David Williams, a second-generation Seattle author writes about the natural world outside his own front door. Jane Isenberg solves murders in and around Hoboken, New Jersey, through the efforts of her fictional alter-ego, Belle Barrett. Clyde Ford focuses on nautical themes set in the islands of the Puget Sound, sometimes following the course of Charlie Noble, a detective who, like his creator, is an African-American with a penchant for boating.
This trio of local authors spent two hours talking about their craft, the business of getting and staying in print, and answering questions while the audience noshed bagels and coffee. The September 25 program at Temple De Hirsch Sinai was part of the ongoing Endless Opportunities events, a collaboration of Jewish Family Service with founding partner Temple De Hirsch Sinai and Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation to provide meaningful activities for healthy, active people, 50 and over.
A freelance natural history writer, Williams is the son of Jacqueline Williams, co-author of Family of Strangers, the historical account of Jews in Washington State. In addition to his three-plus books, A Naturalist’s Guide to Canyon Country, Grand Views of Canyon Country, and The Street-Smart Naturalist (he has also co-authored or contributed to three other field guides), David’s byline makes regular appearances on the pages of the Seattle Times, among other publications. Although his beard is starting to grey, he was the youngest of the panelists and the only one with no fiction books under his belt. After studying Geology at the University of Colorado, Williams spent nine years in southern Utah as a park ranger at Arches National Park and coordinating outdoor education workshops before returning to his hometown. One of the stranger experiences for him during that time, Williams says, was being known as a “Gentile,” the term used there for any non-Mormons.
Williams says, “All my writing is informed by a line from Wendell Berry: “˜If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.’”
Jane Isenberg started writing mystery novels while teaching English in a New Jersey community college, the same job she gave to her detective.
“I always wanted to write, but I like eating, too,” she says, “so I taught for many hundreds of years.” She told the group that the inclination to start writing the books “came out of my experience of being at mid-life and menopausal,” and wanting to explore that territory through her character’s adventures.
Since moving to the Seattle area four years ago, she says she has decided “to be a Jewish writer, not just a writer who happens to be Jewish.” Living in a place where the Jewish community is far smaller than the ones she was used to on the East Coast, she says writing about Jewish characters and themes is ” a way to have lots of Jewish people in my head, even if there aren’t a lot…on the Sammamish Plateau.” A number of times during the morning, she took time to recognize the help she has gotten from Family of Strangers in researching her current novel.
Clyde Ford has perhaps the most varied career of all three. He says he began as a programmer for IBM, became a chiropractor, and then a psychotherapist before settling down to write books. His first four works were nonfiction thrillers, one series set in New York and a second in the Seattle area. Since switching over to fictional crime stories, he describes himself as “a trans-genre African-American bi-coastal author.”
“I am an author not because I wanted to be,” he says. “It’s something you’re knocked over the head and dragged into.”
Unlike other parts of the country with well-developed literary traditions, Ford says, “there is not a well-defined Northwest writing aesthetic — it’s still developing. I am participating in developing a Northwest aesthetic.”
A fourth author, Joe Upton, who was originally scheduled to be on the panel, was unable to make the engagement. Upton’s classic 1977 book about his adventures as a salmon fisherman, Alaska Blues was re-released in 1999 by local small-press publisher Sasquatch Books. He is also the author of The Coastal Companion: A Guide for the Alaska-Bound Traveler and Journeys Through the Inside Passage: Seafacing Adventures Along the Coast of British Columbia and Alaska.
Endless Opportunities presents a number of planned group activities, from morning discussion series like this one, outings and Seniors Making Art, which was begun by glass artist Dale Chihuly in 1991. Over the last 16 years, that extraordinarily popular offering has involved more than 37,000 older adults. Art instruction and materials are provided free of charge and led by professional artists who are skilled in cultivating enthusiasm and confidence among the participants.
October events include a free eight-week art course taught by professional artist Susan Waite, beginning October 4 at Temple De Hirsch Sinai.
Also, on Sun., October 7, from 1—2 p.m., the program will feature a docent-led tour of the new Olympic Sculpture Park on Broad Street between Western Ave and Alaskan Way in downtown Seattle.
All Endless Opportunity events are open to the entire community. To find out more, contact Ellen Hendin at
endlessopps@jfsseattle.org or 206-461-3240, ext. 3183.