Tami Haaland: Breath In Every Room

This week on The Write Question, Chérie Newman talks with poet Tami Haaland. Breath In Every Room, Haaland's first collection, won the Nicholas Roerich First Book Award. During the program, Haaland reads from that collection, as well as some new poems.

In addition to working as a poet, Haaland is an associate professor of English and director of the Honors Program at Montana State University Billings. And, she co-edits Stone’s Throw Magazine.

Hear Tami Haaland on Montana Public Radio Thursday evening at 7:30. Or listen online, anytime.

Joe Hutto: The Light In High Places

Once again, Joe Hutto has written a book that allows us to experience an environment we don't normally have access to. This time it's Bighorn Sheep habitat high in the Wind River Mountain range of Wyoming.

In the mid-90s, Hutto published Illumination in the Flatwoods, his observations and reflections about raising a brood of motherless turkeys. The writing in his new book, The Light In High Places: A Naturalist Looks at Wyoming Wilderness, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Cowboys, and Other Rare Species, traverses the wide sweep of landscapes and emotions Hutto experienced during many years of gathering information for The Whiskey Mountain Bighorn Sheep Study. He also backtracks to tell a few stories about his early years in Wyoming, when snow was deep and bear encounters were frequent.

The Light In High Places combines intimate wildlife observations with intimate personal observations. And those observations shine a bright light on the disturbing environmental devastation that is occurring far, far away from the cause: our consumption-crazed urban behaviors.

The Write Question talks with Humanities Montana

In a recent interview with Humanities Montana, producer Chérie Newman talked about the objectives and challenges of expanding the program to thirty minutes. She also answered questions about the music she uses in the program, how she prepares for author interviews, and what qualities she appreciates in Montana writers.

Read the entire interview at the Humanities Montana Web site.

Samuel Ligon

This week on The Write Question, Samuel Ligon, author of Drift and Swerve and Safe In Heaven Dead, talks about writing and teaching. He also reads from his books and expresses a few opinions about MFA programs.

Tune in to hear The Write Question on Montana Public Radio at 7:30 P.M., Thursday, January 21. Or listen online.

Marianne Wiggins: The Shadow Catcher

This week The Write Question features Marianne Wiggins, former wife of Salman Rushdie and the author of nine novels. Her latest novel, The Shadow Catcher, blends the lives of historical photographer Edward Curtis and a fictional Marianne Wiggins.

During the program Wiggins tells a great story about the first time she was out in the vastness of the Great Plains by herself, and how she's glad she lived long enough to travel to Montana.

Tune in to Montana Public Radio Thursday evening at 7:30, or click here to listen online.

Paul VanDevelder re-writes history

This week on The Write Question, I talk with Paul VanDevelder about his latest book, Savages & Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America's Road to Empire Through Indian Territory.

VanDevelder is also the author of Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial That Forged a Nation, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award.

Both of these books are bound to change the way history is taught in the U.S., maybe in the world. VanDevelder's meticulous research and clear prose renders dozens of little-known publications into one very readable and fascinating book that gives us a new perspective on the process of building our nation.

Listen to The Write Question on Montana Public Radio tonight at 7:30, or online at http://www.mtpr.net/program_info/2010-01-07-541.

And thanks for your support and comments.

>> Cherie Newman, producer

The program includes music by Springhill, a Bozeman-based folk-jazz quartet, Aaron Minnick, a composition student at the University of Montana, and Michael Marsolek and Lawrence Duncan.

The Write Question is supported in part by Humanities Montana, enriching intellectual, cultural, and civic life for all Montanans.