Jan Kirk to Read at the Blue Heron

On Tuesday, December 6th at 7pm, writer and illustrator Jan Kirk will read from her recently- published memoir The Road to Beaver Park. The reading will take place at The Blue Heron Coffee House, 162 W. Second St., Winona. The reading will be followed by a Q&A, book signing, and an open mic. The event is free and open to the public and sponsored by Winona’s Fine Arts Commission. Anyone, novice or grizzled veteran, is invited to participate in the open mic. 

Jan Kirk is an author, illustrator, teacher, and musician who writes about nature, the arts, and spirituality. She received a Masters in Vocal Performance/Pedagogy from the University of Colorado, then taught in public schools and served as Director for the Language, Art & Music Project in Shasta Co. (CA) Schools. She is retired and lives in Winona. Her memoir, The Road to Beaver Park, chronicles and illustrates a year-long family campout in the American West. The trip took place in 1976 but the book wasn’t published until 2016. The Road to Beaver Park juxtaposes Jan Kirk’s descriptions of innumerable landscapes and adventures and her epiphanies about light and pattern with her illustrations and her biologist-husband’s journal entries about the flora and fauna of the mountain West. Any budding memoirist or illustrator would find this book fascinating.

Jan Kirk also illustrated Wild Edible Plants of Western North America, Cherish the Earth: The Environment and Scripture, Egypt, a Handbook, and The Christmas Redwood.  

The Laureate Writer’s Series is sponsored by the City of Winona’s Fine Arts Commission. The City of Winona is a partner of River Arts Alliance.