Debra Magpie Earling and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea

Local authors Shann Ray and Sharma Shields will read poetry and prose and Debra Magpie Earling (Bitterroot Salish) will share an excerpt from her lauded new novel THE LOST JOURNALS OF SACAJEWEA.

Three writers from the Inland Northwest, Shann Ray, Sharma Shields, and Debra Magpie Earling, will read from their poetry and prose and sign books sold by Auntie’s Bookstore.

About the Presenters:

Debra Magpie Earling’s celebrated novel Perma Red was reissued by Milkweed Editions in August of 2022. Her new novel, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, was published by Milkweed in 2023. She was the first indigenous director of the University of Montana’s Writing Program and is the recipient of both a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She retired from the University of Montana as a professor emeritus in 2021. She is Bitterroot Salish.

Shann Ray’s latest titles are the multi-genre memoir The Souls of Others and the collaboration Transparent in the Backlight, which pairs Ray’s poetry with the work of internationally renowned photographer Craig W. Hergert. He is the recipient of the American Book Award, the High Plains Book Award in both poetry and fiction, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and was a Fulbright Scholar and a United National Visiting Poet. He teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University, poetry at Stanford University, and poetry for the Center for Contemplative Leadership at Princeton Theological Seminary. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.

Sharma Shields is the author of two novels, The Cassandra and The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac, and a short story collection, Favorite Monster. Her writing has received the Washington State Book Award, a Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award, an Artist Trust Fellowship, and other prizes. She is the Writing Education Specialist for Spokane Public Library.