Montana writers featured during series at Whitefish Community Library

Five writers from across Montana are set to visit the Whitefish Community Library as part of the Winter Writers Series from February through April. 

Kicking off the series on Friday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. is Montana's 10th Poet Laureate Mark Gibbons. A Montana native, Gibbons is the author of several books and is a 2013 recipient of the Montana Arts Council’s Artist Innovation Award and is the editor of the Montana Poets Series for FootHills Publishing. For four decades, Gibbons has taught poetry to a variety of citizens in Montana from one-room schools to colleges. 

In his presentation, "Place Poetry: My Montana State of Mind," Gibbons will share his and others’ poetry to enliven a discussion about place, poetry, and living in Montana.

"There is a thriving writing community in the Flathead," said Library Director Mary Drew Powers, "being supported by writers who teach, Authors of the Flathead, and the Whitefish Review, among others. I think our visitors are excited to come and see what we have going on here."

Other writers rounding out the series are: 

Feb. 26: Tami Haaland, writer, poet, and professor of Creative Writing at MSU Billings.

March 29: Caroline Patterson, novelist and former Director at Missoula Writing Collaborative.

April 5: Jess Owen, young adult novelist, at-large board member for Authors of the Flathead.

April 12: Chris La Tray, current Montana Poet Laureate.

The Winter Writers Series is sponsored by the Whitefish Library Association and Humanities Montana. 

For more information, call the library at 862-9914.