The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The Sisters Festival of Books is serving up a powerhouse lineup of diverse writers of national stature in its inaugural year.

Sisters Festival of Books, October 18-20, is a three-day celebration of the literary culture of Central Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The festival features more than 40 local, regional, and national authors and takes place across multiple venues in Sisters. Books featured at the festival will cover a wide range of subjects, including politics, Western historical fiction, Vikings, motherhood, romance, Arctic exploration, Central Oregon recreational activities, and more.

Among the nationally renowned authors represented at the festival are:

•?David Joy — author of the Edgar-nominated rural noir novel “Where All Light Tends To Go” (Putnam, 2015), as well as the novels “The Weight Of This World” (Putnam, 2017) and “The Line That Held Us” (Putnam, 2018). He is also the author of the memoir “Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman’s Journey” (Bright Mountain Books, 2011), which was a finalist for the Reed Environmental Writing Award and the Ragan Old North State Award.

•?Jane Kirkpatrick — a beloved author in Sisters Country, with more than 1.5 million books in print, her 30 novels and non-fiction titles draw readers from all ages and genders.

Most are historical novels based on the lives of actual historical women, often about ordinary women who lived extraordinary lives. Her works have won numerous national awards including the WILLA Literary Award, the Carol Award, USABestBooks.com, Will Roger’s Medallion Award and in 1996, her first novel, “A Sweetness to the Soul,” won the prestigious Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage and National Cowboy Museum.

•?Molly Gloss is the author of several novels including “The Jump-Off Creek,” “The Dazzle of Day,” “Wild Life,” “The Hearts of Horses,” and “Falling From Horses,” as well as the story collection “Unforeseen.” She writes both realistic fiction and science fiction, and her work has received, among other honors, a PEN West Fiction Prize, an Oregon Book Award, two Pacific Northwest Booksellers Awards, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and a Whiting Writers Award. A fourth-generation Oregonian, she lives in Portland.

•?Ruby McConnell is a writer, geologist, and adventuress whose work focuses on nature, the environment, and the relationship between landscape and the human experience. Her experiences as a researcher, activist, and explorer in the wildlands of the western United States led her to write “A Woman’s Guide to the Wild,” the definitive outdoor guide for anyone who identifies as, or loves, women (or just wants to learn how to read a map).

McConnell believes that positive outdoor experiences are the key to healthy living and protecting the environment and is committed to breaking down barriers that prevent all kinds of people from being outside. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Grain Literary Journal, Oregon Humanities Magazine, and Mother Earth News and was awarded an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship in 2016.

•?Joe Wilkins was born and raised north of the Bull Mountains, out on the Big Dry of eastern Montana. His debut novel, “Fall Back Down When I Die,” speaks to the community, struggle, violence, and care Wilkins knew growing up in the rural west, and his memoir, “The Mountain and the Fathers,” captures the lives of boys and men in that desolate country, a place that shapes the people who live there and rarely lets them go.

Wilkins is also the author of three poetry collections, most recently “When We Were Birds,” winner of the 2017 Oregon Book Award in Poetry.

•?Megan Griswold’s “The Book of Help” traces one woman’s life-long quest for love, connection and peace of mind. A heartbreakingly vulnerable and tragically funny memoir-in-remedies, Griswold’s narrative spans four decades and six continents — from the glaciers of Patagonia and the psycho-tropics of Brazil, to academia, the Ivy league, and the study of Eastern medicine.

For tickets and more information visit https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4276088