McCandless and McGivney Authors

Both are award-winning writers and will be giving readings as well as a writer’s workshop.

Western Wyoming Community College will host Carine McCandless and Annette McGivney on campus October 15, with a joint reading from 6:30-8:30PM in room 1302 and a writer’s workshop from 2:30-4:30PM in room 1309.  Both events are free to the public and all are invited.

Carine McCandless’ memoir, The Wild Truth was a New York Times Best Seller and was selected by many, including Newsweek, Amazon, and others on the Best Books of 2014 lists.  As the sister of Chris McCandless of Into the Wild fame, her memoir is about growing up in and surviving an abusive household. She also gives presentations about domestic violence and will be doing a fundraiser with the Sweetwater County Family Justice center at the Broadway Theater in Rock Springs on Mon. Oct 14 from 6-8PM.

Annette McGivney is an editor for Backpacker magazine, and wrote Pure Land:  Three Lives, Three Cultures, and the Search for Heaven on Earth.  It’s a memoir about a young Japanese woman’s journey into the Grand Canyon and her murder.  It’s a 2018 National Outdoor Book Award Winner, interweaving three different stories, that of the victim, the murderer and herself, in an investigative and introspective narrative as she examines the circumstances behind the incident. 

"With the visit of these two best-selling writers, the Sweetwater County community has an opportunity to learn about writing in their workshop, but also about the real life topics of domestic abuse in families and a murder in the Grand Canyon," said Chris Propst, Associate Professor of English at Western.

These events are sponsored by Sweetwater BOCES, Western’s Cultural Affairs Committee, and Western’s Louise Wesswick Visiting Writer’s Committee.

To learn more about McGivney, visit www.annettemcgivney.com/pure-land.html, and to learn more about McCandless, visit www.carinemccandless.com. For questions regarding this event, including the workshop, please contact Chris Propst at cpropst@westernwyoming.edu.