Book Notes: Donald Revell reading at GU’s Globe Room
To many people, poetry may seem like the most arcane of the literary arts.
Donald Revell understands that attitude. And he’s sympathetic.
At the same time, he sees poetry as a perfect way “to tell the truth with words.”
“It doesn’t mean that it’s easy, it doesn’t mean that it’s always accessible instantly,” Revell said over the phone from his office in Salt Lake City.
“But just that faith, that it’s possible, will drive you to write and to read poetry, to try to read something that’s true.”
The author of 15 books, Revell will read from his collected works at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Gonzaga University’s Cataldo Globe Room as part of GU’s 2007 Visiting Writer’s Series.
Revell, who teaches at the University of Utah, expects to read both old and new work.
“It’ll probably be an overview of everything I’ve done for the past 30 years or so,” he said.
He’ll likely talk about other things, too, as he did over the phone. Things such as the paintings of Willem de Kooning, or the films of Francois Truffaut, or even Thoreau’s “Walden.”
But he’s likely to come back, always, to what he sees as the meaning of poetry.
“Poems are rhetoric,” he said. “They’re not an advertisement for anything. … They’re just a way of paying attention to the world. … And a poem is merely a record of that attention.”
The reading is free and open to the public. For further information, call Tod Marshall at (509) 323-6681.
To read a transcript of our full interview with Revell, go online at www.spokesman review.com/interactive/ bookclub.
Spokane Is Reading
Two discussions of Jess Walter’s novel “Citizen Vince,” which is the 2007 Spokane Is Reading selection, are scheduled during the coming week.
The first will be at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. The second is at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Road. Walter isn’t expected to attend either discussion.
For further information about Spokane Is Reading, call Eva Silverstone at (509) 444-5307 or Beth Gillespie at (509) 893-8205.
Everybody Reads
Everybody Reads, a regional program involving libraries, bookstores and colleges across the Palouse and Lewiston/Clarkston Valley, is tackling Gregg Olsen’s 2005 nonfiction book “The Deep Dark: Disaster and Redemption in America’s Richest Silver Mine.”
Discussions of the book will occur on Oct. 25 (Colfax Public Library) and in various locations through November.
For a full list of events, go online at www.whitco.lib.wa.us, or call (509) 397-4366.
Awards galore
By now you’ve probably already heard about the Spokane Arts Award that was given to Get Lit!, the annual literary festival that is sponsored by Eastern Washington University Press.
The award was handed out at Monday night’s Spokane City Council meeting.
Not only was Get Lit! honored, but special mention went to the festival’s Young Writers Program for, according to an EWU press release, “its work in increasing K-12 students’ writing skills and creating excitement about reading, writing and books.”
“In other EWU Press news, Sandpoint-based Lost Horse Press has announced that, beginning in January, it will distribute its book through the university press.
Christine Holbert, founding director of Lost Horse, once served as managing editor of EWU Press and was one of the founders of Get Lit!
Unless noted, all events are free and open to the public.
Book talk
“Auntie’s Morning Book Group (“Citizen Vince,” by Jess Walter), 11 a.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.
“Auntie’s Evening Book Group (“Citizen Vince”), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
“Literary Freedom Book Group (“Love,” by Toni Morrison), 1 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
The reader board
“Donald Revell (“A Thief of Strings”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Gonzaga University, Cataldo Globe Room. Call (509) 323-6681.
“Peter Chilson (“Disturbance-Loving Species”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
“Matt McFarland (“The Boy with Backward Eyes”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
“Spokane Poetry Slam, 7 p.m. Thursday, Empyrean Coffee House, 154 S. Madison St. Admission: $5. Call (509) 838-9819.
“Jonathan Johnson (“In the Land We Imagined Ourselves”), reading, 7 p.m. Thursday, Museum of Fine Art, Washington State University, Pullman. Call (509) 335-8747.
“Chuck Palahniuk (“Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey”) and Monica Drake (“Clown Girl”), readings, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
“Florence Boutwell (“Teresa” stories, “Spokane Valley” histories), signing, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 14, Mt. Spokane High School Harvest Festival of Quilts and Crafts, 6015 E. Mount Spokane Park Drive. Admission $1, free to ages 12 and under. Call (509) 465-7200.