Walter to speak at annual dinner

Best-selling writer Jess Walter will be the speaker at the Idaho Humanities Council's 11th annual Distinguished Humanities Lecture and Dinner on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

The event celebrates Walter and his writing for North Idaho Reads.

Walter is a New York Times best-selling author of six novels, a new collection of stories, and a work of nonfiction, including the widely praised novels "Beautiful Ruins" and "The Financial Lives of the Poets."

Tickets are now on sale for the dinner and lecture.

A career journalist, Walter has seen his work appear in newspapers and magazines across the country, including The Washington Post, Esquire, Harpers, Playboy and the Boston Globe. Winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award, and a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, Walter covered the Randy Weaver/Ruby Ridge case for the Spokesman Review, and later wrote a book about the 1992 standoff between the Weaver family and federal law enforcement in North Idaho.

Walter's works have been translated into 28 languages, and he just released his first collection of stories in 2013, "We Live in Water."

During his evening in Coeur d'Alene, Walter will talk about his life, his work, the liberal dose of humor that often fuels his fiction and the everyday tensions in the lives of characters that bring his stories to life.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.idahohumanities.org or by calling (888)345-5346. General tickets are $50. Benefactor tickets are $100, offering an invitation to a pre-dinner reception with Walter in a private residence and preferred seating at the dinner and lecture. The humanities council recommends reserving tickets early, as the event often sells out.

The evening will begin with a no-host reception and silent auction at 6 p.m. at The Resort. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. with Walter's talk to follow. Walter's books will be available from Barnes and Noble on-site and he'll be available for signing afterward.