PORT TOWNSEND — Olympia author Jim Lynch will give a talk and read from his book “Before the Wind” on Monday to wrap up the Port Townsend Library’s 2017 Community Read.
Lynch will speak from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Port Townsend High School auditorium at 1500 Van Ness St.
A book signing will follow with books for sale at the event sponsored by Imprint Bookstore.
“Before the Wind” was the topic of events and discussion groups throughout March. This is the library’s 11th year of Community Reads, an annual program that brings residents together over one piece of writing, according to library manager Keith Darrock.
The book tells the story of the Johannssens getting together for one last yacht race.
“ ‘Before the Wind’ is a funny, tender and big-hearted novel about a gifted, volatile family whose love for the sea rivals their love for each other,” the library says on its website at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-communityread2017.
Lynch also will be at Author! Author! An Evening Salon with Jim Lynch and Erica Bauermeister at the Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St., Port Townsend, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets for $50 are available online at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-communityread2017.
Participants will have catered hors d’oeuvres and wine and beer while viewing the “Wind &Water” art exhibit as Bauermeister discusses “Before the Wind” with Lynch.
Proceeds support the Friends of the Port Townsend Library and the Northwind Arts Center.
Before these two events will be a special seaside storytime and maritime crafts session for children from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday in the children’s room at the library.
Lynch, who grew up in the Seattle area, reported for newspapers in Alaska, Virginia and for columnist Jack Anderson in Washington, D.C., as well as the Spokane Spokesman-Review, the Portland Oregonian and The Seattle Times.
His national reporting honors include the George Polk Award, the H.L. Mencken Award and the Livingston Young Journalist Award for National Reporting.
He is the author of four novels. “Before the Wind” was released in April 2016. His third book, “Truth Like the Sun,” was a finalist for the Dashiell Hammett Prize.
Lynch’s first novel, “The Highest Tide,” published in 2005, won the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award, was performed on stage in Seattle and became an international best-seller after it was featured on England’s Richard and Judy television show.
His second novel, “Border Songs,” published in 2009, also was adapted to the stage and won the Washington State Book Award as well as the Indie’s Choice Honor Book Award.
