Terry Tempest Williams to Host First of Four

February 19, 2008 — Terry Tempest Williams, the University of Wyoming's first Eminent Writer-in-Residence in the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing, will host "Weather Reports" in Pinedale Friday and Saturday, March 7-8.

It is the first of four community reports to, as Williams puts it, "take the pulse of a community." Additional "Weather Reports" will be held in Casper March 28-29, the Wind River Indian Reservation/Riverton April 3-5, and Gillette May 2-3.

The Pinedale event, co-hosted by the Pinedale Fine Arts Center, is free and open to the public. It begins with a Friday night reading and discussion at 7 p.m. in the Lovatt Room of the Pinedale Library. Williams and University of Wyoming MFA students in creative writing will read from their works and engage community members in a discussion about what it means to live in their particular corner of Wyoming.

Community members will then have the opportunity to attend a Saturday writing workshop, from 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m., titled, "The Stories That Sustain Us." The workshop will explore stories and ask participants to write new material.

Author of "Refuge" and other works, Williams is an award-winning writer and wilderness advocate who has written on nature and culture. She has been credited with starting national conversations about the importance of dissent. Williams' latest book, "Mosaic: Finding Beauty in a Broken World," will be released this year.

For more information, call the Pinedale Fine Arts Center at (307) 367-7322 or e-mail pfac@wyoming.com, or call Alan Barstow of UW's MFA program at (307) 766-2867 or e-mail abarstow@uwyo.edu.