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Author Talks at the Matthews returns this fall with a new lineup of local writers ready to dive into their stories, their methods, and their inspirations. Join us in the fireplace room every Tuesday at 12:30 for an hour with some of the best authors in the Black Hills area!
Are you interested in presenting an Author Talk? Contact us at 605-717-6967 or [email protected]
Featured author…
November 1: Bill Bosch
Bill Bosch grew up east of Linton, ND in an area populated mainly by German-Russians. His grandparents all grew up in what is now Ukraine and Crimea. And so did their parents and so on. But when they emigrated to the Dakotas in the late 1880s they came not as Russians or Ukrainians but as ethnic Germans. Bill has written three books about his heritage. The first, published in 2014, is titled The German Russians in Words and Pictures. Next came Russian Agriculture in the 1880s. Then last year he published a historical novel with the title The Land Seekers. He will briefly discuss the first two and then discuss, with the audience, some of the mistakes he made in writing his novel. Perhaps that can help others avoid the same mistakes while inspiring them to publish their own novel.
Coming Soon…
November 8: Doug Hoff
Douglas Henry Hoff was born in 1948 and graduated as valedictorian of his high school class in 1966. He attended and was an honor student at Black Hills State University and the SD School of Mines and Technology. He and Marlene (Molly) were married in 1968 while attending SDSMT. When his parents considered the sale of the family farm Doug and Molly decided to give ranching a try and later bought the farm, which they eventually tripled in size. While there they started a herd of world-renowned registered Angus cattle, a cattle genetics and research company that they later sold to Cargill, and had two children, Brian and Andrea.
While ranching Doug received The National Ralston Purina Youth of the Year award, The SD Young Farmer of the Year award, The North American Beef Improvement Federation Seedstock Producer of the Year award, and The 2000 US Livestock Man of the Year award. He graduated from the SD Agriculture and Rural Development program. He and Molly enjoyed and lived a robust ranching career, selling semen, embryos, and cattle around the globe, with cattle from their cowherd dispersal going to five continents. Doug brought his expertise and in-depth agricultural experience to this book, helping to produce a unique perspective of the demands of agriculture and living on the prairie.
November 15: Courtney Huse-Wika & BHSU Writing Class
Courtney Huse-Wika believes in the art of collection: overheard quotes, forgotten stories, and sometimes animals. She is the author of Perch, a chapbook of nature poetry from Anchor and Plume Press, and was named a finalist for the 2021 James Hearst Poetry Prize from North American Review, and a 2020 Honorable Mention for the New Millennium Writing Awards. Her creative work has appeared widely, including CALYX, The Halcyone, New Ohio Review, South Dakota Review, Kindred, South Dakota Magazine, South Dakota in Poems, Midwestern Gothic, Scissors and Spackle, Backwards City Review, and the MacGuffin. She received her BA in philosophy and English from Augustana University, her MA and PhD in English with a specialization in creative writing from the University of South Dakota, and is currently an Associate Professor of English and Distinguished Faculty at Black Hills State University.
November 29: Michael Harris
Michael Harris lives in the Black Hills near Deadwood South Dakota. He is a husband and a father. His first novel “Outlaw Blood” is a Post Apocalyptic Western, set sometime in the near future after a global economic crash has devastated the world’s countries.
Michael enjoys shooting, hiking, reading, writing, and hunting. He has ranched and worked cattle, served in the U.S. Army for eight years, been a Law Enforcement Officer, survived 17 years as Mr. Mom, and is now an author.
December 6: Troy Dobyns
At two weeks old, Troy started traveling with his family due to his father’s Naval career. He and his family lived in many places but always came home to the Black Hills for vacations. When their father retired, they knew this would be their permanent home.
In the spring of 1972, the family moved to Rapid City just in time to live through the Rapid City flood. Troy’s story is intertwined with several others from the maternal side of his family who also fought the waters of that horrible night in June 1972. These stories are revealed through several accounts of the family but mostly through the eyes of the then-eight-year-old author. The story covers the day of the flood, the night of the flood, survivorship, the aftermath, and the recovery.
December 13: Robyn VanDersys
Robyn VanDerSys was born in Washington State, which is where her love for the great outdoors was born. She has lived in several different states and in 2015 settled in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and kids.
Her life has consisted of one adventure to the next, including racing monster trucks in her early twenties, raising three strong children, riding around Mexico on her four wheeler while living out of a backpack, and volunteering on a chase team while her husband raced the Baja 1000.
She spends her free time off-roading and hiking the many trails of the Black Hills, and also enjoys traveling and having as many adventures as humanly possible.
