‘The Bookshelf’ to read Egan’s ‘Curtis’ book

KPBX’s “The Bookshelf” is starting a new book Monday.

Spokane Public librarian Susan Creed will read Timothy Egan’s “Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis.”

The Boston Globe called the book “a riveting biography of an American original.”

Curtis was a Seattle photographer who spent three decades documenting American Indians, taking more than 40,000 photographs and 10,000 audio recordings. From 1907 to 1930, he released 20 volumes of “The North American Indian,” a project that comprised 1,500 photographs of American Indians from tribes across the country.

The Spokane Public Library owns an original set of “The North American Indian.” The library was one of 500 subscribers to the yet-unfinished project in 1912, according the newspaper archives. The subscription cost at least $3,000, according to the report.

During the reading, which will last two months, KPBX will feature some of Curtis’ photographs on its website, www.kpbx.org.

KPBX previously featured Egan’s National Book Award-winning “The Worst Hard Time” on “The Bookshelf.”

“The Bookshelf” airs at 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays on 91.1 FM.