March WordFest highlights northwest history

Both fictional and non-fictional historical events were featured at the WordFest on Zoom event on Tuesday, March 9, at 7:00 pm.

Michael Perry‘s excellent series on the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06 that first ran in the Columbia River Reader has now been published in one volume, Dispatches from the Discovery Trail: A Layman’s Lewis and Clark.

Mike will read from the book and discuss his multi-year research, following in the tracks of the Corps of Discovery. Beautifully illustrated by the Pacific Northwest woodcut artist Debby Neely and edited by Hal Calbom, the book is available at the Columbia River Reader office or at www.crreader.com/crrpress.

Cathlamet resident Lilly Robbins Brock will read from the fourth book in her sweeping Intrepid Journey saga of the Bennett family. Twists of Fate opens as the nation (and the Bennett family) face the prospect of Civil War.

All Lilly’s books are available on Amazon or for a signed paperback copy,  contact: [email protected].

During the Open Mic period, Caleigh Maffett will read two poems, including one that will appear in this year’s Salal Review.

Caleigh recently graduated from Washington State University /Vancouver with a BA in English and Communications and a minor in Creative Writing. Her prose and poetry have been featured in LCC’s Salal Review and the WSU magazine.

The WordFest on Zoom events are free and open to the public. One doesn’t need to have a Zoom account to participate, but one must register for the free, monthly WordFest newsletter here to receive the Zoom invitation link by email.

For more information, go to www.alan-rose.com.

Join online book discussion of Alan’s new novel, Friday, February 12 at 1:00 pm.

Join us for a “virtual book club” to discuss Alan’s haunting novel about the AIDS epidemic, As If Death Summoned. The story explores how ongoing grief can erode a life, and also how finding one’s way through grief can rebuild, renew, and deepen life.

The Zoom event on Friday, February 12, at 1:00 pm. is free and open to the public. People on the WordFest newsletter email list will receive an invitation link Friday morning. People do not need a Zoom account to participate.

People not on the WordFest email list can subscribe here. (The monthly newsletter is free and one can unsubscribe at any time.)

Vikki J. Carter, host and producer of Authors of the Pacific Northwest podcast, will lead the conversation. Participants will have the opportunity to ask the author questions about the book and the true stories on which the novel is based. But the discussion will also explore how participants have experienced their own personal losses, and what helped–and didn’t help–them through life-shattering grief.

It is not necessary to have read the novel to participate.

Murder, mystery, WWII women pilots, and Fisher Poets at the February 9 WordFest

Three popular mystery writers read at the WordFest on Zoom event on Tuesday, February 9, at 7:00 pm., although only one of them read read from her mystery series. See the video below:

Hannah Dennison will be reading from her home in Devon, England. A member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the Willamette Writers, and British Crime Writers’ Association, Hannah is the author of five books in the Vicky Hill Mystery series and six books in her Honeychurch Hall Mystery series. She has recently published Death at High Tide, the first book in her new Island Sisters series. Coincidentally, her mother is a docent at Greenway, Agatha Christie’s summer home, which has been turned into a museum.

USA Today best-selling author Marty Wingate will read from her latest book, Glamour Girls (Alcove Press), a historical novel that follows Spitfire pilot Rosalie Wright through both the physical and emotional dangers of the Second World War. Marty also writes The First Edition Library mystery series (Berkley) set in Bath, England, about the curator of a collection of books from the Golden Age of Mystery. In book two, Murder Is a Must, an exhibition manager is found dead at the bottom of a spiral staircase—a la Dorothy L. Sayers. Marty also writes the Potting Shed and Birds of a Feather mystery series.

Jan Bono is author of the Sylvia Avery mystery series, set on the Long Beach peninsula of the Washington coast, but at the next WordFest, Jan will be reading from her new collection of poems, Fisher Girl, Fisher Wife, Fisher Poet, in preparation for this year’s Gathering of Fisher Poets, February 25-27, in Astoria, Oregon. Due to Covid-19, the popular event will be available on Zoom for the first time.

The WordFest on Zoom events are free and open to the public. One doesn’t need to have a Zoom account to participate, but one must register for the free, monthly WordFest newsletter here to receive the Zoom invitation link.

For more information, go to www.alan-rose.com.