Author

Portland author David F. Walker and illustrator Marcus Kwame Anderson have worked together before - on a 2021 graphic novel about the Black Panther Party. This time they’ve teamed up on something a little different: an update of the classic American novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” In their version, “Big Jim and the White Boy,” the escaped slave Jim is more than just Huck’s companion; he’s a fully imagined character. Walker joins us to talk about the work of updating an American classic.

Amy Tan might be best known for her fiction, including “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Kitchen God’s Wife,” but her latest book takes its drama from her backyard bird feeder. In 2019, Tan began drawing birds she saw in nature, particularly the ones who visited her tree-filled backyard in Northern California. The result is a book of reflections, observations, detailed drawings and cartoon sketches called “The Backyard Bird Chronicles.” Tan talks to us in front of an audience of students at Franklin High School.

Shore was incarcerated in a predominantly white prison in the Pacific Northwest. In his memoir, he explores learning to meditate and create a safe space internally to heal.

The award winning poet, writer and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s genius lies in making connections between the astonishments of the natural world and the particular wonders of her own — and all of our — lives. Nezhukumatathil is the author of four collections of poems, including “Oceanic," and her latest book, a bestselling collection of essays, is called “World of Wonders.” Nezhukumatathil is a professor of English at the University of Mississippi, and joins us in front of an audience of students at McDaniel High School.

Author Sasha LaPointe's book 'Thunder Song' examines the intersection of Indigenous ancestry, Coast Salish history, queerdom and punk.

Bobbie Scopa talks about her experience as a transgender woman in the macho world of wildland firefighting in a new memoir.

Eugene author Bob Welch discusses his book “Seven Summers (and a few Bummers): My Adventures on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail.”

Michael Pollan has spent much of his career writing about the sometimes surprising relationship between plants and humans. His newest book, “This Is Your Mind on Plants,” focuses on three different plants and how they affect our brains. Opium, coffee, and mescaline could all be considered powerful drugs, or simply beautiful plants, or something much more mystical.

Poet Robert Bly, who authored the men’s movement classic “Iron John,” has died.

Thomas Edison and other noted American scientists traveled out west to watch the eclipse of 1878. It was the dawn of the age of science in America.