Wyoming Arts Council

Susan Marsh reads from her memoir March 31 at Teton County LIbrary

Featured News | March 27, 2015

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News from the Teton County Public Library in Jackson:

Teton Writers presents author Susan Marsh “A Hunger for High Country”

Tuesday, March 31, 6 p.m.
Teton County Library Ordway Auditorium
Free, followed by a book signing with books available for purchase

Susan Marsh’s memoir reflects her deep connection to place, especially the wild country she called her office for more than 30 years working for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana and Wyoming.

Marsh will show slides of this amazing high country and talk about how her passion for public lands and her experiences in the Forest Service inspired her memoir “A Hunger for High Country: One Woman’s Journey to the Wild in Yellowstone Country.”

Before the 1970s, the Forest Service employed few women, but new environmental and fair employment laws meant that for the first time women took on new roles as wildlife and natural scientists.

Marsh was one of these women, a geologist and landscape architect who often found the bureaucracy, politics and gender expectations in her profession challenging. She took refuge in nature and art.

“The beauty I find in forests and mountains never fails to move me, and I have never strayed far from places that inspire me. I am interested in people’s ability to discover hidden aspects of themselves through encounters with wild nature, and how we change as a result,” writes Marsh.

Marsh’s book also touches on the often contentious politics of caretaking public lands and what work with the Forest Service – including encounters with wolves and grizzlies, outlaws and renegade lawmen – was really like.

“Since she’s so connected to place, Susan is the perfect writer to help us kick off a new library series – Teton Writers. We hope the library will be a home base where local writers feel supported and recognized,” said Adult Program Coordinator Leah Shlachter.

Marsh’s work has appeared in Orion, North American Review, and Fourth Genre, among others, and numerous anthologies. Her books include Stories of the Wild, The Wild Wyoming Range and the novel War Creek. Although Marsh has lived in Jackson Hole for more than 25 years, she considers many places part of her home range: the fabulous mountains and ocean beaches of the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up, and special places encountered while living in the Northern Rockies. Marsh is also a gifted visual artist exploring different mediums. You can learn more about her work at www.slmarsh.com.

The program is free and open to the community with support from donations, large and small, to the Teton County Library Foundation. For more information, contact Adult Program Coordinator, Leah Shlachter, 733-2164 ext. 229, lshlachter@tclib.org.

You can find Teton County Library online at www.tclib.org, call us at 307.733.2164 or visit us at 125 Virginian Lane, Jackson, Wyo.

Home page photo: Susan Marsh signs her new book at Valley Books in December 2014. 

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