Book Notes: Linda Hogan next up in GU Writers Series
Linda Hogan, the Chickasaw poet, novelist, storyteller and playwright, is coming to Spokane this week as part of the Gonzaga University Visiting Writers Series.
Hogan will speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Cataldo Hall Globe Room on the GU campus. She’ll also be at Spokane Falls Community College on Wednesday.
Tod Marshall, the GU English professor who organizes the series, called Hogan “simply, one of our country’s most important Native American voices.” She has taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Oklahoma, and is the first writer-in-residence for the Chickasaw Nation. She’s been a Guggenheim fellow and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, has two Colorado Book Awards and has been inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame.
Her books include “Calling Myself Home” (1978), “The Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Memoir” (2008) and “Indios” (2012).
Her talk at GU is free. For more information, visit www.gonzaga.edu.
Fey takes on Barker’s tale
Tina Fey is set to star in a film adaptation of “The Taliban Shuffle,” a wartime memoir by former Spokesman-Review reporter Kim Barker, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The article, posted online Thursday, also says Fey will produce the film with Lorne Michaels of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” fame. Robert Carlock has adapted the book for the screen.
Barker, who worked in Spokane from 1995 to ’98, is now at ProPublica, an independent nonprofit news organization based in New York. From the SR she went to the Seattle Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Council on Foreign Relations before landing at ProPublica.
“The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan” was published in 2011 and stemmed from her experiences covering those countries. In its review, the New York Times called Barker’s book “hilarious and harrowing, witty and illuminating, all at the same time.”
The Hollywood Reporter said no director is yet attached to the project, and there’s no indication when filming could begin.
A little cheese with that?
Portland author Tami Parr will visit Auntie’s Bookstore this week to talk about her book, “Pacific Northwest Cheese: A History.”
The book, published last year by Oregon State University Press, is Parr’s second one published in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project, the other being “ Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest: A Discovery Guide” (2009, Countryman Press).
Her Spokane talk will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave. Parr will read from the book, answer questions and sign books. Cheese samples will be available to taste.
For information, visit the cheese project website www.pnwcheese.com/ or call Auntie’s at (509) 838-0206.
Renaissance man
When he’s not fronting Portland-based alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, Willy Vlautin is writing novels. Or touring the country in support of those novels.
This week is no exception, as Vlautin wends his way to Spokane to talk about his new book, “The Free,” at Auntie’s on Friday night.
“The Free,” released earlier this month from Harper Perennial, centers on a severely wounded Iraq War veteran and the people who care for him. Novelist Natalie Serber, writing in the Oregonian, said, “Vlautin, amidst all this sorrow and trouble, keeps his novel from sinking into despair. His sentences, like his characters, are hardworking. Crisp and clean, they neither wallow nor show off.”
It’s Vlautin’s fourth novel, following “The Motel Life” (2006), “Northline” (2008) and “Lean on Pete” (2010).
Vlautin will read from and sign copies of his book beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. Call Auntie’s at (509) 838-0206 for more information.