O’Grady At Auntie’s To Sign Book On Bosnia Exploits

Spokane’s own war hero of the moment, Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady, will be part of a literary media-rush on Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

O’Grady, you’ll recall, was flying in support of United Nations peacekeeping activities in Bosnia last June when he was shot down. He survived both the destruction of his plane and a subsequent six-day game of keep-away with Bosnian forces.

Now the intrepid pilot has a book out on his exploits, called “Return With Honor,” and he’ll appear at Auntie’s on Saturday to sign copies. (He won’t do a reading, just a signing.)

But before the public portion of the event, O’Grady will submit to “very brief one-on-one interviews” with various representatives of the Spokane media. How brief? The word is, each sitdown will last no more than five minutes.

“Interviews will begin precisely at 12:00 p.m. in our second-floor conference room,” reads the letter of instruction sent out by Auntie’s publicity director Mitch Finley, “and to be fair to all concerned we must ask you to stick to the time limits you are assigned” (the italics are Finley’s).

Wow, a whole five minutes.

Anybody want to take bets on how in-depth those conversations will be?

Literary winners

Several area writers were among the winners in the writing competition held at the Young Writers Conference at Paschal Sherman Indian School near Omak on Nov. 1-3.

From the Coeur d’Alene Tribal School in DeSmet, Idaho, were Reitta Kitt (second place, sixth grade), Brandon Quintasket (second place, seventh grade) and Johnna Kitt (second place, eighth grade).

From Wilbur High School were Chris Kalal (third place, eighth grade), Laura Rivera (first place, 10th grade) and Irene Goodwin (third place, 10th grade).

Western man

John W. Todd Jr., the manager of Seattle’s Shorey’s Bookstore for more than 50 years, apparently has amassed an extensive collection of what he calls “Western Americana.” Now he’s selling his collection, which includes some 250 volumes plus more than 100 items of “Western Americana Ephemera.”

For a catalog of all items, send $1 to: John W. Todd Jr., Antiquarian Book Seller & Appraiser, P.O. Box 25587, Seattle, WA 98125-1087.

The reader board

Carolyn M. Barrett, author of “The Magic of Matsumoto, will read from her book at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 27, at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

Don Kardong will share stories of his running career at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 29, at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Montessori teacher Lorna Nollette will talk about how to teach children to read at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 30, at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Rebecca Brown, author of “The Gifts of the Body,” will read from her novel at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 1, at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Kathy Finley, author of “Dear God: Prayers for Families With Children,” will read from her book at 2 p.m., Dec. 2, at Children’s Corner Bookshop.

David Shannon, author-illustrator of “The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza,” will present the book at 4 p.m., Dec. 6, at Children’s Corner Bookshop.

, DataTimes