Walter To Read From Weaver Book
If you watched the television version of Jess Walter’s book “Every Knee Shall Bow,” you’ve got the movie producers’ view not only of what happened but also of what the characters looked like.
As if Laura Dern and Randy Quaid, both of whom would tower over the average person, could ever pass in real life for the diminuitive Randy and the late Vicki Weaver.
No matter how close the movie comes in many respects to what Walter wrote in his book, the book still is the most comprehensive and accurate record of what went on during the violent standoff that occurred on a remote North Idaho mountaintop.
But Walter’s “Every Knee Shall Bow” is not just a historical treatise. It is an eminently readable account that contains equal parts history, sociology, psychology and an impressive understanding of contemporary cultural affairs.
Walter, who has gone on to co-author “In Contempt” with O.J. Simpson co-prosecutor Christopher Darden, will read from the book at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.
But mark these dates on your literary calendar, too: On Friday, June 7, Walter will sign copies of “Every Knee Shall Bow” from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hastings Books Music and Video store in Coeur d’Alene, 101 Best Ave. On Saturday, June 8, Walter will be at the Spokane Hastings outlet located at 1704 W. Wellesley.
Writing for the small screen
Three television writer-producers, two of whom are graduates of Eastern Washington University, will give free talks about their business on Thursday and Friday at EWU’s University Theatre in Cheney.
Tom Blomquist (“Walker, Texas Ranger”), Tim Kelleher (“In Living Color”) and Scott Schaefer (“Bill Nye the Science Guy”) will speak on Thursday on “Writing for Film and Television” from 9:30 a.m. to noon and on “Directing and Producing for Film and Television” from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
On Friday, the trio will speak from 9:30 a.m. to noon on “Post Production” and from 1:30 to 4 on “Breaking Into the Business.”
Kelleher and Schaefer are EWU graduates.
The talks are free, but reservations are required. To reserve a seat, call Pam Bumpas at 359-6228.
More than ‘Consolation’
If you’re a fan of readable, accessible, thought-provoking poetry, you might want to pick up a copy of “Consolation at Ground Zero” (Eastern Washington University Press, 95 pages, $14). Horvath, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, read from his first poetry collection recently at Auntie’s Bookstore.
Nearly prose, except for its construction on the page, Horvath’s poems are largely personal views of the world as Horvath sees it, ranging from discussing “Daisy Miller” at the Roman Colosseum to mourning lost love over the Sunday funnies.
An example, titled “The Doll”:
“When she was little
my sister loved her doll
until the paint flaked
from its bad luck eyes
and its cloth face, abraded,
bled cotton waste,
until its hair pulled loose
and its body became
a filthy sock, a beaten
stick, dirt with ears.
And she cried, my sister
did, at what love could do.”
Writing, too
One of the summer highlights for Inland Northwest residents is Art on the Green, the Coeur d’Alene arts festival that is held annually at North Idaho College.
This year, the Summer Art Institute of Art on the Green will offers a series of writing/publishing workshops in late July, early August. The workshops, all which will be held July 29-Aug. 1, include: poetry with Gloria Vando Hickok, writing short fiction with Clay Morgan and storytelling with Rodney Frey.
A publishing workshop titled “How to Get Published Without an Ulcer” will be held July 31 with Hickok. And a special presentation by all the instructors will be held at 7 p.m. July 30 at Todd Hall of the NIC Library.
For further information, including fees and class times and other class offerings by artists Ken Spiering and Harold Balazs, call (208) 667-9346.
Books for sale
Looking for some cheap - better make that inexpensive - books? Spokane Public Library is offering another of its periodic book sales from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the downtown branch, 906 W. Main.
Included will be a select group of new children’s books at $3 apiece, bargain hardbacks at $1 and paperbacks for a quarter.
The reader board
Warren Yahr, author of “Smokechaser,” will sign copies of his book from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday the Book and Game Co. in Coeur d’Alene. Looking ahead, Yahr will do a signing from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday June 8 at the Book and Game Co. in Lewiston.
Jim LaFontaine, “Hog Heaven Rides: Mountain Biker’s Guide to Latah County and Environs,” will present his book from 9 a.m. to noon at the Farmers’ Market in Moscow’s Friendship Square.
Larry Watson, author of “Montana 1948,” will read from his new novel, “Justice,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore.
Susan Paul, author of “Your Story Matters: An Introductory Writer’s Handbook,” will read from her book at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s Bookstore.
Patrick Howell, author of “Spiritguide,” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore.
, DataTimes