Carolyn Lamberson

The Washington State University Museum of Art has hired a new curator and exhibit designer, Ryan Hardesty. Hardesty will leave his position at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture to assume his new duties in Pullman.

Tonasket writer Wendy J. Fox, who earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University, has won the first-ever Press 53 Award for Short Fiction for her collection of stories, “The Seven Stages of Anger and Other Stories.” The book, due out in October, will be published by Press 53, a small publishing house based in North Carolina that specializes in poetry and short works. Her manuscript was selected out of 264 entries, according to a news release from Press 53. She also won a $1,000 advance and will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October for the book launch.

Two Spokane-area writers have been awarded 2014 Fellowships from Artist Trust. Christopher Howell, of Spokane, who is a professor of English and creative writing at Eastern Washington University, and Polly Buckingham, of Medical Lake, founding editor of StringTown Press and creative writing teacher at EWU, each won $7,500. The fellowships honor professional artists of “exceptional talent and demonstrated ability,” according to the Artist Trust website.

Idaho Repertory Theatre in Moscow is hosting a reading of Robert Caisley’s play “Happy” on June 27. Caisley, who lives in Moscow, has seen his play become a finalist for the 2012 Eugene O’Neill Theatre New Play Conference and the Woodward/Newman Drama Award. The play, published by Samuel French Inc., has been staged across the country, but is making its first appearance in Idaho.

It’s been a week for alumni of Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre. First up is Cheyenne Jackson’s homecoming concert Tuesday at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox. But of course, if you’ve gotten this deep into the Sunday Today section, you know all about that.

Opera Coeur d’Alene is preparing a varied program of events in the late summer and early fall. First up is a concert performance of the classic Gilbert & Sullivan operetta “The Pirates of Penzance” on July 13 – performed during a cruise of Lake Coeur d’Alene. The cast includes popular Spokane soprano Dawn Wolski; Jadd Davis, the new artistic director at Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre; Curt Olds, a Montana native fresh off a one-night-only performance at Carnegie Hall of “Guys and Dolls” (with Nathan Lane and Megan Mulally); and Opera CdA’s artistic director Aaron St. Clair Nicholson as the Pirate King. Set sail at 6 p.m. Tickets are $65 tickets for table seating and hors d’oeuvres, $50 general admission (includes hors d’oeuvres).

In the merry old land of Oz, before a girl from Kansas dropped in while riding a twister, two girls met at college. One is blonde and bubbly – ditzy, some would say – who is wildly popular and profoundly ambitious. The other is emerald green, an outcast used to being shunned and well-practiced at putting up a strong front. They are opposites. They loathe each other instantly. And they’re roommates.

Railway Man pulls into Spokane this weekend

It’s May, which means there’s a new monthly events calendar from our friends at Auntie’s Bookstore. And from the world of children’s literature, there’s a popular author coming to town.

In a longtime day care facility in north Spokane on a recent day, it is after lunch. The preschoolers are getting out their mats, getting ready to rest. The toddlers are heading outside to enjoy some time in the yard. The elementary students are at their tables, doing their math minute. One thing is constant in all these spaces: the lilting, lyrical sounds of the Salish language.

Tickets go on sale Thursday for this year’s edition of Mozart on a Summer’s Eve, presented by Connoisseur Concerts. On July 15 and 16, the lawn east of the Duncan Gardens in Manito Park will come alive with music performed by soprano Phoebe McRae, classical guitarist David Leisner and cellist Zuill Bailey, artistic director of the Northwest Bach Festival. These guests will join the Connoisseur Concerts Ensemble, directed by Verne Windham, in performing works by W.A. Mozart, Manuel de Falla, Heitor Villa Lobos, Franz Schubert and Joaquín Rodrigo.