2006
Thomas Francis Meagher
OUR STORY FROM 2006
In 2006 the story of General Francis Meagher and the history of Meagher County was our focus. It included the story of the women of the late 19th century and 20th century, and the women story tellers. This is how our festival unfolded:
Thursday, 5 p.m.; Reception for all participants, hosted by the Mountain Star Book Club of Harlowton and the White Sulphur Springs Book Club, at the home of Marga and Reidar Johnson. Lenore Puhek, dressed as Libby Meagher will read from her new novel The River's Edge, a romantic tale of Thomas Francis Meagher and Libby Townsend Meagher.
"The book was pure joy to write. As far as I know, this is the first extensive exposure of Libby. The research did not come easily. Libby was a very private person...I took the photograph on the jacket cover at approximately the same spot where the A.G. Thompson was tied to the dock on the Missouri River, Ft. Benton, Montana."
An added treat--the celebration of Thomas Meagher's birthday complete with birthday cake and visiting relatives.
Friday, Registration begins at 8 a.m. at the school (look for sign)
9 - 10:30
Paul Wylie, Rose Gordon, Jennie Corson
Helen Hanson, E.M. Bower, Frances Parker
Lee Rostad, Grace Stone Coates, Her Life in Letters
10:45 - 12:00
Judy Blunt, Breaking Clean
Barbara Richard, Dancing on His Grave
Mary Clearman Blew, When Montana and I Were Young
12:00 - 1:00
Norma Ashby, Movie Stars and Rattlesnakes
1:30 - 4:30 We talk of food and words...
Molly Kruckenberg, A Taste of Montana: A History of Cooking
Kim Anderson and Caroline Patterson, Eat Our Words
Meredith Brokaw, Big Sky Cooking
Sue Hart, At Home on the Range: Food as Love in Literature of the Western Frontier
5:00 Barbecue at the Castle (the museum on the hill)
Poetry of Gwendolen Haste and Grace Stone Coates
Prose of Judy Blunt
August 5
8:00 Continental Breakfast at Meagher County Community Center
Sue Hart, Dorothy Johnson
Mary Clearman Blew, Balsam Root: a Memoir
Mary Murphy, Hope in Hard Times
Caroline Patterson, "a new anthology"
The Meagher County Historical Society will have a sale table for books which we will also use for signings--either after the author's session or during the barbecue.
Festival sponsors and volunteers:
Montana Committee for the Humanities
Friends of the Bair
Mountain Star Book Club
Wine, Women and Words
Meagher County Public Library
Bank of the Rockies
Meagher County Historical Society
Meagher County Arts Council
Writers Voice