California group honors writer Terry Trueman
Spokane young-adult author Terry Trueman has scored another award. On Thursday, Trueman will receive the Books Change Lives award from the California Center for the Book, a nonprofit group affiliated with the California State Library that promotes reading.
The Books Change Lives award is presented to authors “whose work has changed lives and has consistently inspired students to enter” writing programs sponsored by the center.
Trueman will receive the award during a ceremony in Sacramento.
His first novel, “Stuck in Neutral” (2000), won the Michael L. Printz Honor award.
Trueman’s other novels are “Inside Out” (2003) and “Cruise Control” (2004). He also is author of the 1992 poetry chapbook “Sheehan.”
For writers only
For those interested in pushing letters around on the page, Sandpoint’s Lost Horse Press is sponsoring a couple of writing-minded events. For further information on both, call (208) 255-4410 or see www.losthorsepress.org.
• The Young Writers of the Lost Horse Writing Conference, aimed at students in grades 5 through 12, will be June 24-25 at the Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar St. The conference, which will focus on poetry, is free to all Bonner County students, including home-schoolers.
A public reading will be June 25 at 4 p.m. in the library.
• And then there’s a July 16 workshop and reading by Peter Chilson, a Washington State University English professor and author of the nonfiction book “Riding the Demon: On the Road in West Africa.”
Chilson’s workshop, titled “Crossing the Boundaries of Genre: How Fiction and Nonfiction Complement Each Other,” is a one-day event that is, he says, “suitable for writer of all levels.”
Scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Sandpoint’s Oden Hall, 143 Sunnyside Road, the workshop costs $50.
Chilson’s reading, which will take place at 7 p.m. at the same spot, is free and open to the public.
On the big screen, too
Barbara Gittings, the pioneer gay activist and author of the essay “Gays in Library Land” (included in the collection “Daring to Find Our Names,” edited by James V. Carmichael Jr.), will appear at the screening of the film “Gay Pioneers” Friday at 7 p.m. in the Riverpoint Auditorium, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd. Tickets will be available at the door for $5.
A special brunch for Gittings will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4340 W. Fort George Wright Drive. A $10 donation is requested (216-0366).
Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.
Book talk
• Poetry reading group, 3 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).
The reader board
• T. Dawn Richard (“Digging Up Otis”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Claire Davis (“Season of the Snake”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
• Clark Howard (“Clark Smart Parents, Clark Smart Kids”), signing, 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Ridpath Hotel, 515 W. Sprague Ave. (329-4701) (Tickets required; listen to KXLY-AM 920 for details.)
•Gloria Gilbere (“Invisible Illnesses”), Herb Joiner-Bey (“The Healing Power of Flax”), readings, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Jess Walter (“Citizen Vince”), reading, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Liberty Lake Municipal Library, 1421 N. Meadowwood Lane (755-6711).
•Patricia Campbell Kowal (“Stillpoint”), signing, 3 to 6 p.m. Friday, North Side Hastings, 7706 N. Division St. (483-2154).
•Frank Tobie (“The Bridge Knows the Way: Seeing America Through Covered Bridges”), signing, 12:30 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.