At the heart of the Northwest College Writers Series rests the notion that writing is not limited to English departments. This interdisciplinary collaboration between the Humanities Division, Northwest College, and the community brings noteworthy authors to campus in an effort to enhance the work of students and encourage discussion.

For previous writers series, see the Writers Series Archive.

Brian Doyle (Essayist)
Thursday, 16 October 2008 @ 7:00 pm in the DeWitt Student Center Lounge
Winifred S. Wasden Memorial Reading (Click for Poster in PDF format.)

Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland, in Oregon, and a 2008 recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Doyle is the author of nine books of poetry and prose. The Grail, Leaping, Spirited Men, and Thirsty for the Joy were finalists for the 2006, 2004, 2005, and 2008 Oregon Book Award in creative nonfiction and poetry, Two Voices won a national Christopher Award and a Catholic Press Association Book Award, and Credo was listed, by Joyce Carol Oates, as one of the “notable books of the twentieth century.”

Doyle’s own essays and poems have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, The American Scholar, Orion, Commonweal, and The Georgia Review, among other magazines and journals, and in The Times of London, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Kansas City Star, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Ottawa Citizen, and Newsday, among other newspapers.

Doyle is an accomplished speaker who has appeared in many venues, including National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation,”

Pam Houston (Fiction/Nonfiction Writer)
Thursday, 20 November @ 7:30 pm in Fagerberg 70

Pam Houston is the author of two collections of linked short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness (W. W. Norton), which was the winner of the 1993 Western States Book Award and has been translated into nine languages, and Waltzing the Cat (W. W. Norton) which won the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction.

Her stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and the Best American Short Stories of the Century. A collection of essays, A Little More About Me, was published by W.W. Norton in the fall of 1999.

She has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning from time to time doing literary essays on the wilderness, as well as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She lives in Colorado at 9,000 feet above sea level near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Jeremy Johnston (Historian)
Thursday, 29 January 2009 @ 7:30 in Fagerberg 70

An Assistant Professor of History at Northwest College and lifelong Powell resident and historian, Jeremy Johnston has written extensively about regional history, especially Theodore Roosevelt’s expeditions to Yellowstone National Park. His writings have been published in Annals of Wyoming, Colorado Heritage, Points West, Readings of Wyoming History, The George Wright Forum, Yellowstone Science, and various regional newspapers.

In 2007, Jeremy received the Coke Wood Award, sponsored by Westerners International, for his article “Progressivism Comes to Yellowstone: Theodore Roosevelt and Professional Land Management Agencies in the Yellowstone Ecosystem.” He has appeared as a Wyoming Council for the Humanities speaker in a number of Wyoming communities, as well as appearing on various Wyoming PBS documentaries, including Roy Barnes: Rocky Mountain Cowboy, and Wyoming Voices.

Currently Jeremy is completing his second research fellowship for the Cody Institute of Western American Studies, examining Ernest Thompson Seton's book, The Biography of a Grizzly, and its influence on shaping a public image of renegade grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region. In his spare time, he enjoys various outdoor activities with his wife and editor, Amanda; his two sons, Jaxon and Samuel; and his newborn daughter, Alexa.

Duane Niatum (Native American Poet)
Wednesday, 4 March 2009 @ 4:00 in the Orendorff Lounge

Duane Niatum is a member of the Klallam tribe, a Coast Salish tribe from the Washington coast on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. His books of poetry include After the Death of an Elder Klallam, Ascending Red Cedar Moon, Digging Out the Roots and The Crooked Beak of Love.

Niatum’s poetry builds on stories from Klallam tradition and history while incorporating material from his travels, especially in Asia, and from his love of the visual arts and music. He has edited two highly respected anthologies of Native American verse and also writes plays and fiction.

• Robert Atwan
• Carol Bell
• Mary Clearman Blew
• Mike Masterson
• Janet Meury
• Vince Rose
• Robbi Welch
• Carol Wasden