Visiting Writers Coming to Wenatchee Valley College

The Wenatchee Valley College English department presents the Visiting Writers Winter Reading on Thursday, March 1, at 6:30 p.m. in The Grove Recital Hall, Music and Art Center (MAC). Writers are Sharma Shields and Matthew Sullivan. This event is part of the Community Appreciation Series sponsored by the Wenatchee Valley College Foundation.

The Community Appreciation Series was created by the WVC Foundation to offer culturally enriching programs to supportive alumni, donors and friends.

The reading is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

Sharma Shields is the author of a short story collection, “Favorite Monster,” and a novel, “The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac.” Henry Holt will publish her next novel, “The Cassandra,” in early 2019. Sharma’s writing has appeared in Electric Lit, Slice, The New York Times, Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Fugue, and elsewhere and has garnered such awards as the 2016 Washington State Book Award, the Autumn House Fiction Prize, the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor, a Grant for Artist Projects from Artist Trust, and the A.B. Guthrie Award for Outstanding Prose. She received her bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Washington (2000) and her master of fine arts from the University of Montana (2004). Sharma has worked in independent bookstores and public libraries throughout Washington state and now lives in Spokane with her husband and two young children. A public services specialist at the Spokane Valley and North Spokane Libraries, she serves on the board for the Friends of the Spokane County Library District and also on the programming committee for Spark Central, an innovative community center in the Kendall Yards neighborhood.

Matthew Sullivan’s debut novel, “Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore” was an Indie Next pick, a Barnes and Noble Discover pick, and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist, and it has been published in six different languages. His short stories have been awarded the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize and the Florida Review Editor’s Prize, and his essays have appeared in The New York Times, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. He received his master of fine arts from the University of Idaho, and for the past 15 years he has been teaching writing and literature at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake. He lives with his wife, kids and dog in Ephrata.