Please join the Lopez Island Library for a celebration of the life and work of author Ivan Doig who passed away on April 9. This event will be held in the Lopez Library’s main salon. The highlight of the program will be a reading and discussion by Doig biographer and local Lopez Island author Elizabeth Simpson. Simpson’s “Earthlight, Wordfire: The Work of Ivan Doig” (available at the library and at the Lopez Bookshop) is a comprehensive study of his work, his landscapes and his literary weavings of place in American life. We are very grateful for her participation.

The Lopez Island Library has more than 25 of his books in its collection. His first book, “This House of Sky,” was a finalist for the 1979 National Book Award. The western landscape and people play an important role in Doig’s fiction, with much of it set in the Montana country of his youth. The first three Montana novels – “English Creek,” “Dancing at the Rascal Fair” and “Ride with Me,” “Mariah Montana” form the “McCaskill trilogy,” covering the first century of Montana’s statehood from 1889 to 1989. In 2007, he won the prestigious Wallace Stegner Award, which recognizes persons who have “made a sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West.” He was also the recipient of the Western Literature Association’s Lifetime Distinguished Achievement award. His most recent books are “The Bartender’s Tale” published in 2012, and “Last Bus to Wisdom,” which will be published this year. In an interview with Powell’s Books in Oregon, Ivan Doig was asked why he became a writer. He replied: “A lifetime of reasons, but here’s one: for the love of language and that daily tryst of the pair of us, it and me, creating something that did not exist before.” We encourage all who have read, continue to discover and admire  Doig, to join us for this special afternoon.

If you have questions regarding this event contact Jen Krajack at the Lopez Island Library or any of the library staff, 468-2265.