Story Catcher Festival includes public readings and workshop

A state park permit is required for entry to the park.

Walker, former Poet Laureate of Kentucky, is a professor in the department of English and the African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky and editor and publisher of “PLUCK!,” the Journal of Affrilachian Art & Culture. Walker regularly teaches in writing programs including Fishtrap in Oregon and SplitRock at the University of Minnesota.

Mockett teaches fiction and nonfiction at the Rainier Writing Workshop, in Tacoma, Washington. She has written for “The New York Times,” “National Geographic,” “Glamour,” and has been a guest on Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered on National Public Radio. Her upcoming book, “A Kernel in God’s Eye,” set in agricultural heartland states, was a finalist for the Lukas Prize for Nonfiction by Columbia and Harvard University’s Schools of Journalism.

Goldsmith is a poet and the Instructor of Writing at Oregon State University Cascades. She will speak about exploring innovation through procedure, process, and formula. Goldsmith is the inaugural recipient of the Kentucky Writers Fellowship from the Baltic Writing Residency, and has had poetry featured in “Rabbit Catastrophe Review,” “New Delta Review,” and “Utterance.”

Strand of Anchorage, Alaska, was a 2018 a finalist for a Fishtrap fellowship. He will speak about pace in poetry and prose. He graduated from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, last year with a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing. He worked as the assistant nonfiction editor for “High Desert Journal” and was received the distinguished creative writing award given to one graduating college senior annually.