I started my career in book publishing, working at Bloomsbury in London and publishing my first book over there, but when I moved back to the States I figured I’d have to leave that world behind—the great majority of book publishing is centered around New York City, and I was moving back to the West Coast. So imagine my delight when, four years later, I moved to Bellingham and discovered that the North Sound is a hotbed of literary activity! We have so many fabulous authors, but (perhaps more importantly; certainly more unusually) we also have so many wonderful independent bookstores and engaged readers and writing instructors and students of all ages…all of which make up this wonderful literary community to surround and support our local authors.
This month, I’ve asked two of our independent booksellers to help us shine a spotlight on the North Sound’s talented writers—they’ve also shared some thoughts about why we should read local authors and how the literary scene here affects our overall community.
Photograph by Anne Godenham
“As a bookstore owner and a reader, I greatly value local authors for the work and perspectives they contribute to our literary communities,” says Michelle Gale, owner of Book Shucker in Bow and publisher at Raspberry Bow Press. “Especially when their subject matter is familiar to us, through the places or food or people they write about, we get to see our own worlds reflected back to us.”
That concept, “our own worlds reflected back to us,” is such an essential draw of books—whether memoir or literary fiction, YA novels or cookbooks. We look for ourselves in characters, scenarios, choices…everything we read opens our minds simultaneously to other people and to our own emotional experience. Layer in the scenery and culture we’re surrounded by every day, and that reflection is even more powerful.
As Sara Farish, owner of Darvill’s Bookstore in Eastsound, puts it: “I personally like to read local authors because it’s a way of seeing our local culture and characters and place from someone else’s perspective. And if it’s good writing, then it has the power to deepen my connection to the place I call home and also strengthen my relationship to the community.”
Photograph by Anne Godenham
While Annie Dillard‘s historical novel “The Living” is perhaps the most famous example of a local setting (including New Whatcom, which eventually became Bellingham) in fiction, beloved La Conner author Tom Robbins was also known for “captur[ing] the misty mysticism and rain-soaked eccentricity of this region,” as the Seattle Times put it. More recently, novels like “Elita,” by Kristen Sunberg Lunstrum and memoirs like Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe’s “Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk” have picked up that mantle.
And it’s not just adult books that mirror our surroundings and experiences; some of our favorite local authors write books to entertain and educate children. Julie Trimingham and Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley’s “Our Hearts Beat as One (Sa’le Q’ewet Netse-lh)” tells the story of the orca Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, also known as Tokitae or Lolita, in both English and Xwelmi Chosen (with translation by Na-tak-ul-tan Tino Kurtz). Phoebe Wahl has been sharing her stunning illustrations and delightful stories with local children for over a decade, and Courtney Shannon Strand’s “Ella’s Umbrella” is a nightly favorite in my house (and, I imagine, many others).
Living among so much talent can also bring with it a little thrill of celebrity, both amplified and tempered by the small community we live in.
Photograph by Anne Godenham
“When you see an admired local poet in the grocery store contemplating the produce,” says Farish, “suddenly they are filled out as a person, much like we all have many facets of our lives that are hidden from each other.”
So if you’re not already reading local authors (and buying their books at local independent bookstores), consider this your nudge. And if you have a favorite author from our region who’s not mentioned here, send me your recommendation via email or message us on socials so we can add them to our local TBR!
More Local Authors to Know
There are so many more wonderful writers than we have room for here—the best way to discover them is to ask your local booksellers! But to get you started, here are some more local authors (across all genres and in no particular order) to look into:
- Robert Lopresti
- Tony Moceri
- Teri Hall
- Richard Bach
- Becky Mandelbaum
- Sati Mookherjee
- John D’Onofrio
- Nicole Kimberling
- Heidi Beierle
- Erin Benzakein
- Paige Towers
- Rob Einaudi
- Jane Wong
- Curtis F. Smith
- Seán Dwyer
- McKenzie Funk
- Kristin Noreen
- Eric Dargitz
Some of my favorite local authors include Skagit-based Jessica Gigot, a poet and a farmer, and children’s book author Phoebe Wahl, the creator of beautiful and fantastic worlds filled with witches, fairies, and woodland creatures. Both bring particular Northwest flavors to their work. – Michelle Gale, Book Shucker
My favorite local author is Sam Gailey. Sam’s book Come Away from Her is soooo good! I also love the poetry of Jill McCabe Johnson and Quinn Bailey, both from Orcas Island. – Sara Farish, Darvill’s Bookstore
