This special event is free to the public. Read our news release here.
Learn more about the many local authors and presenters who will be at Open Book on November 5. Read their biographies below and then come meet them in person and hear them speak.
TENNISON BLACK
Tennison S. Black is the author of Survival Strategies (winner of the National Poetry Series, UGA Press 2023). Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in SWWIM, Hotel Amerika, Booth, Wordgathering, and New Mobility, among others. Black received their MFA at Arizona State University. They are the Managing Editor at Sundress Publications and Best of the Net and are the editor of the anthology on contemporary disability, A Body You Talk To.
LISA DAILEY
Lisa is the owner of Silent Sidekick and Sidekick Press where she helps guide authors through their publishing journey. Lisa Dailey is an avid traveler and writer, and the author of Square Up: 50,000 Miles in Search of a Way Home. In her time abroad, she unearthed new ways of looking at her life through her discoveries in remote corners of the world and she continues to enrich her life through travel. She is currently working on a recipe anthology as well as her first work of fiction. A native Montanan, Lisa now makes her home by the ocean in Bellingham, Washington, but returns to her roots every summer for a healthy dose of mountains and Big Sky.
C. GUSTA
Teacher, writer and musician Chris Gusta lives in Bellingham. He has been published in Hoarse, Vice and various online spots. His first book that wasn’t photocopied at work, The Air is Smoky Because We Don’t Love Each Other Enough, was released in 2023 on Really Serious Lit.
THOR HANSON
Thor Hanson is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Switzer Environmental Fellow and winner of the John Burroughs Medal. At Open Book, he will present “The Biology of Climate Change” and will answer your questions. His books include Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, Buzz, The Triumph of Seeds, Feathers, and The Impenetrable Forest, as well as the illustrated children’s favorite, Bartholomew Quill. Thor’s work has been translated into a dozen languages and earned many accolades. He lives with his wife and son on an island in the Pacific Northwest.
CHLOE HOVIND
Chloe is a librarian-trained bookseller whose passion for connecting people with their stories and information they need has brought her to the world of self-publishing. Currently the Publishing Director at Village Books, she consults with local authors looking to get their books into bookstores and manages Village Books’ publishing imprint, Chuckanut Editions.
SATI MOOKHERJEE
Poet and lyricist Sati Mookherjee is the author of the poetry collections EYE (Ravenna Press) and WAYS OF BEING (Albiso Award winner, MoonPath Press). A third collection, DÉS, is forthcoming in 2025 (Pulley Press). Her collaborations with contemporary classical composers have been performed or recorded by ensemble (The Esoterics, Contemporary Chamber Composers and Players) and solo musicians (Hope Wechkin, Leaning Toward the Fiddler, Ravello Records). Her work appears in literary magazines and anthologies and has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes and awarded an Artist Trust/ Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship Award.
CAMI OSTMAN
Cami Ostman, founder of The Narrative Project, has published a memoir, Second Wind: One Woman’s Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents, and has co-authored 26.2 Life Lessons: Helping You Keep Pace with the Marathon of Life with Carol Frazey. She has co-edited several anthologies, including True Stories, Vols. I-V. She has been profiled in Fitness Magazine and her books have been reviewed in O Magazine, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post.
RENA PRIEST
Rena Priest is an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She served as the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate (2021-2023) and was named the 2022 Maxine Cushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow. Her debut collection, Patriarchy Blues, received an American Book Award. Her second collection, Sublime Subliminal, was published as the finalist for the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Her most recent book, Northwest Know-How: Beaches, includes poems, retellings of legends, and fun descriptions of 29 of the most beloved beaches in the Pacific Northwest.
RED WHEELBARROW WRITERS
READERS: Carmell a Bauman, Al Clover, Victoria Doerper, Sean Dwyer, Marian Exall, Mary Gillilan, Susan Greisen, Janet Oakley, Cami Ostman, Laura Rink, Jean Waight, Brenda Wilbee
Red Wheelbarrow Writers is a loose affiliation of working writers who produce independently, and who join together to support, encourage, and sustain one another. Located in Bellingham, Washington, the Red Wheelbarrow Writers act locally and think globally. In fostering connection among writers, they create community.
ARIANNE TRUE
Arianne True (Choctaw, Chickasaw) is a queer poet and teaching artist from Seattle and has spent most of her work time working with youth. She’s received fellowships and residencies from Jack Straw, the Hugo House, Artist Trust, and the Seattle Repertory Theater, and is a proud alum of Hedgebrook and of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She lives near the Salish Sea with her cat. Arianne is the 2023-2025 Washington State Poet Laureate.
PHOEBE WAHL
Phoebe Wahl is an award-winning children’s book author, illustrator, and surface designer whose work focuses on themes of comfort, fantasy, and intimacy with nature and one another. She grew up unschooled in Washington state and credits her free-range childhood in the Northwest for much of her inspiration and values. Her books include Sonya’s Chickens, Little Witch Hazel, The Blue House, Backyard Fairies, Paper Mice (written by Megan Wagner-Lloyd) and the recently published illustrated YA novel Phoebe’s Diary. Phoebe lives in Bellingham with her family and two rambunctious cats.
HANNAH YERINGTON
Hannah Yerington is a poet, the director of the Bolinas Poetry Camp For Girls, and a Jewish magic educator. She published her first chapbook, Sheologies, with Minerva Rising Press in April 2023. She has an MFA from Bowling Green State University and lives in Bellingham, Washington with her old angel dog, Paddington, and young imp dog, Poe.