SOLD OUT: Whatcom READS Presents the Chuckanut Radio Hour Featuring Jess Walter at the Hotel Leo!

Join us in the Crystal Ballroom of the Hotel Leo for an evening of music, comedy, poetry, libations, and a conversation with Jess Walter! Village Books is proud to produce this event as part of the Whatcom READS author series. Jess Walter will be interviewed by Dave Tucker, current Secretary of the Whatcom-Skagit Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

It is 1909 in Spokane, Washington. The Dolan brothers are living by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his dashing older brother Gig dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. When Rye finds himself drawn to suffragette Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, her passion sweeps him into the world of protest and dirty business. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all . . .

An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice, and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams. Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, it is a tour de force from a "writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors" - Boston Globe.

"Consider this book a train ticket to a past time and place. In addition to boldly voiced characters and dramatic suspense, in this century-ago tale of labor rights and wealth inequality readers will find plenty of modern relevance." - Booklist (starred review)

"Another triumph for the versatile novelist behind Beautiful Ruins. - Washington Post

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the best-selling author of seven novels, two book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 34 languages, and his fiction has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories, as well as the Pushcart Prize and Best American Nonrequired Reading. His stories, essays and journalism have appeared in, Harper's, Esquire, Playboy, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others.

Walter has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award (for The Zero and We Live in Water), the Washington State Book Award (The Cold Millions) and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize (The Zero) and the PEN/USA Award in both fiction (The Zero) and nonfiction (Every Knee Shall Bow). His novel Beautiful Ruins was a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the bestseller list. It was also Esquire's Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air's Novel of the Year. The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time Magazine's #2 novel of the year and Walter's story collection, We Live in Water, was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award.
Walter lives with his wife Anne and children in Spokane, Washington.

Dave Tucker is the Secretary of the Whatcom-Skagit Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World for 2023. He is a retired roof maintenance worker and has been a union member since 1981.

Musical guest: Linda Allen is a songwriter, performer, and member of the Whatcom/Skagit IWW. She also served as a national board member of Local 1000, the American Federation of Musicians.
Her work now includes serving as a therapeutic musician with Hospice of the Northwest, as well as continuing to record and perform. She’ll be celebrating the release of her newest CD, “Emergence”, with a concert on Saturday, March 4th at 6:30pm at the Firehouse in Fairhaven, a benefit for the Bellingham Food Bank. She’ll be joined by eleven of the musicians who worked on “Emergence” including our own Phil Heaven and Louis Ledford, who will be joining her tonight.

Doors open and music begins at 6:30pm!

*Online registration closes one hour prior to the event. Spaces may be available at the door.

The Chuckanut Radio Hour, a recipient of Bellingham's prestigious Mayor's Arts Award, is a radio variety show that began in January 2007. Each Chuckanut Radio Hour includes guest authors, musicians, performance poet Kevin Murphy, and episodes of "As the Ham Turns" serial radio comedy performed by the Chuckanut Radio Players Les Campbell, Tonja Meyers, Lisa Colburn, Dee Robinson, and Robert Muzzy. Not to mention groaner jokes by hosts Paul Hanson, Kelly Evert, and announcer Rich Donnelly. The Chuckanut Radio Hour's first guest was Erik Larson and has since included, Tom Robbins, Maria Semple, Christopher McDougall, Erica Bauermeister, and Garrison Keillor, among many others. Tickets for the Chuckanut Radio Hour are $5 and are available on Eventbrite.  You can listen to previously recorded programs Sundays at 7pm on KMRE 102.3 FM.  Co-sponsored by 12th Street Shoes, and Westside Pizza.