Author Talk: Nevada Barr
Tuesday, May 24 @ 6:30pm
Spring Meadow Golf Club
59 Lewiston Rd., Gray
Nevada Barr , New York Times Best Selling Author of the popular Anna Pigeon mystery series, will be reading and signing her latest book “Boar Island”, being released May 17th.
“Boar Island” has Anna starting her new post as Acting Chief Ranger at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine.
One of only two library appearances in Maine (Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, on Monday, May 23).
Free event tickets are required. To reserve your ticket call 657-4110 or email graylib@gray.lib.me.us. Books will be available for purchase.
Sponsored by the GPLA Pat Barter Speaker Series
Nevada Barr
A Brief Biography
Though Nevada Barr was born in the state that shares her name, her father actually named her after a favorite book character of his – a predestined connection to writing and storytelling.
Nevada grew up in the mountains of the Sierras. She received her BA in speech and drama from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and her MFA in acting from the University of California, Irvine before heading to New York City to pursue her passion for the stage. She served as a member of the Classic Stage Company and performed in numerous off-Broadway plays. After five years in New York, Nevada moved to Minneapolis, where she did more theater performances and began work in TV commercials, films, and voice-overs. For almost two decades Nevada made her living as an actress, but in the midst of her career, Nevada became more and more involved in the environmental movement.
She began working summers in different National Parks. Her first stint as a full time ranger was in Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, but Nevada has worked intermediately in many parks across the country – Isle Royale in Michigan, Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, and Mesa Verde in Colorado, to name a few. She was eventually interviewed by Ken Burns for his 2009 documentary on the National Parks and their history.
But despite the seemingly different paths Nevada has walked down in her life, the singular consistency in each was her writing and her love of storytelling. Nevada wrote and performed campfire stories, taught storytelling, and worked as a travel writer and restaurant critic. She published her first novel Bittersweet in 1983, but it was not until a decade later that Nevada would merge her love of writing with her experiences as a park ranger with the Anna Pigeon mystery series. Her first novel in the series, Track of the Cat, was critically acclaimed, winning both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best new mystery novel. Since then, Nevada has published eighteen books in the Anna Pigeon series with her latest mystery, Boar Island, set to come out this spring. Nevada currently resides in New Orleans with her husband and many pets; she has since retired from the parks service, devoting herself full-time to her writing career.