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NEWPORT — Bestselling author Timothy Egan will visit Newport and Metaline Falls this month to discuss his acclaimed book “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America.” The event is hosted by the Pend Oreille County Library District as part of its annual Pend Oreille County Reads program.
Egan is an acclaimed writer and veteran chronicler of the American experience, whose interests range wide across history and landscape and into the spiritual realm. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, a popular columnist and a National Book Award-winning author of 11 books.
His books have inspired popular documentaries and found their way into many classrooms. “The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl” led to the Ken Burns film “The Dust Bowl” and won the National Book Award. Walter Cronkite called it “can’t-put-it-down history.” Egan is also the author of “Breaking Blue,” the true story of Newport police officer George Conniff who interrupted a burglary of the Newport Creamery in 1935. When he confronted the two men, one of them opened fire. Officer Conniff died the next day from his wounds. The incident became the longest-running murder investigation in the nation.
The subject of Egan’s visit will be his book, “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America,” a parable of a natural world in tumult. It was a New York Times bestseller and the basis for the PBS documentary of the same name. In both films, Egan is featured prominently.
“The Big Burn” is available to borrow in print at all Pend Oreille County Libraries, and as an eBook or audiobook via the library’s free apps, Libby and Hoopla.
Egan will lead discussions and Q&A sessions on Monday, June 16 at two locations: the Cutter Theatre, located at 302 Park St., Metaline Falls, at noon and Create Art Center, located at 900 4th St., Newport, at 6 p.m. A light lunch will be served before the Metaline Falls event at 11:30 a.m., and light refreshments will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. in Newport.
For questions about the event, contact Library Director Mandy Walters at [email protected] or call 800-366-3654 ext. 502.
