Join us for the Mountain Writers Series with Suzanne Matson & Joe Wilkins

Suzanne Matson’s third book of poems, As Creatures, was selected as the Editor’s Choice for the Vern Rutsala Book Prize from Cloudbank Books (2026). Her other poetry volumes are Durable Goods (1993) and Sea Level (1990), both published by Alice James Books. Also new this year is her book of nonfiction Winnowing (Duke University Press). Her fourth novel, Ultraviolet was published by Catapult (2018). Previous novels include The Tree-Sitter (W. W. Norton, 2006), short-listed for the PEN New England/L. L. Winship Award; A Trick of Nature (W. W. Norton, 2000); and The Hunger Moon (W. W. Norton, 1997), a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick. A 2012 fellow in fiction writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, Matson has also received creative writing fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the American-Scandinavian Foundation and was named the Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year for 2023.  Originally from Portland, Oregon, Matson teaches at Boston College and lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Joe Wilkins is the author of two novels, The Entire Sky and Fall Back Down When I Die; a memoir, The Mountain and the Fathers; and five collections of poetry, including Pastoral, 1994 and When We Were Birds. A finalist for the First Novel Prize from the Center For Fiction, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and the Orion Book Award, Wilkins has won the Oregon Book Award, the Montana Book Award, the GLCA New Writers Award, a Pushcart Prize, and four High Plains Book Awards. His latest book is Every Sky at Home: Essays on Landscape and Family. Born and raised north of the Bull Mountains of eastern Montana, he lives with his family in the foothills of the Coast Range of western Oregon, where he directs the creative writing program at Linfield College.