Booklovers’ Cafe

(Airdate: October 10, 2023) Booklovers’ is pleased to talk to author Jane Haigh about her latest Green New Deal novel, Waiting for the Storm. This book uniquely imagines an area in New Hampshire 40 years from now that has made the infrastructure changes necessary to survive a climate-change-driven hurricane. What is particularly fascinating about this story is the way a small group of ordinary people get together to work in local politics and businesses and make positive changes in transportation, housing, and energy – a lesson that our area is also working towards. None of these solutions is science fiction.

(Airdate: November 7, 2023) Cris Wilson welcomes author, storyteller and old time musician Mitch Luckett to Booklovers’ Cafe. Mitch‘s latest novel titled Holy Roller Heart is set in the Missouri Ozarks. The Portland Tribune says anyone with a taste for bazaar fiction will have plenty to feast on in these pages. I certainly agree. This story is set in the 1950s where a 13-year-old Moses Grady Witt is trying to straddle a barbwire fence between Pentecostal zealotry and Ozarkian witchery. The strain at times almost rips our hero apart. Mitch himself spent the first 12 years of his life on a hardscrabble farm in hills of Missouri. He eventually settled on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, and has been a hod carrier, preschool teacher, landscaper, school bus, driver, and the Portland Audubon Nature sanctuary’s Director. He has also written two books set on the Olympic peninsula titled To kill a Common Loon and The Man in the Loon!

(Airdate: September 12, 2023) Cris Wilson interviews Brendan Basham, who was born in Alaska and raised in Northern Arizona. He is part Din‘é of the Big Water Clan. This novel follows the fantastic journey of a young man from the high plateau to a seaside village where he seeks refuge and is taken in by a family of brujas. The language is rich with imagery and emotion. There are questions to be answered and hope and redemption on the other side.

(Airdate: August 29, 2023) Dott Kelly is a long-time resident of Port Townsend, a child therapist, and most recently the author of an important new book, Being Found: Healing the Very Young through Relationship and Play Therapy. In 1999, Dott founded Jumping Mouse Children’s Center here in Port Townsend, which focuses on providing therapy and treatment for children ages 2-1/2 through 12 who have suffered trauma. At Jumping Mouse, she has trained and supervised over 60 therapists. Now she has published a book on her approach so that others in the profession can gain critical insight into these very difficult situations and help families develop a positive pathway forward.

(Airdate: August 15, 2023) Cris Wilson talks to Olympic Peninsula poet and friend of Poet Mike O’Connor, Tim McNulty about the recently published poetry collection, Old Growth. Mike was the author of twelve books of poetry, stories and translations from the Chinese. The poems celebrate living simply, holding friends close, and honoring the earth. These lyric poems are of a special place we know and the place we don’t know.

(Reprise airdate: August 1, 2023) Host Cris Wilson talks to C. Nielson Taylor, author of Being Human, a young adult novel of a child raised by animals in the forest.

(Airdate: July 18, 2023) Cris welcomes back up-and-coming Pacific Northwest author Jennifer Gold. They will be talking about her latest novel Halfway to You. This book addresses the themes of betrayal and forgiveness mixed with emotional and physical distance. A love affair that spans a lifetime and set in Paris, Greece, Rome, and the South Pacific as well as right here in the Salish Sea. Jennifer has won awards for her discussable book club fiction. Her past work includes The Ingredients of Us and Keep Me Afloat.

(Airdate: June 20, 2023) Booklover’s Cafe welcomes back New York Times bestselling author, Erica Bauermeister.  Her latest novel, No Two Persons, is definitely a Cris Pick! This story involves a single book read over the course of ten years by nine different people. How these people react and are influenced by the book is the concept. Unique and intriguing people, a variety of original settings and the way that these characters are tangentially connected make this book one of Erica’s best. “Wandering is a gift given only to the lost” Erica is also the author of “The Scent Keeper and House Lessons”.

(Airdate: May 23, 2023) Rebecca Anderson comes to Booklovers’ Cafe to introduce her new historical novel The Great Promise. This book was inspired by Rebecca’s family and stories about life in Eastern Washington during the building of the Grand Coulee Dam during the depression years of the mid thirties. “A great read from characters to description and authenticity throughout.”

(Airdate: April 25, 2023) Cris talks science and finds out what poo can do for you from author and microbiologist Bryn Nelson, PhD.  The book is titled Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure. There are many aha moments as Bryn addresses human health concerns as well as the benefits of recycling and reusing human waste as we face together a need to rapidly change the way we live to preserve our planet. If you enjoy the work of Mary Roach then this book is for you. Cris thanks Port Townsend advocate Carol McCreary of PHLUSH: Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human for introducing her to Bryn Nelson.