Northwest Passages Book Club and Community Forum

The Spokesman-Review's community book club and forum features best-selling authors, innovators and newsmakers. We invite readers to join us for evenings of exploration, adventure and conversation.

Northwest Passages stories »

A&E > Books

Reading the Northwest: Book club authors share their 2018 favorites

Sun., Dec. 16, 2018

The Spokesman-Review launched Northwest Passages just over a year ago as a book club and community forum with a mission to get people reading – and talking. If anything, we underestimated the passion of our readers, as crowds packed some of the biggest venues we could find to hear writers including Craig Johnson, creator of the Longmire mysteries; Jess Walter, the best-selling Spokane novelist; and Tara Westover, debut author of a celebrated memoir about overcoming her difficult upbringing in rural Idaho.

A&E > Food

Instant gratification: Instant Pots can bring sweetness to the holiday menu

Mon., Dec. 10, 2018, 2:45 p.m.

Save time this holiday season by making desserts in your Instant Pot.

News > Spokane

Instant Pot class boosts Second Harvest kitchen that teaches cooking to low-income families

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 4, 2018, 10:02 p.m.

Elene Johnston’s Instant Pot has been sitting in her cabinet for three months. Unused. But after attending an Instant Pot book author’s cooking class Tuesday in Second Harvest’s television-quality kitchen, she’s ready to fire up her pressure cooker.

A&E > Books

Travel author Rick Steves shares love of adventure at Northwest Passages Book Club

UPDATED: Thu., Nov. 29, 2018, 11:07 p.m.

Travel writer and television host Rick Steves was the latest author to be featured by The Spokesman Review’s Northwest Passages Book Club, held Thursday at the Bing Crosby Theater.

A&E > Food

The Instant Pot meets fine dining – for a good cause

UPDATED: Wed., Nov. 21, 2018, 7:04 a.m.

The evening’s guests will savor a gourmet feast cooked right in front of them and displayed on three large video boards across the room. They’ll also learn tips and tricks for using an Instant Pot at home.

A&E > Food

Chef’s grand idea goes in the pot … the Instant Pot

UPDATED: Wed., Nov. 21, 2018, 7:10 a.m.

Spokane chef Chad White thought it would be fun to try to prepare a four-course, fine-dining experience using just an Instant Pot. So he’ll do it, with help from best-selling Instant Pot cookbook author Laurel Randolph, in a Dec. 5 event from the Northwest Passages Book Club.

A&E > Books

10 tips for travel as a political act

Sun., Nov. 11, 2018, 5 a.m.

The great value of travel is the opportunity it offers you to pry open your hometown blinders and broaden your perspective. And when we implement that world view as citizens of our great nation, we make travel a political act. Here are my top 10 tips for doing just that:

Dec. 11: Stories from “A Year in the Fields,” by the staff of The Spokesman-Review. Get tickets.

Jan. 16: Author Chris Crutcher discusses writing fiction for young adults and his decades as a community therapist in Spokane. His latest book is "Loser's Bracket." In the past year, Crutcher has counseled students who survived school shootings, first at Freeman High School and then at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida. Get tickets.

Feb. 12: Author Pam Houston talks about "Deep Creek." The book is set on her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, where she explores what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Houston, an English professor at the University of California-Davis, also is the author of "Cowboys are My Weakness" and "Contents May Have Shifted." Get tickets.

March 13: Sharma Shields in conversation with Nancy Pearl. Shields is a Washington State Book Award winner and author of "The Cassandra," a novel set at the Hanford nuclear plant. Pearl is a best-selling author, NPR commentator and the only librarian with her own action figure. Proceeds from this event will benefit Friends of the Spokane County Library. Tickets are coming soon.