2022 Maclean Festival to feature nationally prominent authors

MISSOULA – The fourth In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Literary Festival announced its biennial gathering will be held June 24 - 26 at the Missoula Public Library. This year's Festival is named "Public Land & Sacred Ground: Western Writers Bear Witness" and will feature nationally prominent authors who will discuss the unique heritage of American wilderness, public lands and sacred grounds. The last day of the Festival, June 27, will feature day hikes in the Seeley-Swan. Admission is free to the public.

The literary festival was launched in 2015 by Alpine Artisans, Inc. to celebrate the life and work of author, scholar and teacher Norman Maclean. Maclean was noted for his books "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories" and "Young Men and Fire," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992 for its account of the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire north of Helena. Maclean lived in Missoula when he was a child, worked for the U.S. Forest Service in western Montana and spent time fishing on the Blackfoot River near his family's Seeley Lake cabin, which still stands today.

In 2017, the Festival relocated to Missoula after evacuations were ordered for the Rice Ridge Fire. Since that time, Festival Director Jenny Rohrer said attendance has grown enough to necessitate larger venues with more lodging. While AAI chose to continue to hold the Festival in Missoula, the tradition of offering local tours of Seeley Lake and the Blackfoot River continued.

The event was postponed in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's Festival will include writers and literary talents – native and non-native – who will present their work and share ideas on the evolution of national parks, decolonization of American literature and history and the literary inspiration that comes from the unique heritage of American wilderness and public lands. Speakers include well-known leaders of the conservation movement and literary talents in the country and in the West: Timothy Egan, Terry Tempest Williams, Kevin Red Star, Doug Peacock, John N. Maclean, Rick Bass, Debra Magpie Earling, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, Shane Doyle, Michael Punke and Peter Stark, among others.

"The Maclean Festival was initially designed to celebrate the literature of the West," said Rohrer. "Our 2022 Festival is moving beyond that mission to respond to conservation issues – specifically the global climate crisis and the need to protect public lands and native ground – because they should be sacred to all of us. We truly believe that literature can educate, motivate and initiate a call to action."

On Monday, June 27, the closing day of the festival, members of Wild Montana will lead a full-day field trip through the Blackfoot Valley to discuss collaborative working-land conservation efforts in the watershed. The festival's outdoor field excursions include:

• The Blackfoot-Clearwater - A Special Native Trout Fishery – Visit Norman Maclean's fishing holes.

• Protecting the Blackfoot-Clearwater Watersheds – Hike Clearwater Lake 

• Forests of the Blackfoot-Clearwater – Walk the Girard Larch Grove 

•Where the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project Started 

• Wildlife of the Blackfoot Clearwater – Hike the West Fork Clearwater 

• Connecting Wilderness with New Wilderness – Hike to Sunday Mountain 

"Our goal is to challenge our audiences to think outside of the book – to leave the festival with not only a greater understanding of the threats to our environment but with a commitment to actively support local environmental solutions, to participate in climate change activities, and to commit to the protection of our sacred lands," Rohrer said.

In January the Festival received a $12,000 Recovery Destination Event Grant, offered through the Tourism Grant Program. It is intended to assist Montana's communities for destination events and new events that will generate out-of-area, State, and/or Country attendance and increase non-resident visitor commerce and community revenue.

Rohrer said they are still actively soliciting grants and sponsorships to underwrite the cost of the Festival. Starting April 1, tickets will be available for the Saturday night Gala Dinner at The Wilma. Nationally recognized Crow artist Kevin Red Star is contributing an original painting featuring the Sacred Ground of his family in the Pryor Mountains which will be auctioned at the Dinner.

For more information and sponsorship information visit the Maclean Festival website at https://www.macleanfootsteps.com/