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 ...

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 ...

The annual Hemingway Distinguished Lecture is presented each July, honoring the month of Ernest Hemingway’s birth and death. The event celebrates the power of words and the creative spirit in a landscape that Hemingway loved. This year, The Community Library welcomes PERCIVAL EVERETT, a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His latest novel, JAMES, was published in March of 2024 to critical acclaim. His other titles include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award and The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023 and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The lecture will be presented outdoors on the Library's Donaldson Robb Family Lawn. Chairs will be set up for this event, so attendees do not need to bring their own. A book signing will follow. This program will be livestreamed, ...