Montana Book Festival 2017

Join Keir Graff as he reads from his new book "The Matchstick Castle," a wild and whimsical adventure not to be missed.  Kids of all ages can come along to Boring, Illinois, where Brian's summer vacation takes a turn that is, well, anything but boring!! 

Eric Scott Fischl's novel The Trials of Solomon Parker utilizes speculative historical fiction and the supernatural to tell the story of an old, broken man deep in debt to some evil characters in Butte, Montana, in 1916 and his encounter with "the gods of the People." Eric, who resides in the Bitterroot Mountains, has also written Dr. Potter's Medicine Show.

Sean McDaniel's debut novel Criminal Zoo follows the life of a serial killer from his abused childhood to his capture and incarceration in a government-run torture facility. Sean resides in Billings where he works as a fitness trainer. 

P.R. Oliver, a graduate of the University of Montana School of Law, currently works as an attorney in Billings, Montana. An army brat born in California and raised in Virginia, P.R. also attended Washington and Lee University and received degrees from Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. Before attending law school, P.R. spent twelve years in the computer business in a variety of capacities and lived or worked in various locales--which provided plenty of background when writing his new mystery Citizens Ununited: A Novel. In the mystery, heroine Alexandra Pipe, a former Montana rodeo star, uncovers evidence of a sinister plot by a super PAC hidden in computer files while working for a defense contractor. Once the super PAC gets wind of her investigation, they take out a contract on her.

Timothy Brown extensively drew from life and work experience when writing his novel Maya Hope. For many years, he has worked as an orthopaedic surgeon and medical missionary for Operation Blessing, Mercy Ships, and Hope Force International. His work has taken him throughout Latin America, Asia and the Caribean. Maya Hope (2016), his first novel, narrates the adventures of Dr. Nicklaus Hart in the backwater villages of Guatamala as he discovers something dreadfully wrong with the health of the local populations that he cannot explain or figure out. Timothy backs up his "what-if" scenario with layers of believable science and human nature. The second of the Nicklaus Hart series, The Tree of Life, is scheduled for release later this fall. Timothy now resides in Western Montana. 

David Carpenter sets many of his stories in the wilderness of the north country far. A native of Saskatoon,Saskatchewan, David's latest novel--The Gold--spins the yarn of an Englishman who emigrates to Canada to prospect for gold in the 1930s. David's previous release, The Education of Augie Merasty, placed 4th on Canada's National Posts's annual "99 Best Books of the Year." David has also won the prestigious Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence, a BURT Award for Indigenous cullture, and the Prime of Life Achievement Award from the University of Saskatchewan.

Francis Davis of Dillon, MT, reads from his new collection of short stories, West of Love,

Montana Poet Laureate Lowell Jaeger teaches creative writing at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, Montana. He is author of six collections of poems: War On War  (Utah State University Press, 1988), Hope Against Hope (Utah State University Press 1990), Suddenly Out of a Long Sleep (Arctos Press, 2009), WE (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2010), How Quickly What's Passing Goes Past (Grayson Books, 2013) and Driving the Back Road Home (Shabda Press, 2015). He is founding editor of Many Voices Press and recently edited New Poets of the American West, an anthology of poets from western states. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, winner of the Grolier Poetry Peace Prize, and recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Montana Arts Council. In 2010, Jaeger was awarded the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award for his work in promoting civil civic discourse.