Arts Center

The 2010 Mid-Columbia Literary Festival is sponsored by Columbia Basin College and its partners. LitFest 2010 will host an impressive list of authors covering a wide range of styles and approaches. They will include author presentations, book signings, workshops, readings, and much more.

About the Book
LitFest Kick-off Event
Tuesday, February 23
6 p.m., Bookwalter Winery
Sponsored by Barnes & Noble and the Children's Reading Foundation

The first event of LitFest 2010 is meant to spread the love of all literature. Area bibliophiles will talk about books they think are MUST READS. Don't miss this opportunity to hear about great titles and share the joy of reading. Comments and recommendations from the audience are welcome. Seating is limited.

Jess Walter and Pete Fromm
Fiction and Nonfiction
Thursday, March 4
7 p.m., HUB Main Stage

Jess Walter is the award-winning author of five novels and one nonfiction book. His book, The Zero, was a finalist for the National Book Award. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages and his essays, short fiction, criticism, and journalism have been widely published in Details, Playboy, Newsweek, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe among many others. Walter also writes screenplays and was the co-author of Christopher Darden's 1996 bestseller In Contempt.

Pete Fromm's latest novel, As Cool As I Am (2003), earned him an unprecedented fourth Pacific Northwest Booksellers Literary Award. Earlier winners were his novel How All This Started (2000), a story collection, Dry Rain (1997), and a memoir Indian Creek Chronicles (1993). Hailed as one of "America's best-kept literary secrets," he has published four other story collections, as well as more than 100 stories in magazines. His short story, Dry Rain, was recently made into a film that opened at the 2008 Seattle International Film festival. He lives with his family in Missoula, Montana.

Tod Marshall
Poetry
Tuesday, April 20
7 p.m., HUB Main Stage

Tod Marshall was born in Buffalo, NY. His first collection of poetry, Dare Say, was the 2002 winner of the University of Georgia's Contemporary Poetry Series. His second collection, The Tangled Line, was published by Canarium Books in April 2009. He has also published a collection of his interviews with contemporary poets, Range of the Possible, and an accompanying anthology of poems by the interviewed poets, Range of Voices. Poets in these collections include Robert Hass, Li-Young Lee, Brenda Hillman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ed Hirsch, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, and Ed Hirsch. He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches at Gonzaga University.

Chris Crutcher
Young Adult Fiction
and
CBC Student Writing Competition Awards
Thursday, May 6
7 p.m., Gjerde Center

Chris Crutcher lives in Spokane, Washington. The heart of his work --- human struggle and triumph --- is universal and draws largely on his work as an educator (he was a teacher and the director of an alternative school) and, currently, as a therapist and child protection advocate. Critically acclaimed as an author, Crutcher was named the 2000 recipient of the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for his ongoing devotion to young adults. He received the National Intellectual Freedom Award, given by the National Council of Teachers of English, in 1998 and has been honored twice by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents.

We will kick off the evening with a celebration honoring the winners of our annual Student Writing Competition.

Speaking Truth to Power:  Modern Lessons from an Historic Injustice
Jack Hamann
Journalism
Thursday, May 20
7 p.m., HUB Main Stage

An epic struggle between truth and justice forever changed the lives of dozens of African-American soldiers stationed at Washington's Fort Lawton. Charged with rioting and with the lynching of an Italian prisoner of war, the soldiers endured the largest and longest Army court-martial of World War II. More than six decades later, the discovery of formerly top secret documents in the National Archives led to an historic verdict reversal and an unprecedented apology from the U.S. Government. This presentation is based on Hamann's book, On American Soil: How Justice Became a Tragedy of WWII.

Hamann is an author, documentary producer, and journalist. His career spans 29 years, including a decade as a network correspondent and documentary producer for CNN and PBS. His work has earned dozens of journalism honors, including ten regional Emmy awards. Hamann's assignments have taken him inside a pen with wild wolves in Yellowstone National Park, inside a prison with convicted killers in Siberia, 30 miles offshore with fishermen chasing giant tuna in the North Atlantic, 3 miles above sea level with peasants battling blight in Peru, and miles from nowhere mushing a team of champion dogs in the Yukon. On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of WWII was named Investigative Book of the Year in 2005 by Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc.

Thanks to our sponsors... past and present
CBC Arts & Humanities Division, Tri-City Herald, Baker Boyer Bank, Battelle Foundation, Humanities Washington, The Estate of Louis Foskett, The Columbia Center Rotary, Community Reads, Children's Reading Foundation, and Barnes & Noble.