Bradbury featured at Fourth Friday readings

The next Fourth Friday Readings, featuring author Gene Bradbury on Feb. 22, begins at 6:15 p.m. in the media room at The Lodge, 660 Evergreen Farm Way in Sequim.

The event is free.

Bradbury is a retired Lutheran pastor who teaches adult classes in theology and biblical history. His experience of more than 40 forty years includes parish ministry as well as hospital, police and prison chaplaincy. Bradbury lives in Sequim and writes poetry, short stories, and children’s stories. He has published 21 books to date. His writing has also appeared in various children’s magazines and adult periodicals.

He and his wife, Deborah, are avid readers and book collectors.

He will read a selection of his work for children and adults.

Following the featured speaker, there will be an hour of 5-minute open mic readings.

Interested writers should rehearse because readings are timed; arrive early to sign up. For open mic guidelines, email to lindabmyers@yahoo.com.

OTA to kick off improv classes

Olympic Theatre Arts will host improvisation classes twice a month at 414 N. Sequim Ave.

Classes, held 6:30-8:30 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of the month, starting Feb. 20, are pragmatically titled “Just say YES, and … ” — a common beginning statement for improv exercises to keep the ideas flowing. Improv is learned through a variety of techniques that include warm-ups and games designed to bring out creativity and confidence.

Instructor Nancy Peterson found her inner “funny” through improv while living in Southern California. Nancy now performs with Imagined Reality from Bainbridge Island and directs an improv group in Port Ludlow.

Space is limited. Register online at OlympicTheatreArts.org or at the OTA box office at 414 N. Sequim Ave. (1-5 p.m., Monday-Friday) or call 360-683-7326.

Audubon center hosts next box building class

The Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road, hosts a nest box building class from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23.

At this class participants learn why we build boxes, how to build a box and then build a box themselves. Attendees will be able to take home a box home to install in their yard. Materials, tools, and expert assistance are provided.

Cost is $15 per person ($12.50 per person for two or more).

Pre-registration is required; call 360-681-4076 to sign up.

Mills is featured writer at Foothills event

Michael Calvin Mills will read from his original works as part of the Foothills Writers Series at 12:35 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, in Maier Performance Hall on the main campus of Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.

The reading is free and open to the public.

Mills’ work has appeared in “Weird Tales, Short Story, Tales from the South” and other magazines and anthologies. His co-authored chapter was included in “Youth Culture and Social Change: Making a Difference by Making a Noise” (Palgrave MacMillan), and an essay and interview will appear in the upcoming “Short-Form Creative Writing: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology” (Bloomsbury).

Mills earned a Meritorious Achievement Award in Playwriting from the Kennedy Center for “Freak Like Me: The Musical,” and was runner up for the Mary McCarthy Book Prize in Short Fiction from Sarabande Books.

Mills teaches at Peninsula College and is the faculty advisor for Tidepools magazine.

For more information, contact Kate Reavey at kreavey@pencol.edu.

Woodturning Club to meet Feb. 26

The Strait Turners Woodturning Club meets at noon on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Gardiner Community Center, 980 Old Gardiner Road.

The meeting will feature demonstrations of several systems and techniques for sharpening woodturning tools. The meeting will also have a wood auction. “It’s a great chance to pick up a unique specimen for that interesting project,” event organizers say.

New turners are welcome.

Cost is a $5 fee at the door for non-members.

Call for Artists

Now is the time to submit an application to the 124th Sequim Irrigation Festival Innovative Arts and Crafts Fair.

The fair is scheduled for May 3-5 on the Sequim Civic Center Plaza, at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Cedar Street, and on Cedar Street.

This includes the May 3 First Friday Art Walk Sequim Patron Preview.

The Innovative Arts and Crafts Fair emphasizes reusability, repurpose and recycling. However, any vendor who creates high quality hand-made craft products will be considered, fair organizers say.

This is a juried show, and all submissions are judged on overall quality. Applications will be accepted until March 1.

Find an application packet at IrrigationFestival.com on the “Innovative Arts and Crafts” event page.

Book group to talk ‘Secret Life of Bees’

The Novel Conversations Book Discussion Group considers “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave.

When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s most vicious racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina … a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past.

Copies of this title are available in various formats including regular print, large print, audiobook, and downloadable eBook, which may be requested online by visiting the library catalog at www.nols.org. A limited number of copies of each book discussion selection are available at the library the month prior to each meeting. View a complete list of 2019 Book Discussion Group selections at www.nols.org/book-discussion-groups.

To participate, simply read the book and attend the discussion; no reservations are needed and drop-ins are welcome.

For more information about this and other programs for readers and book lovers, visit www.nols.org, email to discover@nols.org or call 360-683-1161.

Story Slam set at OTA

The next local Story Slam is set for 7-10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N Sequim Ave. All stories are true, according to the teller’s recollection, told without props or notes. Everyone is welcome to put their name in the hat to tell, or simply listen and enjoy.

The theme for this slam is “Heartburn.”

The event is for attendees 16 years old or older.

See app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=ota, call or email to marketing@olympictheatrearts.com for more information.

Local author to appear at Art Walk event

Pam Fries, a local author and illustrator of the children’s picture book, “Something’s Eating the Garden,” will be signing books from 5-8 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at One of A Kind Art Gallery in the Landing Mall in Port Angeles, during the Port Angeles Art Walk.

The softcover book is available locally at Sunny Farms and Nash’s Organic Produce and in Port Angeles at Swains, Olympic Stationers, and One of a Kind Art Gallery. The hardback is available at One of A Kind Gallery.