President’s Letter – Spring 2025

 

Greetings and Happy Spring!

Snow one moment, sunshine the next, plus a bit of rain – it must be spring in the Flathead!

Our new meeting space at the Glacier Unitarian Fellowship is a lovely gathering venue – 1515 Trumble Creek Rd., Kalispell. Thanks again to AotF members Glenn and Barbara Schiffman and Shira Marin for arranging this for us.

The presenters for the 35th Flathead River Writers Conference will be on the website in the next day or so. Lead Coordinator Claudia Bennet has a wonderful and diverse set of speakers on tap for us. Registration for AotF Members begins April 20 and non-Members May 10 at authorsoftheflathead.org.

Since Claudia has taken the lead on the conference, we are in need of someone to replace her as grant writer for the Whitefish Community Foundation. Let me know if you’d consider this and I’ll connect you with Claudia to find out what’s involved.

Barbara and Glenn Schiffman continue their Story Concerts to celebrate National Library Week with three this week – April 8, 9 & 12 – Flathead Story Concert “marathon” at 3 Flathead Libraries featuring Authors of the Flathead members at Flathead County Libraries in Bigfork, Columbia Falls & Kalispell. A dozen true personal stories — crafted in the style of “The Moth Radio Hour” and PBS-TV’s “Stories From the Stage” — will be shared live! All 3 events are free and open to the public. The stories are family friendly, but not “children’s stories.”

At each library, four stories will be told. Many of the invited Tellers are AofF members. Most have participated in previous Story Concerts and will reprise some of “FSC greatest hits.” A few new Tellers from Barb and Glenn’s 2024 storycrafting workshops will debut their stories. Tellers include: Robbie Cale (poet), Katie Carey, Linda Fine Hunt, Christine Marshall, Phil Marshall, Craig Thomas Naylor, Dixon Rice, Glenn Schiffman, Alan Solum, Ann Trinca, Joe Weber, and Heidi Wolf.

  • Tuesday 4/8 (6-7pm) at the Bigfork Library
  • Wednesday 4/9 (6-8pm) at the Columbia Falls Library;
  • Saturday 4/12 (1-2pm) at the Kalispell Library (2nd floor).

Get library locations and more info at:

https://FlatheadStoryConcerts.wootick.com – Flathead Story Concerts

The Montana Writers Rodeo Conference will be held in Helena on May 9 & 10 and will feature Kathy Dunnehoff and Jess E. Owen, two of Authors of the Flathead’s more widely published writers. This is a wonderful conference put on by folks that work closely with Authors of the Flathead and have, in the past, featured AotF writers Debbie Burke, Glenn Schiffman, Barbara Schiffman, and others. For more info: https://www.montanaplaywrights.org/.

Take care and Write On!

Craig