Julian Brave NoiseCat: July 15
&
Virginia Evans: July 21
Free Library Talks | 5:30pm | The Community Library
These talks are presented by the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference and The Community Library.
Join us for free public talks and conversations this July. These intimate events feature authors from the SVWC 2026 lineup, including audience Q&A and book signings, with books available to purchase on-site. Both talks will take place at 5:30pm in The Community Library Lecture Hall. We expect these events to fill quickly, but if the venue reaches capacity, you can still watch via the free livestream (pending author permissions) or join the waitlist.
Registration opens May 4 at 9am MST at The Community Library website. If you are unable to attend, please cancel at least 48 hours in advance so we can offer your spot to someone on the waitlist. We recommend signing up for our email newsletter for important updates and information about these events.
JULIAN BRAVE NOISECAT
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15
5:30pm at The Community Library
“We Survived the Night”
Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history. His writing has appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Yorker. NoiseCat has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2022 American Mosaic Journalism Prize and many National Native Media Awards. He was a finalist for the Livingston Award and multiple Canadian National Magazine Awards and was named to the TIME100 Next list in 2021. His first documentary, Sugarcane, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. Directed alongside Emily Kassie, Sugarcane premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where NoiseCat and Kassie won the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary. NoiseCat is a proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and descendant of the Lil’wat Nation of Mount Currie. We Survived the Night is his first book.
VIRGINIA EVANS
TUESDAY, JULY 21
5:30pm at The Community Library
“The Correspondent”
Virginia Evans’ debut novel The Correspondent is a New York Times bestseller that has sold in more than 25 countries. Raised on the east coast of the United States, she attended James Madison University for her bachelor’s in English literature, as well as Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, for her masters of philosophy in creative writing. She lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, two children, and her Red Labrador, Brigid.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY SPEAKER SERIES
Since 2017, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference has partnered with The Community Library in Ketchum to host free literary talks for the local community. As part of our ongoing efforts to make SVWC more inclusive and accessible, this partnership expanded in 2021 into the year-round Community Speaker Series, bringing multiple free events to the Wood River Valley throughout the year—including two speakers during Conference week each July.
These talks bring some of the country’s most compelling writers and thinkers directly to the Sun Valley community. Held at venues such as Ketchum’s Forest Service Park and The Community Library, they are free and open to the public.
Past presenters include Judy Blume, John Vaillant, Javier Zamora, Curtis Sittenfeld, Imbolo Mbue, Erich Schwartzel, Ayad Akhtar, Tobias Wolff, Susan Orlean, and many more.
To stay up to date on upcoming events, we encourage you to check back regularly or sign up for our email newsletter for announcements and registration details.
PLEASE NOTE:
By attending any Sun Valley Writers’ Conference event, you agree to our attendance & photo policy.
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