Western Book Roundup

Wyoming Book Festival and Fall Book Season Kicks Off with Krakauer Reading

By Jenny Shank, 9-16-09

After a two-year hiatus, the Wyoming Book Festival will return to Cheyenne on September 19, with a streamlined list of presenters.  The festival hosted 70 authors during its first year, 2007, but this year it’s focusing on eight writers: Margaret Coel, Tina Forkner, Gene Gagliano, Craig Johnson, Zak Pullen, Cindy Reynders, Peg Sundberg ("Cowgirl Peg"), and Cat Urbigkit.  Readings, book signings, and discussions will take place at Lions Park in Cheyenne from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tina Lackey of Wyoming State Library told the Wyoming Arts Blog: “Festival goers told us the past festival was too spread out, which made it difficult to attend all the events. This time we made it much more convenient for them.” The Wyoming Book Festival Blog features profiles of all the participants.

Randy Dotinga recently wrote in the Christian Science Monitor that this year’s fall season in books is “chock-full of star authors, a bounty that could pull the publishing industry out of its doldrums or leave few winners and many losers…Add other complicating factors, such as the rise of books in electronic form and the desperate struggle of some booksellers, and the fall looks to be one humdinger of a season for publishers, stores, and authors, not to mention ordinary readers.”

But when he spoke to Arsen Kashkashian, the book buyer for the Boulder Book Store, Kashkashian demonstrated “perhaps the most calm of anyone in the industry,” saying the fall book season has “a little more sense of urgency to it,” and that the book store has “adapted to what the economy is.” Kaskashian offered some extra commentary in his Twitter feed: “I just seem calm, because anything the book industry can throw my way doesn’t compare to the chaos of having a baby in the house.”

One of those star authors of the fall season, Jon Krakauer, will read from his new book, Where Men Win Glory, in his current hometown of Boulder on Thursday, September 17 at the Unity Church (7:30 p.m.).  Tickets are available for $15 at the Boulder Book Store, and they include a $5 discount off of Where Men Win Glory.  John Douglas Marshall interviewed Krakauer about how his writing style has evolved, why he doesn’t include a photo on his book jacket, and other topics for The Daily Beast this week. (Via Galley Cat.)

I asked Kaskashian via Twitter whether there are certain books that should sell well in our region this fall, and I mentioned how much I enjoyed Helen Thorpe’s Just Like Us. Kaskashian replied, “We’re bullish on Helen Thorpe’s Just Like Us. We’ve got 10 copies coming in and are doing some marketing with it.” If only ten people in Boulder buy this great book, I’ll have to go out and shake my fist at the rest of the lot.  Thorpe will present Just Like Us at the Tattered Cover (LoDo) on September 22 at 7:30 p.m.

A while back I mentioned that the Coen brothers are at work on a new film version of True Grit that should more closely follow the book.  According to Variety, the role of Rooster Cogburn could be played by Jeff Bridges, known to many as “The Dude” from “The Big Lebowski”: “In what is shaping up as a ‘Big Lebowski’ reunion, Jeff Bridges is in discussions with Paramount to star in Joel and Ethan Coen’s redo of ‘True Grit.’ Bridges would play the role that won John Wayne an Oscar for the 1969 original.” (Via Shelf Awareness.)

And Cathie and Gordon Sullivan came to the rescue of Libby, Montana’s Cabinet Books and Music.  Canda Harbaugh wrote in The Western News:

“Local customers have followed the Libby bookstore through its 30 years as it changed hands and locations. When Patti Lennard informed her patrons recently of her intent to sell the store, they feared the worst.

‘I was horrified,’ said Jean Tracy, who has been a customer since moving to Libby a decade ago. ‘I’d be so terribly lost without that bookstore.’

Gordon Sullivan was also affected by the news, so he and his wife, Cathie, made the leap and bought the store.

‘It was probably one of the quickest decisions we ever made,’ Sullivan said.”

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