Meet Fishtrap’s Fall Writer-In-Residence at the November 4th Fishtrap Fireside

Fishtrap Fireside returns on November 4th with readings from local Wallowa County writers Kirsten Rohla and Dustin Lyons plus a special guest, Fishtrap’s Fall Writer-In-Residence, Liza Birnbaum.
 
"We're excited to welcome Liza to Wallowa County." says Fishtrap Program Director Mike Midlo, "As part of her residency, Liza will teach creative writing in our local schools during October and November and lead a Nature Writing Workshop on November 3." 
 
Fishtrap Fireside is a monthly reading series designed to feature diverse voices from local writers. Each month offers a fresh look at what people of the West are thinking about and writing down. 
 
Fireside takes place in Fishtrap’s new event space, the historic Bowlby Building on Main Street in Enterprise. The event is free and open to the public. Plus, anyone anywhere can take in Fireside online at Fishtrap.org and on Fishtrap’s YouTube Channel. 
 
November’s Fishtrap Fireside is sponsored by Wild Carrot Herbals, a woman/mama-owned company housed in a historic mercantile on Main Street in Enterprise
 
More on November’s featured readers.
 
Liza Birnbaum is Fishtrap’s Fall Writer-In-Residence. Her writing has appeared in Web Conjunctions, jubilat, Tammy, Open Letters Monthly, and other publications. She lives in Seattle, where she runs a yearlong workshop for prose writers and teaches at Hugo House, Bard College's Language & Thinking Program, and the Washington Corrections Center for Women through the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a BA in Written Arts from Bard College. In 2022, she'll be an artist-in-residence at Fishtrap and at Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture. She’s at work on a novel and a short book of criticism about Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends.
 
It was in a small, defunct timber town in Southwest Washington—where Dustin Lyons was raised—that he developed an unshakeable case of poesy. This eventually led his big shaggy head full of words and affected insight to the English Literature Department at the University of Washington. Graduation came, and with it a desire to see the world and get back into the mountains. A decade of seasonal work in Alaska, along with several forays into Asia, Latin America, and Europe produced countless journals chockfull of nearly uninterpretable masterwork. In response to these literary triumphs he decided to shift gears and study shoemaking in Ashland, Oregon, where he co-founded Alkahest Leather. A lifelong affinity for critters and wild places drew him to the base of Chief Joseph Mountain, where he owns a tumbledown cabin on a couple of uncombed acres. The words keep coming and he does his best to intelligibly lay them down.      
 
Kirsten Rhola lives in Joseph, Oregon and has been writing her whole life. She is an enthusiastic life-long learner, loves a relaxing day on the lake, and works hard to keep her dog in the good life. She has also earned a BA in Creative Writing and Secondary Education; an MA in Curriculum & Instruction; an editing certificate; and has taught literature and writing for fifteen years.