It would be hard to choose which of these events was the most exhilarating. The writers in the Apart workshop were talented, engaged and inspiring. I always love being with the Merton folks, who are smart, dedicated, and hope-filled people. And it was deeply meaningful to see where the grandmother I loved so much lived her early life.
Meeting my second cousin Charlie for the first time, on the Wisconsin farm that has been in his family since my grandmother (whose name was Elsie) lived in the area in the early part of the 20th century.
I especially enjoyed the book events with dear, kind friends who are also excellent writers and conversation partners. For a taste of what those appearances were like, you can watch the video below of my wonderful interview with Kaethe Schwehn. Thanks to Kaethe’s great questions and lively personality, the event was both deeply meaningful and terribly fun.
After five months during which I made over 25 appearances, I’m taking a break for the next couple of months, hoping to do some new writing. I have a few events set up for the fall and will post about them later. Now, though, I’m heading up to the islands for some much-needed R & R.
Happy Summer!
Apart and Yet a Part groupat Village BooksThomas Merton & friendsat Tattered Coverover Seattle, coming home
First up is the official release–at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, at Third Place Books in Seattle’s Ravennadistrict (6504 20th Ave. NE). I’ll be talking about my experiences with solitude, going back 40 years, and how they became a book. We had a great crowd at Third Place for my previous book, The Last Grand Tour, in February. I’m hoping to see a lot of friends and readers there again.
Next up will be another return: to the lovely Eagle Harbor Book Co. (157 Winslow Way E.)on Bainbridge Island, WA. I’ll be flying solo at that one two. It begins at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15. Eagle Harbor is just a brief (and beautiful) ferry ride from downtown Seattle and then a short walk up the street.
The third of my four kickoff events will be held at Broadway Books in Portland, OR, on Tuesday, May 20. This one begins at 6 p.m. I’m especially excited for this one because I’ll be conversation with David Naimon, host of the popular and fascinating literary podcast Between the Covers.
This early flourish will end with an appearance at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, at Content Bookstore (314 Division St. S) in Northfield, MN. This one will be a special treat: I’ll be in conversation with the wonderful novelist and memoirist Kaethe Schwehn.
I’ll take a short break from book events after that to lead a 10-day workshop at the Collegeville Institute in Minnesota and speak at the International Thomas Merton Society conference in Colorado.
Then we’ll wrap up June with the following appearances:
7 p.m., Wednesday, June 25, at St. Andre Bessette (601 W Burnside St.) in Portland, OR. In my return to Portland, I’ll appear in conversation with author, priest, and University of Portland professor Pat Hannon.
4 p.m., Saturday, June 28, at Village Books (1200 11th St.) in Bellingham, WA. We had a great crowd when I appeared there with The Last Grand Tour too. This time I’ll be in conversation with Western Washington University English professor Laura Laffrado.
Other events are coming in the fall. Check my Upcoming Events page for the latest news.
I hope to see you at a bookstore somewhere!
Read a review of An Island to Myself on the Foreword Reviews site.
In his twenties, Michael N. McGregor traveled to the remote Greek island of Patmos to spend two winter months alone, 6,000 miles from home. It was a time before cellphones and the internet, when even a phone call was costly. Although he expected his solitude to be meaningful, he wasn’t prepared for how it would change him.
Before his island days, McGregor had spent years reporting on the world’s poor and months on the road. As he settled into days of rigorous writing, evening walks through fierce wind, and nights full of memories, dreams and spiritual encounters, he learned that solitude can be difficult and even dangerous, but also awe-inspiring and life-altering.
When he returned to his active life, McGregor sought solitude wherever he could—in nature, in libraries, in silent spaces—before returning to Patmos forty years later to repeat his youthful experiment.
“Solitude is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language. Many of us would prefer to avoid being alone. But when we allow solitude to take us by the hand, we realize it is a guide, a doorway we step through to discover the most consequential person in our life: our self. As we follow along in this page-turner of a book—from the Greek island of Patmos to the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, and a myriad of other places McGregor has experienced solitude—we start to understand that being still is also a way to keep moving, to keep going deeper into the discovery of our true purpose and being.”
—Judith Valente, former faith and values correspondent for PBS-TV, author of The Art of Pausing and How to Be
My new book, An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life, won’t officially be released until next Tuesday, May 13, but the first event focused on it will take place tonight. I’ll be the featured author in the Writers-in-Conversation series at the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, WA.
I established the Writers-in-Conversation series last year to focus on Northwest authors, many of whom haven’t received the attention they deserve. Normally, I choose them and interview them. For the last event in our first season, however, the museum has asked me to be interviewed. And the museum’s executive director, Sally Ralston, will do the interviewing.
You’ll find a write-up about the evening and my writing career on WritingtheNorthwest.com. To read more about the Writers-in-Conversation series and/or purchase tickets, click here.
About the series in 2024-25
In the first year of the series (August 2024-present), I’ve interviewed novelists Sharma Shields and Debra Magpie Earling, science writer Clayton Page Aldern, memoirist and journalist Putsata Reang, poet and memoirist Jessica Gigot, illustrator and children’s author Julie Kim, conversation advocate and nonfiction writer Mónica Guzmán, and fiction writer E. Lily Yu.
We’ll be taking a summer break, but the series will return on September 11, featuring an exciting author from Oregon whose name will be revealed soon.
If you live in the Seattle area, I hope to see you at the museum tonight!
The Cascadia Art Museum is the only museum dedicated to artists and their works from the Pacific Northwest. Focused on visual art and design from 1860 to 1970, it is committed to the belief that recognizing previously neglected artists who made significant contributions to the region’s cultural identity gives us a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of Northwest art history. The Writers-in-Conversation series signals the museum’s desire to highlight underappreciated NW artists in literature as well.
The Last Grand Tour‘s entrance into the world came on January 28, and its first two weeks have been far more successful than I or my publisher hoped.
On launch day, I returned to Portland State University for the first time since retiring (in 2017) from 17 years of teaching in the creative writing program there. The reason for my return was a panel discussion with my publisher (Mike Schepps), editor (Molly Simas), and book designer (Olivia Croom Hammerman) titled “From Manuscript to Marketplace: The Last Grand Tour’s Collaborative Journey.” We had a lovely turnout, with current and former students, faculty, and community members.
That evening, I appeared at Powell’s Books in downtown Portland with documentary filmmaker Brian Lindstrom interviewing me. The place was packed, with friends from many parts of my life attending, some of whom I hadn’t seen in years. A Powell’s representative told me there were 80 people there, and they sold so many books, my publisher had to run out for more.
Two days later, on January 30, I was back in the Seattle area at the Edmonds Bookshop, where 50 people showed up to hear my good friend and fellow European guide Gene Openshaw interview me.
Then, this past Thursday, Sylvia and I traveled up to snowy Bellingham, where the turnout was smaller but still filled the event space. Gene Openshaw was my partner on stage again and the conversation range even more widely, thanks to some great audience questions. We talked about everything from post-Wall European freedom to Romanticism to my development as a writer and how a fiction writer creates an imagined world.
The next event on the Last Grand Tour tour will be the book’s Seattle launch at Third Place Books in Ravenna at 7 p.m. this coming Tuesday, November 11. Click on the image below for more details.
The publication-day launch for The Last Grand Tour is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, at Powell’s Books in downtown Portland!
I hope you’ll be there!
If you can’t come, you can pre-order the book from Powell’s and they’ll send you a signed copy right after the event. Just click here.
I’m delighted to have documentary filmmaker Brian Lindstrom interviewing me that night. A few months ago, I attended a pre-release showing of Brian’s latest film, Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, and was blown away. It’s a thoroughly fascinating look at the difficult times of a terrifically talented singer-songwriter whose name and songs might have become as common as those of Joni Mitchell or James Taylor if her life had gone differently.
Lost Angel is available on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime. And Brian’s earlier documentary, Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse, is available on Kanopy. He is currently working on a documentary about the marathon program at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, OR, and a follow-up to his 2016 film Mothering Inside about the Family Preservation Project at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, OR.
I hope you’ll come out on January 28 to celebrate the release of The Last Grand Tour into the world!
The inaugural Cascadia Writers-in-Conversation evening took place last night, with the delightful and eminently charming Sharma Shields as our first featured author. In a beautiful museum setting, with Z. Vanessa Helder’s magnificent watercolors of Eastern Washington on the walls, 60+ people had the great fortune to listen to a terrifically talented writer talk in depth about her life and her work.
Among the topics Sharma discussed were: how she became a writer, how fairy tales can help us find a different path to a deeper reality, the source of her ability to write funny, a writer’s relationship to the serious issues of our times, and the importance in her life of the stories of Hans Christian Anderson (the subject of her next novel).
Sharma listens and smiles with Z. Vanessa Helder’s watercolors behind her.
She also talked at length about the development and “weirdness” of her three books–Favorite Monster, The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac, and The Cassandra. One of the evening’s many treats was Sharma’s reading of three short stories about witches that showcased her humor and love for tales as well as the unique blend of edginess and tenderness that characterizes much of her work.
The audience waits for the conversation to begin, surrounded by Helder’s watercolors.
Writers-in-Conversation events take place at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, WA, and are sponsored by the Edmonds Bookshop and the Holman Company.
Kicking things off with thank yous and the story of how the Writers-in-Conversation series came to be.
Photos by Gene Openshaw and Rod Ralston.
Note: I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local bookstores. If you buy a book through a click on this website, I’ll earn a small commission that helps defray the costs of maintainingthis website.
I’m excited to announce that starting this August, I’ll be partnering with the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, Washington (just north of Seattle), to host a new monthly series called Writers in Conversation.
On the second Thursday of each month, we’ll bring one Northwest writer in front of an enthusiastic audience for a brief reading, a lengthy discussion of his or her work, and a question-and-answer session with engaged literature lovers.
The main idea of the new series is to showcase the wealth of writing talent in the Pacific Northwest. To that end, we’ll feature writers from different genres at different stages of their careers who may have been overlooked rather than those readers already know.
Writers who appear in the series will also be featured, along with their work, on an updated and expanded version of the website WritingtheNorthwest.com.
This will be a unique chance to hear talented writers speak in-depth about what it means to be an author in the Northwest and why and how they create their works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The conversations will all take place in one of Cascadia’s beautiful galleries, with Northwest art lining the walls.
Cascadia Art Museum is the only museum dedicated to artists and their works from the Pacific Northwest. Focused on visual art and design from 1860 to 1970, it is committed to the belief that recognizing previously neglected artists who made significant contributions to the region’s cultural identity gives us a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of Northwest art history. The Writers in Conversation series signals the museum’s desire to highlight underappreciated NW artists in literature as well.
The first conversation starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, August 8. Check back later this summer for more details and to learn who our first featured writer will be.
Here’s a peek at the space we’ll fill with good conversation and an enthusiastic audience just a few months from now:
Work on the books I’ll be publishing in the coming months forced me to put my Writing the Northwest site on pause last year. But I just relaunched it with a review of my friend Mark Pomeroy’s excellent second novel, The Tigers of Lents.
As I write in my review, Mark’s novel is a “full and compelling picture of a struggling family in crisis”and “a deeply satisfying read.”
You can read the whole review here. And you can purchase the book here.
