By Virginia Volkman, Library Director
Sedona AZ (March 13, 2020) – On Wednesday, March 18, at 6 p.m. Sedona Public Library presents two authors on a joint national tour for their new books. The program features readings from Ginger Gaffney’s Half Broke and Pam Houston’s Deep Creek followed by audience questions and book signings.
Pam Houston is not only a fabulous writer, but she is a delightful and fun speaker. We are thrilled to be bringing her back to Sedona.
In Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, Houston describes her life on her ranch in Colorado—how she was, and continues to be shaped by the land, people, and animals there. Born in Pennsylvania to an actress mother and abusive father, Pam made her way west after college, making her living guiding white-tailed deer and Dall sheep hunts, running rivers and Class 5 rapids, and ski bumming.
The LA Times writes of her memoir: “Good writing can make you envious, no matter how foreign the terrain. Other times, you read a good memoir and find yourself wanting to track down the author and become friends. A third kind of book is so insightful and evocative, you shelve it beside other favorite and instructive titles. Deep Creek might just do all three.”
Pam’s stories have been selected for volumes of The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Short Stories of the Century. She teaches in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is Professor of English at UC Davis, and co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers.
Ginger Gaffney’s memoir Half Broke is about her volunteer work on an alternative prison ranch in northern New Mexico where, for 18 months, she helped inmates train and care for horses as a way of getting their own lives back on track. It was recently selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.
The horses and prisoners both arrive at the ranch broken in one way or many— the horses often abandoned and suspicious; the residents, some battling drug and alcohol addiction, emotionally, physically, and financially shattered. Ginger Gaffney’s job is to retrain the untrainable. With time, the horses and residents form a profound bond, and teach each other patience, control, and trust.
“Ginger Gaffney is a writer’s writer, a bold and original talent. This poignant, positive story of human and equine transformation subtly combines the author’s own healing with the challenge of teaching difficult people to work with deeply scared horses. The characters leap off the page and into your heart. Savor this book and then buy one for your best friend.” Anne Hillerman, author of the best-selling Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito mysteries
Sedona Public Library is proud to partner with The Literate Lizard bookstore, which will offer books for sale during the event on Wednesday, March 18 at 6:00 p.m. in the Si Birch Community Room at Sedona Public Library, 3250 White Bear Road. For more information about this free program call 928-282-7714 or visit sedonalibrary.org.