SEASIDE — Seattle author Garth Stein will teach a workshop for writers and
readers at Beach Books at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 17. Stein is the winner of a
2006 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for his quirky,
Northwest urban novel, “How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets.
The free workshop, “Who’s Zooming Whom?” demonstrates how to get in
charge (and stay in charge) of your reader using different techniques to keep
readers reading. It encourages writers to identify these techniques in works they
read and incorporate them in their own writing. Readers as well as writers can
enjoy this 45-minute workshop at Beach Books, 37 N. Edgewood in Seaside. Meet the Author and book signing will follow the workshop at 4 p.m.
Stein will also make an appearance Friday, June 16, at the World Kite Museum
in Long Beach, Wash., as part of a fundraiser for Long Beach’s Summer
Literacy Program. He will give a miniworkshop for writers and readers at 5:30
p.m. that will be followed by a “drinks & nosh” catered event sponsored by
Independent Books at 6:30 p.m.
In “How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets,” the language is unclouded
and unsentimental; the story is a raw yet compassionate portrayal of family flaws
and the love between a father and his son. The quiet hero of this book is Evan,
who has successfully postponed adulthood. He’s an exceptionally talented
guitarist in Seattle’s music scene who fears he might be a one-hit wonder. He
also has a 14-year-old son whom he’s just met for the first time at the funeral the boy’s mother.
For years, Evan kept his fatherhood a secret, even from his own family. Now, years later, standing graveside, he realizes he wants to know his son. The messy,
complicated aftermath of his actions will force many of his secrets out into the
open, including how, as a child, he wound up in a hospital, diagnosed with
epilepsy, after being hit by a car. It will take a tough and sexy sound engineer, lopsided Nordic drummer and the sad boy he is not sure he can inherit, to push
Evan into adulthood.
Original and funny, “How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets" is a novel and a departure for Stein. His first book, “Raven Stole the Moon,
thriller peppered with Native American mythology, which has particular
resonance for Stein, whose diverse ancestry includes Tlingit Indian. A former
filmmaker, Stein was co-producer of the Academy-Award winning short film,
“The Lunch Date,” director of the award-winning “When Your Head
Head, It’s a Nut,” which aired on PBS, co-producer of “The Last Party,
Robert Downey Jr., and producer of two music videos directed by Johnny Depp.
He is the author of a full-length play, “Brother Jones,” which debuted in Los
Angeles at the Lyric Hyperion Theater and was described as “brimming with
intensity” by L.A. Weekly.
Stein lives in Seattle with his wife and two children and is at work on a sequel “Raven Stole the Moon.”