The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Salty Talks presents an evening with noted author Robert Michael Pyle on Thursday, March 19 at Ilwaco’s Salt Hotel & Pub.The presentation starts at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited, with no reservations.

Independent scholar, biologist, and writer Robert Michael Pyle will be the March speaker for Salty Talks at Salt Hotel and Pub (147 Howerton Way, Ilwaco WA). Pyle will present Humans and Other Creatures of the Tidewater Reach: A Field Trip in Poems and Prose. The author has described it as “largely a reading, drawn from many sources, strung together with stories and vignettes of our damp back yard.”

Robert Michael Pyle is a highly respected author and supporter of the arts in the Columbia Pacific region. For 35 years, Pyle has been a full-time writer, biologist, teacher, and speaker. He has published hundreds of articles, essays, peer-reviewed papers, stories, and poems. His 24 books include Wintergreen, The Thunder Tree, Where Bigfoot Walks, Chasing Monarchs, Walking the High Ridge, Sky Time in Gray’s River, and Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year; three poetry collections; one novel, Magdalena Mountain; and a flight of butterfly books including The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies and Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest, Pyle's essays from 52 consecutive issues of Orion and Orion Afield magazines are published in The Tangled Bank by Oregon State University Press. The Tidewater Reach (poems) and Nature Matrix: New & Selected Essays will come out in 2020. Pyle's books have been honored by the John Burroughs Medal, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award, three Governor's Writer's Awards, and two National Outdoor Book Awards. His poems have received four nominations for the Pushcart Prize.

Pyle has recently released an album of poems and acoustic guitar songs with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Ray Prestegard, Butterfly Launches from Spar Pole (butterflylaunch.com). His book Where Bigfoot Walks is currently being made into a motion picture, The Dark Divide, starring Debra Messing and David Cross, for release in 2020.

Salty Talks are in partnership with the SALT Pub & Hotel, Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, and Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, with support from Friends of Columbia River Gateway and the Port of Ilwaco.

The Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum is located at 115 SE Lake Street in Ilwaco. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10-4. Admission is free on Thursdays thanks to the Port of Ilwaco.