Author Terry Tempest Williams speaking at SCC
The last poem has been read, the last workshop taught, the last toast offered up and the last special guest given a round of applause. Yes, Get Lit! is over for another year. The annual Inland Northwest Literary Arts Festival has done a lot for the regional literary scene, bringing in writers such as Kurt Vonnegut and Salman Rushdie, David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell to read from their respective works.
But what about the rest of the year? Does Spokane, this central part of that amorphous mass we call the Inland Northwest, have what it takes to attract the best-known writers on a regular basis?
Good question. One answer will come on May 2 when Terry Tempest Williams speaks at Spokane Community College.
Author of “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place,” “Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert” and most recently “The Open Space of Democracy,” Williams writes with a sensibility about, and a sensitivity toward, the environment of the interior West.
Williams, whose appearance is part of SCC’s President’s Speakers Series, will speak at 7 p.m. in the school’s Lair-Student Center Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public (533-7081).
Idaho on the page
Speaking of the region, a collection of Idaho writers will gather at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Idaho to read from the new compilation of essays, “Forged in Fire: Essays by Idaho Writers,” which was edited by Mary Clearman Blew and Phil Druker.
Writers such as Kim Barnes, Claire Davis, William Johnson, Robert Johnson, Peter Chilson, Paula Coomer, Holly Akenson, Phil Druker, Jeff Jones, Lois Melina, Horace Axtell and Margo Aragon are expected to show up.
The 20 pieces in “Forged in Fire” cover a range of topics, from surviving the forest fires of 2000 and using fire to smelt gold to, more metaphorically, coping with the kind of fire that comes with desperate love.
It’s the second in a series of books about Idaho revolving around themes using the essential elements: water, fire, air and earth. “Written on the Water” was published in 2001.
The reading, which will be held in the UI Law Building Courtroom, is free and open to the public (208-885-6156).
Flight log
Here’s a bit of trivia: Stuart Woods, the best-selling author who will be reading from his latest potboiler, “Two Dollar Bill,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore, flies himself around on his book tour.
Furthermore, Woods flies a Piper Malibu Mirage that, he says, was converted to turboprop status by Rocket Engineering at Spokane’s Felts Field.
Woods, 67, who has been flying since 1986, said in a brief phone interview that the last time he read in Spokane (in May 2002) he flew into Felts Field and spent a couple of nights so that Rocket Engineering could “put some upgrades on it. They’re going to do the same thing this time.”
As for why he flies himself, Woods says, “I don’t have the airport hassle … and I have three stops along the way where I’ve got more than one night to do my laundry, get some rest and so forth.”
Book talk
• Poetry Reading Group, 3 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).
• Friends of the Cheney Community Library Book Group (“The Story of Lucy Gault,” by William Trevor), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Cheney Community Library, 610 N. First St., Cheney (235-7333). Discussion leader: Joann Daugherty.
• Reader Weeders Book Group, 1 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
The reader board
• Garth Stein (“How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Rich Leon (“Spokane Trail Guides I and II”), slide show, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Stuart Woods (“Two Dollar Bill”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Sharon Medhi (“The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Max Tuggle (“Time of the End”), signing, 12:30-2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Terry Bain (“You Are a Dog”), reading, 2 p.m. Saturday, Argonne Branch, Spokane County Library, 4322 N. Argonne Road (926-4334).