Authors appearing at the 2021 High Plains BookFest were announced today. Covid-19 prevented the book festival from taking place in 2020, however, this year the 19th annual BookFest will happen with a reduced number of events and with caution. “We strongly encourage masking and social distancing at the various downtown venues,” said festival director Corby Skinner. “If you have not been vaccinated, I strongly suggest you read the books from the comfort of your home,” he adds.
Topics range from the historical and cultural history of Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness to a photographic glimpse into lives of the patrons of legendary Missoula bar.
Work by contemporary Native Americans is represented by three authors including David Weiden, author of Winter Counts, named an Amazon Best Book of 2020 and Best Mystery and Thriller of the year. Winter Counts is the story of a local Native American enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation who becomes obsessed with finding and stopping the dealer who is bringing increasingly dangerous drugs into his community.
Three well known regional fiction writers, Jamie Harrison, Caroline Patterson and Patrick Hicks will read from, and share insights into their recent novels. Rounding out the weekend festivities will be lively presentations by Rob Chaney on grizzly bears, and Gretchen Minton’s discovery of William Shakespeare in Montana!
All events are free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the Western Heritage Center, Billings Public Library and at This House of Books.
Friday, September 24 – Western Heritage Center
12 noon - Jesse A. Logan, Voices of Yellowstone’s Capstone: A Narrative Atlas of the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness
2pm - Jean Belangie-Nye, Corner of Space and Time: Lee Nye’s Eddie’s Club Portraits
Friday, September 24 – Billings Public Library
4pm - Gerry Robinson, The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage
6pm - David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts; Erika T. Wurth, Buckskin Cocaine
Saturday, September 25 – Billings Public Library
12 noon - Gretchen Minton, Shakespeare in Montana: Big Sky Country’s Love Affair with the World’s Most Famous Writer
1:30pm - Rob Chaney, The Grizzly in the Driveway: The Return of Bears to a Crowded American West
3pm - Fiction writers: Patrick Hicks, In the Shadow of Dora: A Novel of the Holocaust and the Apollo Program; Caroline Patterson, The Stone Sister; Jamie Harrison; The Center of Everything
