David Guterson | "Evelyn in Transit" & Writing Forum
Date and Time
- Saturday, Feb 7, 2026 10:30am - 4:30pm
Location
Mechanics' Institute
57 Post St
Details
Breakfast with Bestselling Author David Guterson
Join bestselling author David Guterson in conversation on his latest novel, Evelyn in Transit.
Radically open-minded, formidably strong, and unusually clear-eyed about herself and others, Evelyn Bednarz has always been a misfit. Seeking to be true to herself, she hitchhikes across the American West taking odd jobs. In distant Tibet, another life unfolds as remote from Evelyn’s as can be: the life of a boy named Tsering, raised as a Buddhist monk in the mountains of Tibet, who eventually becomes a high lama.
And yet, their lives are strangely linked—as Evelyn discovers when a trio of Buddhist lamas show up at her door to announce that her five-year-old son Cliff is the seventh reincarnation of the illustrious Norbu Rinpoche, recently deceased. The lamas’ visit sets off a family crisis and a media firestorm over Cliff’s future. Evelyn in Transit delivers much-needed insight and compassion about humanity’s strivings for transcendence, and what it might mean to “live the right way.”
Complimentary pastries, coffee and tea will be provided with ticket purchase. RSVP and register here.
🗓️ Saturday, February 7 | 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
📍 Mechanics' Institute | 57 Post St
What's on Your Mind? An Intimate Writing Forum with David Guterson
Want an opportunity to meet with David and other authors for an open dialogue on writing and honing your craft? Apply for What's on Your Mind? An Intimate Writing Forum with David Guterson, hosted after the talk at 1:00 pm! Join bestselling author David Guterson for an open dialogue on writing and honing your craft. David will begin the class with a Q&A session to determine which fiction writing topics are most interesting to the attendees - whatever is on their minds, whatever is most pressing and urgent, whatever it is they hoped for when they signed up. These topics will be discussed and explored, and David will then introduce further considerations, among them titles, opening lines, opening chapters visualizing characters, understatement, time, psychic distance, noticing, distillation, reading yourself, and the relationship between mood and syntax.
A copy of Guterson’s latest novel, Evelyn in Transit, will be provided to each attendee. RSVP and register here.
🗓️ Saturday, February 7 | 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
📍 Mechanics' Institute | 57 Post St
About the Speaker
David Guterson is the author of 13 books, including the novel Snow Falling on Cedars, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and of the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award. His writing has been celebrated for its atmospheric intensity, narrative drive, and probing exploration of fundamental human themes—love, death, meaning, and morality among them. Guterson's body of work includes 6 novels, 2 story collections, 2 works of non-fiction, and 2 books of poetry. He was born in Washington State and still lives there.