Whitefish Review Presents Author Doug Peacock, September 23, 2022
Whitefish Review will present a reading and discussion with author Doug Peacock on Friday, September 23. He will read selections from his new book, Was it Worth It? A Wilderness Warrior’s Long Trail Home, published by Patagonia Book
Author, Vietnam veteran, filmmaker, and naturalist, Doug Peacock has published widely on wilderness issues. Peacock was a Green Beret medic and the real-life model for Edward Abbey’s George Washington Hayduke in The Monkey Wrench Gang. Peacock is best known for his book Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness, a memoir of his time observing grizzly bears in the western U.S. in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
In this new collection of gripping stories of adventure, Peacock reflects on a life lived in the wild, asking the question many ask in their twilight years: “Was It Worth It?”
Recounting sojourns with Abbey, but also Peter Matthiessen, Doug Tompkins, Jim Harrison, Yvon Chouinard and others, Peacock observes that what he calls “solitary walks” were the greatest currency he and his buddies ever shared. He asserts that “solitude is the deepest well I have encountered in this life,” and the introspection it affords has made him who he is: a lifelong protector of the wilderness and its many awe-inspiring inhabitants.
The event happens at Casey’s in downtown Whitefish, Montana, 101 Central Avenue. Doors open at 6:30 pm with live music by local singer/songwriter David Walburn and legendary local multi-instrumentalist and slide guitarist, Michael Atherton. Walburn recently released his sixth CD, “My Embrace,” a collection of fifteen songs, all written and recorded in David’s home studio in Whitefish, Montana. Readings and Q/A begin at 7:30 pm with Doug and editors of Whitefish Review. Book signing and more music will conclude the evening from 8:30 to 9:30 pm.
A $10 entry donation is suggested to support the non-profit journal.
Whitefish Review Launches Issue #27, “The Vortex”June 23 Event Features Legendary Montana Writers and Local High School Student
WHITEFISH, Mont. (June 14, 2022) — Whitefish Review will launch its 27th issue “The Vortex” on Thursday, June 23, 2022 at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake tent pavilion on the shores of Whitefish Lake. The event will feature readings by the Poet Laureate of Montana, Mark Gibbons, Montana Book Award winner, Chris La Tray, and Whitefish High School student, Gracie Hickman.
“The past two years have certainly stirred things up, spinning us all around in circles and creating a lot of confusion,” says founding editor Brian Schott. “In this issue, we seek center spaces inside the storm where there is calm. What is lost and what is found? Ultimately, we seek to use the power of art and literature to bridge boundaries and provide community.”
Issue #27 features 40 writers, artists, and photographers from 13 different states, as well as international submissions from Finland, Germany, and Switzerland. The issue also features a short essay and interview with Garrison Keillor, as well as an interview with retired NFL hall of fame quarterback Drew Bledsoe, conducted on the chairlift at Whitefish Mountain Resort this winter.
Mark Gibbons’ custom “Vortex” poem sets the pace for the issue, including a merry band of Montana poets that includes Robert Lee, Sheryl Noethe, Kurt Sobolik, and David E. Thomas. Poets Ana Maria Spagna and Ron Smith also contribute work. A 1919 poem by W.B Yeats, one of the leading Western poets of the 20th century, is also featured.
Chris La Tray’s essay dives into the echoes of displacement from land stolen from the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in the modern day. Gracie Hickman shares an essay about growing up and mental health.
Gibbons is the author of eleven collections of poetry. He received an Artist Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council in 2013 and is the current poetry editor of “The Montana Poets Series” for FootHills Publishing. His latest book, In the Weeds, was published by the Drumlummon Institute in 2021.
La Tray is a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North, and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. His third book, Becoming Little Shell, will be published by Milkweed Editions in 2023.
Hickman is a student at the Whitefish Independent High School and fifth generation of Whitefish. She won the Jobs for Montana’s Graduates essay contest, from which her essay is adapted.
Other features include an excerpt from Doug Peacock’s new book, Was it Worth It: A Wilderness Warrior’s Long Trail Home (Patagonia Books, 2022), and an excerpt from Butch Larcombe’s book Montana Disasters: True Stories of Treasure State Tragedies and Triumphs (Far Country Press, 2021). Chrysti “the Wordsmith” Smith opens the issue with a dive into the language of the vortex and its word origins.
Local singer/songwriter John Dunnigan will provide live musical entertainment at the event. Doors open at 6:30 pm for cocktails and music and readings begin at 8 pm. A season pass to Whitefish Mountain Resort will be raffled, as well as a silent auction for framed photography by Sean R. Heavey. The event will also be live-streamed on the Review’sFacebook page.
The cover of the issue is a composite photo created by overlaying two images of a supercell thunderstorm building in intensity, shot one hour apart in 2010 on the Hi-Line near Hinsdale, Montana by Sean R. Heavey.
The evening is sponsored by Humanities Montana, The Whitefish Community Foundation, Glacier Bank, and The Lodge at Whitefish Lake. A $10 entry donation is suggested to support the non-profit journal.
Whitefish Review publishes art and literature that explores the landscapes of the human condition, our connection to the natural world, and illuminates how the confluence of art and science alongside the complex issues of our planet and people is vital for the health of all beings.
As a recognized nonprofit corporation created for the public good, it is supported by generous donations and grants. Copies of Whitefish Review are available by subscription or in bookstores, as well as for order online at www.whitefishreview.org. ###
Cover photography by Sean R. Heavey. “Paths Crossing and The Mothership” is a composite photo created by overlaying two images of a supercell thunderstorm building in intensity, shot one hour apart in 2010 on the Hi-Line near Hinsdale, Montana.
