Each spring some amazing authors converge on Spokane to partake in EWU’s Get Lit! Festival. The festival attracts some impressive talent, and we’re so excited for all of the literary discussions, workshops and readings that we’re ditching our monthly Dewey article to focus on the works in the library collection of a handful of Get Lit authors. We couldn’t outline them all, there are way too many, but here’s an overview to pique your interest.

Walter Kirn, who is one half of “Conversation with Walter Kirn and Shawn Vestal” is an extremely versatile author who has written non-fiction, fiction and two novels which were turned into feature films. For a page-turning thriller, check out Blood Will Out: the True Story of a Murder, a Mystery and a Masquerade. Kirn also wrote Up in the Air, which was made into a movie (we have that too). Most Spokanites recognize Shawn Vestal from his column in the Spokesman, and we have his award winning Godforsaken Idaho at the library.

Sherman Alexie and Jess Walter will record a session for their popular podcast, “A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment.” Alexie will also have a Q&A session. All of his books are powerful and riveting, but if you’ve never read any of his work, start with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian or Reservation Blues. Alexie also writes poetry, and we have several anthologies which include his work, and the Downtown Library has one of his poems as part of an art display at Monroe and Spokane Falls Blvd. Quick side note: this is a fantastic way to introduce kids to poetry, as they can’t seem to resist walking over the words which are etched in a spiral.

The library has most of Jess Walter’s works including his two most recently published works We Live in Water and Beautiful Ruins as well as his older works. We also have Las Finanzas de los Poetas, which is just Financial Lives of the Poets translated, but everything seems to sound better in Spanish.

Sarah Hulse will take part in two separate readings at Get Lit. She is a Spokane writer who recently published Black River. Another Spokane author you may recognize is Sharma Shields. We have her much lauded Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac. She’ll be doing a reading with Benjamin Percy, author of The Dead Lands, currently on order, as well as several other titles. We have Refresh, Refresh, as well as the graphic novel of the same title.

This isn’t even half of the authors who will participate in Get Lit this year. For a full list, check out their website and get excited for the festival which runs April 20-26.

There are all sorts of pink things in April. The pink nose of the Easter bunny. The pink of EVERYTHING for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer walk on April 26. Pink Martini playing with the Spokane Symphony on April 25 and a Pink Floyd cover band playing at the Knitting Factory that same night. Plus, flowers are starting to show up. The grape hyacinth in my yard are mostly purple but there are some pink ones as well.

Here’s a few pinkish songs to go with the rosy month of April.

“Wish You Were Here” or “Us and Them” from the live Pink Floyd album, Pulse. You can’t go wrong with either of these; put on your rose-colored glasses and drift back in time with these. You can also find Pink Floyd’s 2014 album, Endless River on Freegal.

Pink Martini has a ton of albums on Freegal. A great place to start is their latest, Pink Martini and the Von Trapps or their 1994 Retrospective with fun tracks like “Hey Eugene” and “Lilly.”

Of course, some might say that the pinkest of performers would be P!nk. You can find her popular 2012 album, The Truth About Love on Freegal along with lots more of her albums.

Pinker than P!nk might be the music from The Pink Panther movies by Henry Mancini – now that’s a serious (but good) earworm for you! And after hearing the songs you’re going to rewatch Blake Edward’s The Return of the Pink Panther for sure!

Whichever hue of pink you choose remember you can download (and keep) five songs a week from Freegal with your library card.