Year after year, we see headlines about huge venture capital financing rounds and major acquisitions by private equity firms, and we know where the story is supposed to lead: a public offering or another high-priced acquisition. Cash in, cash out, walk away, then do it again. If the founder gets ousted or their employees get laid off, that’s the price of going after that brass ring. But what if you want to create something of significant impact that lasts beyond your lifetime? In "Another Way: Building Companies that Last … and Last … and Last" (Harvard Business Review Press; May 6, 2025), Dave Whorton with Bo Burlingham introduce an alternative path for founders and business leaders: what they call an “Evergreen company.” These companies are designed to stay private forever. They eschew investor money, giving them the freedom to grow at their own pace, fueled by their own profits. This approach allows them to focus on long-term planning horizons and fosters win-win relationships with their employees, customers, suppliers, and their surrounding communities. Whorton's uncovering of another way of doing business is grounded in an insider's perspective as a venture capitalist, former serial tech entrepreneur, and the founder of Tugboat Institute—a ...

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection… to record the journey … to expand our world…” - Anaïs Nin May 8-10, 2025, join us at The Community Library for three days of writing, reading, and connecting over words. This free annual event features writing workshops with esteemed Idaho writers, an opening keynote from a guest author, and a closing storytelling event where writers of all levels are invited to share their work. Come explore new methods, strengthen your writing, and connect with others. Writing workshops are limited in size but open to all levels. Opening keynote this year is with author Anna-Marie McLemore, a William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist and National Book Award longlist honoree. Writing workshops with CMarie Fuhrman, Sam Berman, Christian Winn, Erin Rose, and Sarah Sentilles. The seminar includes a panel discussion with the five instructors and a closing open-mic event. Individual registration is required for workshops and the keynote talk, but all other events are open to all. Presented in partnership with Boise-based Story Forward.

Join us for the opening keynote talk of the 2025 To Taste Life Twice Seminar. This keynote talk is to all, whether or not you're participating in other TTLT events over the weekend. Registration requested. Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them) is the author of William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist "The Weight of Feathers;" "Wild Beauty;" "Blanca & Roja," one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Novels of All Time; Indie Next List title "Dark and Deepest Red;" "Lakelore," an NECBA Windows & Mirrors title; "Venom & Vow," co-authored with Elliott McLemore; and National Book Award longlist selections "When the Moon Was Ours," which was also a Stonewall Honor Book; "The Mirror Season;" and "Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix." Their latest release is "Flawless Girls," and their adult debut "The Influencers" will be released in April 2024.

An evening with Kim Frank, an award-winning writer and photographer who will discuss her new book, "Elephants in the Hourglass: A Journey of Reckoning and Hope Along the Himalaya." Delving deep into an intricate web of unlikely heroes, power struggles, and living legends, the book takes readers on an extraordinary journey of discovery. Kim blends personal narrative, vivid descriptions, and meticulous research as she illuminates the ways we seek to survive on our rapidly changing planet. It is a moving and adventure-filled tale of one woman’s quest for the truth about endangered Asian elephants and their evolving relationship with humans. Kim is a female explorer who found her life completely changed as she was drawn deeper and deeper into the plight of the remarkable Asian elephant. Once she learned about the intense, multi-faceted, but little-known conflict between humans and elephants in North India, she was unable to rest until she had learned more and told this story to the outside world. This was a place and topic totally unknown to her. After a fraught divorce, she felt a need to recapture her own voice and expand her world, and so she set out to the Himalaya with the goal of ...

How can snakes with such eye-popping colors be so maddeningly difficult to find? Despite their hues, Lampropeltis pyromelana snakes, lovingly known as pyros, are masters of secrecy. Embark on an exhilarating, swashbuckling journey with herpetologist Dallin Kohler in his attempt to locate these elusive snakes. From picturesque sandstone canyons to an unexpected stop at a local casino, Kohler encounters a delightful array of creatures. With its blend of exciting escapades, insightful natural history, and humor, "Pyro" (June 2025, Torrey House Press) promises not only to ignite a newfound appreciation for the seasoned herpetology enthusiast but to also warm the hearts of those curious about cold-blooded reptiles. Book signing to follow. Dallin Kohler is a writer and herpetologist from Boise, Idaho. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biodiversity and Conservation from BYU. He is currently chasing amphibians as a graduate student in China. When he’s not unraveling the mysteries of nature’s most captivating creatures, he finds joy in following the NBA, playing classical piano, and appreciating a cleverly crafted pun.

Join us for a conversation with Writer-in-Residence Juliana Lamy about her debut book, "You Were Watching from the Sand," a stylistically and conceptually daring collection that winds from fantastical horror to mischievous domestic realism and always keeps in its sharp, compassionate view the material, spiritual, and emotional lives of Haitian people. Playful, kinetic, and devastating in turn, "You Were Watching from the Sand" is a collection in which Haitian men, women, and children who find their lives cleaved by the interminably strange bite back at the bizarre with their own oddities. In “belly,” a young woman abandoned by her only living relative makes a person from the mud beside her backyard creek. In “We Feel it in Punta Cana,” a domestic child servant in the Dominican Republic tours through his own lush imagination to make his material conditions more bearable. In “The Oldest Sensation is Anger,” a teenager invites a same-aged family friend into her apartment and uncovers a spate of disturbing secrets about her. Written in a mixture of high lyricism, absurdist comedy, and Haitian cultural witticisms, this is a collection whose dynamism matches that of its characters at every beat and turn. Book signing to follow. Juliana Lamy ...

After Bridget Crocker’s parents’ volatile divorce, she moved with her mother from Southern California to Wyoming. Her life was idyllic, living in a trailer park on the banks of the Snake River with a stepfather she loved, a new baby brother, and the river as her companion—until her mother suddenly took up a radical new lifestyle, becoming someone Bridget barely recognized. The one constant in her life—the place Bridget felt whole and fully herself—was the river. When she discovered the world of whitewater rafting, she knew she’d found her calling. On the river, Bridget learned to read the natural world around her and came to know the language of rivers. One of the few female guides on the Snake River, she then traveled to the Zambezi River in Africa, the most dangerous whitewater in the world, where she faced death and learned to conquer her fears—both on the water and off. The river taught her to overcome years of betrayals and abuse, to trust herself, and, finally, how to help heal her family from generational cycles of poverty and abuse. A beautifully rendered memoir of a woman coming into her own, "The River’s Daughter" opens us to the possibilities of ...