Introducing The Spokesman-Review’s Northwest Passages Book Club

The Spokesman-Review is launching a community book club to celebrate and enjoy great authors and stories of the Northwest. We invite our readers to join us for evenings of exploration, adventure and conversation.

Here’s how it works: The Northwest Passages Book Club will host community book events. You can join us in person, online or participate on your own to share our common read selections.

We’ll be featuring some of Spokane’s best books and authors, and we’ll bring in great storytellers from elsewhere as well.

Save the date for the first book club nights at the Spokesman:

Nov. 16 - Writing Spokane and the West: an evening of words and wine with author Shawn Vestal

Vestal just won the top prize at the Washington State Book Awards for his debut novel, “Daredevils.” One judge for the annual fiction prize, awarded by the Washington Center for the Book, described “Daredevils” as a beautifully written “literary novel that tackles timely issues with a female protagonist that doesn’t need a man to rescue her.”

Vestal will discuss his books and his work as a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He also is the author of “Godforsaken Idaho,” a 2013 story collection that won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and a contributor to the new “Pie & Whiskey” anthology by Sasquatch Books.

The 7 p.m. book club event will be at The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside Ave., on Nov. 16.

Admission is free but tickets are required.

Dec. 6 - “American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West” by Nate Blakeslee

This critically acclaimed new book explores the controversial reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park and the West. The author focuses on the queen of Yellowstone, a wolf known as “O-Six” who inspired both fear and legions of fans. Best-selling author Margaret Atwood describes “American Wolf” as “gripping and fascinating.”

Blakeslee, a writer at large for Texas Monthly magazine, comes to Spokane for a special book club night from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Spokesman-Review. Admission is free, but tickets are required. Get them here.

Start reading now: Auntie’s Bookstore has both authors’ books available and offers Northwest Passages Book Club readers a 15 percent discount on monthly book club picks. You can find “Daredevils” and “American Wolf” at the store, 402 W. Main Ave. in Spokane.