46 PM 0 comments

 
Award-winning author and wilderness advocate Terry Tempest Williams will read from her recent book, set in Rwanda, Friday, Feb. 2, at the University of Wyoming. The free public reading will begin at 5:30 p.m. in UW's College of Education auditorium. The University Bookstore will offer specially priced books at the reception to follow. A Utah native who recently relocated to Jackson, Williams is a candidate for the inaugural Eminent Writer-in-Residence position with UW's M.F.A. program in creative writing.

Labels: nature, readings, University of Wyoming, writers

- posted by Michael Shay @ 12:43 PM 0 comments

 
"Jentel Presents" Feb. 6

The Jentel Artist Residency Program in Banner features a "Jentel Presents" event open to the public at Davis Gallery, 38 South Main, Sheridan, on Tuesday, February 6, from 5:30-7 p.m. "Jentel Presents" is a community outreach program that features presentations and readings by the visual artists and writers at the residency.

Presenters include:

Jon Taylor, New Bedford, Mass. Jon is a multimedia artist using aspects of architecture, fashion, sculpture and urban farming to critique oddities of human behavior. His recent research includes gastro economics, biotechnical skinterface, alimentation and indentured hyper promotional colonization

Ann Joslin Williams, San Francisco. Ann’s collection of linked stories, The Woman in the Woods, won the Spokane (Wash.) Prize for short fiction. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow, she teaches at the California College of the Arts

Ricardo Wilson, Los Angeles. Ricardo is an L.A. native who has traveled to Panama and Jamaica to write and conduct research for his first novel, The Death of Sam Brown.

FMI: Lynn Reeves, 307-737-2311, jentel@jentelarts.org

Labels: artists' communities, readings, writers

- posted by Michael Shay @ 11:07 AM 0 comments