Authors Abound At Bookfest
You don’t need to get tickets, but you will need to plan your parking strategy if you head for the third annual Northwest Bookfest Oct. 25-26 at Pier 48 in Seattle.
The festival runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Among the 175 authors appearing are Jamaica Kincaid, Tobias Wolff, Sherman Alexie, Joyce Carol Oates, Anita Hill and Mollie Katzen.
There is no admission charge to NW Bookfest, but a $5 donation at the door goes to regional literacy programs.
Presentation subjects will include book collecting; writer workshops; sports writing; race, gender and justice issues; poetry; outdoor writing; sci-fi and fantasy; mystery; food and travel; children’s writing; and self-awareness.
Wear your walking shoes to this event, though. Parking is extremely limited and will be even more of a problem (read impossible) on Sunday because the Seattle Seahawks will be playing at the Kingdome nearby. Seattle Metro (206) 553-3000) offers many routes to the event, and a shuttle will run from the Seattle Art Institute parking lot, 2375 Elliott Ave., to Pier 48 both days.
For information about the Bookfest, call (206) 575-7157.
All aboard
The schedule of Queen of the West cruises on the Columbia and Snake rivers this winter and on through next summer is available. For a free copy, call (800) 434-1232.
Also available is a schedule of Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door 1998 Tours. For a free copy, write to Rick Steves, 120 Fourth Ave. North, PO Box 2009, Edmonds, WA 98020-2009.
Kudos
Among the winners in the Prettiest Painted Places in America competition is Toppenish, Wash.
Twelve winners were chosen (two per six regions) by the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute, which sponsored the event.
The judges praised Toppenish as an outdoor art gallery of nearly 50 outstanding, professionally rendered historic murals that depict the local area’s rich western heritage.
The other winner in the Northwest region was Ferndale, Calif.
Autumn in Glacier
The snow hasn’t covered Glacier National Park yet. To catch a glimpse of the last autumn colors in the Montana park, sign up for the seminar Field Journals: Capturing Change.
The workshop by the Glacier Institute focuses on documenting your discoveries in nature through creative writing and field-sketching techniques. For registration information, call (406) 755-1211.
Send your romantic prose
If spending three days in a historic lighthouse would just make your year, get writing.
The Lightkeeper Contest was launched in conjunction with the release of the book “The Lightkeeper” by Susan Wiggs. And, of course, the book is set at the Maine lighthouse in which the contest winner and a guest will spend three nights.
The lighthouse at Isle-au-Haut is on the National Register of Historic Places and is located on a rugged, private island in Acadia National Park.
To enter, write an essay of 100 words or less on why you’d like to step back in time for a romantic retreat. (Off-color remarks, profanity or obscene material are grounds for disqualification.)
Submit to Lightkeeper Contest, Dunwoodie Communications, 386 Park Ave. S., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10016, and include your name, address and daytime phone number. Deadline is Jan. 1. First prize includes airfare from anywhere in the U.S. and Canada to Bangor, Maine, transportation to and from the island and meals. The winner will be announced by Feb. 1.
B&B directory
The new Border to Border Bed and Breakfast directory is available and includes descriptive listings for more than 300 B&B inns in California, Oregon and Washington.
The focus is the coast and the listings are neither rated nor reviewed. For a free copy, call (541) 471-2700 or visit the Web at www.moriah.com/inns.
, DataTimes