Local authors holding Literary Night Friday in Little Theatre

Editor’s note: This version adds information about the works being read at the presentation.

Three Havre authors, and a Missoula photographer, will be doing readings and book signings at a Literary Night Friday.

Award-winning writers Charles Finn, Gwen Hart and Roger Hart, along with photographer Barbara Michelman, will be at The Little Theatre in Montana State University-Northern's Cowan Hall Friday. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for the night of fiction, poetry and photography hosted by Northern in conjunction with Montana Actors' Theatre with the readings starting at 7 p.m., a release said.

"I'm very, very excited," Finn said in the release. "This will be my first time reading in Havre. I moved here in 2020 and the community has taken me under its wing. I'm so happy to be able to share my work, and the work of my good friend Barbara."

Finn and Michelman will read and show images from their collaboration "On a Benediction of Wind: Poems and Photographs from the American West," the recent winner of the 2022 Montana Book Award.

As did Finn, Gwen and Roger Hart also moved to Havre in 2020 and they said they also look forward to reading their work in public for the first time.

Gwen Hart, professor of writing at Northern, winner of the X. J. Kennedy Poetry Award, will read from her new collection of poems released this spring, “Never Be the Same.”

Roger Hart winner of the McGlinn Fiction Contest and Ohio Writer Fiction Contest will read from his newly released book of short stories, “Mysteries of the Universe.”

"The Hi-Line has a wealth of artistic talent," Gwen Hart said, "musicians, woodworkers, potters, you name it, but people don't associate it with literature. We're hoping to change that."

"With any luck," Roger Hart said, "We could turn this into an annual event. We'd love to invite writers and poets not just from Havre, but from all up and down the Hi-Line, and from all across Montana to come and read."

Finn said the area surprised him.

"Before I moved here," he said in the release, "I had the impression that the Hi-Line was a cultural wasteland. That's anything but the truth. Still, it takes a lot of effort to displace that myth and our hope is we can be one more example of the diverse array of talent that can be found here."

Beer and wine will be available at the event in the theater's backstage lounge.

A question-and-answer period will be held after the reading and then all three authors will be signing copies of their books.

To purchase copies of books ahead of time, people can visit Hometown Plaza at 324 Second St., Ste, 1, in Havre, or order online.

For more information, people can email [email protected] or [email protected].