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Join the Lewis & Clark Library Foundation on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 2:00 pm at Lewis & Clark Library to celebrate the writing journey of novelist/short story writer Matt Pavelich. He will be joined by his adult children, Nick Pavelich and Riley Pavelich, in a lively conversation of mutual discovery and remembering the places, events, and experiences that have shaped Pavelich’s writing career.The presentation will be followed by a brief reception and book signing. Copies of Pavelich’s books will be for sale by Bedrock Books. All events at Lewis & Clark Library are free and open to the public.
Pavelich is the writer of seven books, two published just last year by Bar R Books.
"The Harrows," Pavelich’s third novel after "Our Savage" and "The Other Shoe," begins at the start of the 20th century with Charlie Harrow, erstwhile freighter, and his beloved Dove, schoolmarm and homesteader in her own right, establishing the family farm on Montana’s fabled Square Butte Bench, a “place of taunting, receding horizons.” The novel ends at the same place, with the return of a great-granddaughter intent, unaccountably, on continuing the family operation.
His second book published in 2025 is titled after the classic Emily Dickinson line, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” "Tell all the truth but Tell It Slant – Fierce Fictions" consists of nine short stories and the title novella. As in Pavelich’s previous story collection, "Survivors Said," the fictions in "But Tell It Slant" are, in the words of novelist Gish Gen, “vintage Pavelich; sharp-sighted and phrased just so, they are singularly alert to the worlds in a word.”
Helena publisher/writer Aaron Parrett writes, “From the moment he first appeared on the literary horizon with his Montana Book Award-winning story collection, 'Beasts of the Forest, Beasts of the Field' in 1989, Pavelich has distinguished himself as a master of the form, penning story after story (and a few novels along the way) to remind discriminating readers what honest, organic wordsmithing looks like.”
In a recent issue of Big Sky Journal, Marc Beaudin writes: “Matt Pavelich has done something wondrous in 'The Harrows: A Novel of the American Century.' This five-generation story of the Harrow family rolls off the pages with such liquid grace and poetic clarity that one feels a new Montana classic has just been penned, one fitting a list shared by A.B. Guthrie Jr.’s 'The Big Sky,' Debra Magpie Earling’s 'Perma Red,' and Ivan Doig’s 'This House of Sky.'” Excerpt from BSJ, Winter 2025, Marc Beaudin
About the Author and Interviewers:
Pavelich was born in St. Ignatius, Montana, and grew up on a ranch on the Flathead Indian Reservation. He attended the University of Montana, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the Northwest School of Law. His short story collection, "Beasts of the Forest, Beasts of the Field," won the Montana First Book Award. He is the recipient of Michener and Montana Arts Council fellowships and most recently worked as a Lake County public defender and judge.
He lives in Hot Springs, Montana, where his family is centered, including his son Nick who works as an Elementary School Counselor for the Somers-Lakeside School District 29, and daughter Riley, employed as a Bail Disrupter by The Bail Project.
Please visit https://lclibfoundation.org for more information about Matt Pavelich and his body of work.
To find his books for sale, visit https://bedrockbooks.com.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
120 S Last Chance Gulch, Helena, MT, United States, Montana 59601
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
