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The Utah Humanities Council’s Eighth Annual Memoir and Interview
Volunteers - The Great Salt Lake Book Festivalis in need of volunteers. If you would like to help, please click here.
If you are a book seller or representative of a literary organization and would like to exhibit at this event, please click here for an exhibitor's application. For more information, please contact Rebecca Batt at 801-359-9670 or by email at batt@utahhumanities.org. Please click the links below for more information on past festivals. |
This
presentation broadcast live on 
Rick Bass is the author of twenty-one books, including Where the Sea Used to Be and Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had. His stories have been awarded the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award and have been collected in The Best American Short Stories. The Diezmo: A Novel is his second novel. Bass lives in the Yaak Valley of Montana. Mr. Bass’s appearance in Salt Lake City is made possible by a generous grant from the Utah State Library Division. (Saturday,
2:00 – 2:50,
Main Auditorium). 
Leonard
Bird is the author of Folding Paper Cranes, a haunting
memoir that details Bird’s journey from the radioactive dust and
mushroom clouds of nuclear weapons tests in Nevada to the bronze and
ivory memorials for the dead in Hiroshima. Bird, himself a survivor of
radiation-induced cancer, seeks to make peace with his past and with
a future shadowed by nuclear proliferation. Bird is professor emeritus
of English at Fort Lewis College, where he spent thirty-four wonderful
years teaching Shakespeare. Bird won a number of outstanding teaching
awards and, along the way, did all in his power to corrupt young minds.
Bird's publications include a book of poetry, River of Lost Souls and
a three-act play, Who is Gordon Mendez? He is currently completing
a second book of poetry and writing a linked series of short memoirs
of his childhood in east San Diego. His wife, the artist Jane Leonard,
created the monoprint illustrations for Folding Paper Cranes.
They live in Durango, Colorado. Mr. Bird will present with Peter DeLafosse,
history acquistions editor for the
Meg
Brady is founder of YourStory: Record and Remember, an oral
history project. She will be interviewing and recording sample CDs for
the public at the Book Festival – be sure to sign up! YourStory
is devoted to the recording and preservation of the life stories of ordinary
Utahns today. At a time when interest in genealogy and personal history
is growing rapidly, the project also offers an easy way for families
to preserve the actual voices of an older generation. In a recording
studio at the Museum of Utah Art and History, trained facilitators help
visitors record interviews with older relatives and friends and aid individuals
in providing a lasting legacy of their own stories for families and loved
ones. A second YourStory recording studio has recently opened at the
Huntsman Cancer Institute, where patients and their families have the
chance to record their stories as they wait for doctor's appointments
or undergo chemotherapy. In addition, soon a YourStorymobile, equipped
with its own recording studio, will visit areas all over Utah in an effort
to preserve the stories of all Utahns. With the storytellers' permission,
all these recordings are archived at the University of Utah 's Marriott
Library. Dr. Brady is a professor of English at the University. For more
information, please go to 
Betsy
Burton will present her memoir, The King's English: Adventures
of an Independent Bookseller. Burton is the owner of The King's
English Bookstore, founded in 1977 in Salt Lake City. An avid reader
and lover of literature, Burton is passionate about keeping independent
bookstores alive and well in the world. She was named Bookseller of the
Year in 2001 by Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association and Utah
Woman Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women
Business Owners in 2004. Betsy regularly writes reviews and blurbs for Book
Sense, does weekly radio reviews for regional NPR affiliates and
commercial radio and television programs, and gives book talks and presentations
for various professional and community groups. She is also the co-author
and co-editor of The Inkslinger, a newsletter now nationally
known in the book business. This is her first book. Burton will present “The
King’s English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller” (Saturday,
12:00 – 12:50,
Conference Room C). 
Peter H. DeLafosse is acquisitions editor at the University
of Utah
Press where he focuses on books related to Utah and Western
history. He has edited books and has authored book reviews and
articles related to Western history. He is a member of the Utah
Westerners, the Western History Association, the Mormon history
Association, and the Friends of the J. Willard Marriott Library. He
has served as president of the Utah Westerners and has served as
chair of the Friends of the J. Willard Marriott Library. He will interview
Leonard Bird, uthor of "Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir",
which he
acquired for the press (12:00 - 12:50, Conference Room A/B).
Jana
Richman new book, Riding in the Shadows of Saints is
a story about her journey across the Mormon Trail in search of the faith
that brought peace to five generations of women before her. Richman left
the church many years ago “because the presence of men there was
stronger than the presence of God.” Writing with searing candor
and a beguiling lack of sentimentality, Richman searches for a clearer
understanding of how her devoutly Mormon mother is able to reconcile
an independent spirit and inner strength with her intense belief in this
patriarchal institution. Richman also begins to confront her own long-held
prejudices about the Mormon Church. She is an award-winning writer and
avid motorcyclist. (Saturday, 10:00 – 10:50, Conference Room
L1). 
Mark
Spragg is author of Where Rivers Change Direction,
a memoir that won a Mountains and Plans Booksellesr award, and The
Fruit of Stone, a novel. Spragg’s second novel, An Unfinished
Life, has been made into a film directed by Lasse Halstrom and starring
Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman. Spragg wrote the screenplay for this
film in partnership with his wife, Virginia. His novels continue in the
fine tradition of western writing. His language is concise, plotting
fast-paced, and characters always memorable. Spragg lives in Cody, Wyoming. (Saturday,
11:00-11:50, Main Auditorium) 
Richard
Menzies is both a writer and professional photographer, whose
twin talents are featured in his book Passing Through: An Existential
Journey Across America’s Outback. Richard will be presenting
a slide show titled “Terra Incognita.” Ride along with Richard
in his vintage VW van as he ventures beyond the pavement and neon on
a journey of discovery into deepest, darkest Nevada. Along the way, we’ll
encounter a host of offbeat characters, including a prospector who pans
for wedding rings in the Truckee River, a footless hitchhiker, a “mad” scientist
who creates lightning bolts, and a worldly hobo who reveals, for the
first time, Elizabeth Taylor’s “real” name. Menzies
will present “Terra Incognita: Slides and Visual Imagery from Passing
Through: An Existential Journey across America’s Outback.” (Saturday,
3:00 -3:50, Conference Room C.) 