Wallowa County Reads - River Song Wrap-up
We ended the month-long community read of Craig Lesley's River Song with a feed and program at the Hurricane Creek ("Hurkin krik" for locals) Grange Hall Sunday night. Eric Quaempts, Director of Natural Resources for the Umatilla Confederated Tribes, gave a fine short presentation on "First Foods," talking about salmon, game, root crops, men's foods and women's foods, rotations of seasons and interrelationships of diet and culture. We ate a wonderful salmon dinner backed by Wallowa County potluck side dishes (and some gorgeous lamb contributed by Eric Carlson!), and finished with coffee and Grange pies--raisin, apple, cherry, berry, cream pies, we had them all!
And then Craig Lesley talked and read. Read from both Winterkill and River Song, and guaranteed a "home crowd" that he is working on another Danny Kachiah novel. Said he wants to see what happens to Danny at 55, whether he marries Pudge, what happens to the boy... So we all wait while the novelist works this out over the next year or three. I can tell you as a "driver" for the Snake River research trip for River Song all those years ago that Craig is taking eastern Oregon notes again! We talked about it as I drove him back over the mountain to Pendleton Monday morning.
We stopped first in Wallowa to visit with the 5th and 6th graders who had read a synopsis and excerpts from the book and participated in an art project with students from Enterprise and Joseph. Kids took scenes from the book and turned them into water color paintings, which artist Vivi Hanson and Fishtrap's Rick Bombaci turned into a giant mural that stood behind Craig as he read on Sunday night at the Grange. This mural is now in the Joseph school, and will visit Wallowa school soon.
The young kids had their hands up from the minute we walked in the door--questions about fishing and writing and the books characters. And then they had Craig autograph scraps of paper, notebooks, and the Harry Potter books they were reading. It is wonderful to see the excitement about reading and writing that we saw in all three schools with the young students. The trick is to keep that excitement alive!
I have two favors to ask before we move on from River Song. First, if you read the book, stop by Fishtrap, one of the libraries or bookstores in the county and fill out a slip of paper that says you did. Or email me. We'll put the names in a hopper and have a drawing for...
A trip up the Snake River from Clarkston on April 19 with Beamers. This is a 7 or 8 hour one day trip, with stops at the site of the Chinese Massacre and other places of historical and geological interest. The going price--if we can get 20, and we already have half that-- is $135. If you win the drawing and have booked already, you will get your money back--or can invite a friend! Please email me if you want to be on that boat! We will want money commitments by end of March. (Craig might just come back and join us!)
This has been another outstanding program. Thanks to all who worked on it, came to lectures and readings and movies, cooked for the potluck, and read the book with us! We have readers' guides that we put together, and we'll soon have a more complete description of this program that you can take to other places... we'll infect the west with community reads and with Craig's books!
About the author:
A longtime favorite at Fishtrap, Craig Lesley is the author of 4 novels and a memoir, along with numerous other works. He has received three Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards, the Western Writers of America Golden Spur Award for Best Novel, and an Oregon Book Award. He has been the recipient of several national fellowships and holds a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Whitman College. Currently the Senior Writer-in-Residence at Portland State University, Craig lives with his wife in Portland, Oregon. Both Storm Riders and The Sky Fisherman were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
About the book:
River Song rejoins the reader with Danny Kachiah, the Oregonian Nez Perce drifter and failed rodeo rider first introduced in Craig Lesley's award-winning novel, Winterkill. Danny is determined to get closer to his son, Jack, to teach him traditional ways to steer him away from rodeoing. Danny and Jack survive a forest fire, make a go of it as migrant workers, then finally settle down to salmon fishing on the Columbia River. There they join forces with Willis Salwish, a mysterious old Yakima Indian who clings to traditional fishing sites despite opposition from white fisherman. Danny's friendship with Willis draws him into the dispute over fishing rights, and it's Willis who brings him face to face with ghosts from his past, and leads him to his lost heritage.
"It is Mr. Lesley's considerable achievement as a storyteller
that, while conveying so much information to readers unfamiliar with
the territory, a small family of characters emerges. In love and in
conflict, they are burdened by all the human frailties and dreams."
—Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times
Click here for the detailed schedule of events, including a visit from Craig Lesley.