Last year at WordFest, Kelso native Brianna Craft read from Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir. A researcher for the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, Brianna works to further equity in the United Nations’ climate negotiations for the worldʼs poorest countries, which have done the least to cause the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable to its impacts. At the July WordFest, Brianna will read from her first novel, We Don’t Have Time For This, where Lemonade Mouth meets climate change activism in an enemies-to-lovers young adult (YA) romance.

Shamus Award Finalist Tom Larsen will be reading an excerpt from Getting Legal, part of his Wilson Salinas Mystery of Ecuador series. Having had some success as a private investigator, Wilson decides it’s time to “get legal”—get his P.I. license—even though, as his attorney tells him “in Ecuador, there is really no such thing as an Investigador Privado. The concept doesn’t exist.”  Still, the attorney hires Wilson to investigate the disappearance of his spoiled grandson, heir apparent to his lucrative legal practice, which throws Wilson into an unfamiliar world of wealth, lies, adultery, extortion and murder. His newly-won sobriety is in danger, and ultimately, so is his life.

Marc Imlay will be reading from Reflections on Heron’s Haven Pond, his forthcoming second book of poetry and sequel to Pilgrimages to a Bullfrog Buddha (2020.)  In both books, the saviors, saints, and sages of all religions, times, and places reside in an unspoiled natural park as various indigenous creatures interact with the narrator and one another. Marc is a retired chiropractor and acupuncturist.  Meditation has been a major interest which he has practiced daily for 52 years and taught for 50 years. Marc and his wife moved to Longview 10 years ago and are avid dancers and musicians.

Lenore Weiss will read from her environmental novel, Pulp into Paper. In the close-knit community of Hentsbury, Arkansas, racism and the local paper mill’s oppressive control over the town collide in this tale set in the 1990s. Rae-Ann, owner of a convenience store and unofficial mayor of the town, and Vernon, the plant’s Environmental Officer, find their budding romance hitting an unexpected roadblock when chemicals from the mill’s runoff claim the life of Rincon, a young black boy battling acute asthma. In a harrowing failed rescue attempt, Vernon relives the trauma of holding the dying boy in his arms.

Ellen Jacobson will read from Poisoned by the Pier, the third book in her Mollie McGhie cozy mystery series featuring quirky characters, an adorable cat, and way too many dead bodies. In this book, Mollie is thrust into another murder investigation when someone is poisoned during a cake baking competition. While she tries to identify the killer, Coconut Cove’s annual boating festival is in full swing. In between getting ready for her first sailing race and cheating on her diet, Mollie uncovers clues, interviews suspects, and does her best to avoid rutabagas.

Writer Linda Eddleston and film producer/ musician Ron Walker will share their experiences from a recent adventure on the Princess Discovery Riviera Mexican Cruise Ship. Linda will offer ideas and examples of how to record and document vacation trips by creating travel journals, and Ron will show a short film of their cruise experience.

Castle Rock author Mary Stone recently published a short story collection, The Innocents at Home—Children of the 1940s. The 18 fictional stories, told through the eyes of children living in the US, Poland, Germany, and France, are about the abnormality of childhood during this decade and the experiences of war, internment, love and loss, prejudice, faith and resilience.

Rick E. George will read from Lethal Alliance, the second novel in his Boyd and Abboud Mystery Series, where FBI Agent Russell Boyd and Arabic interpreter Nawar Abboud face a contemporary problem: When extremist politicians bash the nation’s leading law enforcement agency, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, as they find out, to their great peril. When a group of Christian Nationalists known as the Kin of Christ link up with an ISIS terrorist group to plan an attack at a Seattle sports event, Boyd and Abboud infiltrate the groups.

Debz Briske will be reading two short pieces of creative nonfiction that involve dead bodies she encountered in her life and travels.  “A Gringa in Rio” is a story set in Brazil during the military dictatorship, and first experiencing the jungle, hearing Samba, and seeing a dead body. It was also the first time she watched a person die, and struggled with how she wanted to respond and what she could do in a different culture.

Jan Bono is well known to WordFest members for her Sylvia Avery cozy mystery series set on the SW Washington coast. Is There Room in the Backyard for One More Body? is Jan’s collection of 12 fictional short stories also set on the Long Beach Peninsula. Known for her twisted sense of humor, Jan says, “Writing these stories is so much cheaper than therapy. And I get to do away with people who annoy me without having to go to jail.” Jan assures us that Is There Room is a work of fiction, and not a how-to manual. “Nobody was injured during the research or writing of these stories.”

Tiffany Dickinson writes tales for the young and for those who love them. She’ll be reading from The Golden Web, her first middle-grade magical realism story. Thomas the spider is perfectly comfortable making his home in a room at the children’s hospital. He learns many things from observing the children who come to get well and by watching television, especially TV game shows. When a child leaves, Thomas doesn’t mind. His motto is, “Spiders have family, food, and foes.” He needs no friends.

S.B. Daniels will read an excerpt from her manuscript in progress, Anniversary Reaction, a personal story that weaves together feelings about an upcoming milestone—a 50-year high school class reunion—with flashbacks to the life and challenges she faced during those high school years.  At its core, this is a love story, but it’s also an exploration of the uneven journey towards healing through the power of determination, resilience, and hope.

Lorraine Bouchard is a retired educator who specialized in the psychology and education of gifted people, and started her own school, now in its 38th year. Lorraine is active in directing and acting in community theaters around the country, including Twilight Theater of Portland and Stageworks Northwest in Longview, Washington. 

WordFest regular Elaine Cockrell will be reading from her current work in progress, titled, Farmed Out. The historical novel set during the Great Depression and World War II is based on her mother’s life, particularly as a child given up for adoption and living with a series of families. A retired English teacher and former Huntington Middle School principal, Elaine wrote the historical novel, A Shrug of the Shoulders, about the internment of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest during World War II.