Field’s End is a writers’ community on Bainbridge Island, Washington, not far from Seattle across Puget Sound. Field’s End debuted in Fall 2002, offering classes taught by award-winning authors Kathleen Alcalá, David Guterson, and Priscilla Long.

Since then, Field’s End has not only has continued offering top-quality writing classes, but it also offers a variety of programs and events. Free programs open to all include the monthly Writers’ Roundtable series, now in it’s third year. Field’s End also organized both a half-day workshop and an authors’ panel at Northwest Bookfest 2003, further defining itself as a regional presence serving literary writers.

In September 2003, a lecture by award-winning scholar and author Dr. Charles Johnson initiated what will be an ongoing lecture series. Since then, Field’s End has offered lectures by Michigan poet Diane Wakoski, Massachussetts neurologist and author Dr. Alice Weaver Flaherty, Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times author Tim Egan, authors Andrew Ward and Ivan Doig, and most recently, author Dorothy Allison.

The name Field’s End derives from the title poem of Theodore Roethke’s posthumously published The Far Field, winner of a National Book Award in 1965. Roethke, a poet of enormous influence and stature, spent much of his life in the Pacific Northwest. He died on Bainbridge Island in 1963.

For more information about Roethke, click here.

Field’s End is an affiliate of the nonprofit Bainbridge Library Board, which supports the library as a community center for life-long learning.

Field’s End exists to inspire writers and nurture the written word through lectures, workshops, and instruction in the art and craft of writing.

As Tolstoy wrote, “The task of art is enormous.” The best writing fends off chaos and holds the world together. The best stories prompt in readers an irreplaceable confrontation with the human condition. Great stories nurture readers morally, spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally. Field’s End founders — writers themselves — believe that through instruction, commitment, and practice, writers can come to better perform the task of art.

Unless specified otherwise, all Field’s End activities take place at the Bainbridge Public Library, 1270 Madison Avenue, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. The library has free parking on its north and south sides. Additional parking is available in the Commodore School parking lot at the northwest corner of Madison and High School Road.

Coming from Seattle

Bainbridge Island is a 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle. The ferry terminal is located at Alaskan Way and Marion. Bus routes #16 and #66/67 stop directly in front of the terminal. The #10/12 bus stops at First and Marion. For the latest schedule information, go to these links:

• Washington State Ferries
• Sound Transit

The Bainbridge Public Library is about one mile from the ferry terminal:

• To walk, exit north from the ferry terminal to Winslow Way. Turn left (west) into downtown Winslow. At Madison Avenue, turn right (north), and continue about 1/2 mile to the library.
• To catch a taxi, look for a cab waiting outside the ferry terminal. To reserve a cab in advance, call Bainbridge Taxi (206)842-1021 or Taxis & Tours (206)842-7660.
• To bike or drive from the ferry, exit onto Olympic Way. At the traffic light, turn left (west) onto Winslow Way, continue to Madison, and then turn right (north). Continue about 1/2 mile to the library.
• To bus (daytime only), board a #100 Kitsap Regional Transit bus in the transit zone just west of the ferry terminal along Olympic Way.

Pegasus Coffee House is about one-half mile from the ferry terminal:

• To walk or bike there, exit north from the ferry terminal to Winslow Way. Turn left (west) into downtown Winslow. At Madison Avenue, turn left (south). Shortly, Madison will curve right, becoming Parfitt Way. Several restaurants cluster at that bend, including Pegasus Coffee House, 131 Parfitt Way S.W., (206-842-6725).
• To catch a taxi, look for a cab waiting outside the ferry terminal. To reserve a cab in advance, call Bainbridge Taxi (206)842-1021 or Taxis & Tours (206)842-7660.

Coming from Kitsap Peninsula

To get to the Bainbridge Public Library, drive south on Highway 305 to the traffic light at High School Road. Turn right (west), and continue about 1/2 mile. Otherwise (daytime only), ride a Kitsap Regional Transit bus to the ferry terminal, and then transfer to a #100 bus.

To get to Pegasus Coffee House, drive south on Highway 305 to the traffic light at Winslow Way. Turn right (west) into downtown Winslow. At Madison Avenue, turn left (south). Shortly, Madison will curve right, becoming Parfitt Way. Several restaurants cluster at that bend, including Pegasus Coffee House, 131 Parfitt Way S.W., (206-842-6725). Parking is available both on-street and in several lots reserved for customers of local businesses.

The following questions and their answers explain more about what Field’s End offers and why.

How do you price your tuition?

The mission of Field’s End is to provide the highest-quality classes and programs. To do so, Field’s End pays instructors prevailing and competitive teaching rates. Field’s End marketing and administrative expenses are minimal, and volunteers provide all staffing at this time. Sixty percent of tuition goes to instructors, with the remainder allocated to future program expansion, scholarship funds, and Bainbridge Public Library building and grounds maintenance and operations funds. If you need tuition assistance, click here.

I am a beginning writer. What classes will you have for me?

Most Field’s End classes are appropriate for beginners and advanced writers. Rather than focus on writing level, which is very subjective, Field’s End classes, lectures, and programs will focus on a range of skills and craft-building techniques and subjects that will serve the needs of many writers.

Are your classes limited to Bainbridge residents? Will Bainbridge residents be given registration preference?

Field’s End is based on Bainbridge Island, but its classes and programs are open to all adults. For most classes, registration is strictly on a first-come basis, except in the case of workshop classes, where registration is by manuscript submission. All names in the Field’s End database will be sent e-mail notification two weeks before registration opens. If you want to be included in this notification, click here to send your request to Field’s End.

I would like to join an ongoing writing group. Can you help me find the right one?

The free monthly Writers’ Roundtables series gives writers a chance to socialize and network after an evening spent discussing a writing topic. Field’s End hopes this informal time gives gives writers a chance to discover common writing interests, and the opportunity to form groups that meet their needs.

Tell me about Field’s End’s affiliation with the Bainbridge Public Library.

Field’s End operates under the auspices of the nonprofit Bainbridge Public Library, consistent with its goal of making the library a community center for life-long learning. In return for the financial and administrative support of the Library Board, Field’s End will contribute to the Bainbridge Public Library building and grounds maintenance and operations funds.

I write romances (mysteries, etc.). Will you offer classes for me?

Field’s End offers classes, workshops, and programs on the art and craft of writing. In April 2002, Field’s End conducted a survey of local writers to determine levels of interest for various types of classes and workshops. Based on feedback, Field’s End will initially focus on fiction and nonfiction classes that are not specific to any genre. Field’s End will add other classes as appropriate in the future. However, Field’s End will not offer classes specific to commercial or genre fiction. To suggest a specific type of class or a particular instructor, please click here to e-mail your suggestions to Field’s End.

Will Field’s End classes help me get published?

Field’s End offers the highest-quality instruction possible. From that standpoint, as you become a better writer, your chances of getting published increase.

I read a lot but I’m not a writer. What will Field’s End have for me?

Field’s End occasionally offers lectures by well-known writers, as well as other special programs. For example, in September 2003, Dr. Charles Johnson attracted both readers and writers to his lecture titled, “What Makes an Enduring Story?” Please click here to e-mail your suggestions to Field’s End.

Will all your classes and events be held at the library?

Most activities will be at the library. Some classes and lectures require alternative venues, however. Field’s End has rented space at Bloedel Reserve, Islandwood, The Playhouse, Bainbridge High School, and Pegasus Coffee House—all on Bainbridge Island. In the long term, Field’s End hopes to move to a separate facility that would serve as its primary space for classes, meetings, discussion groups, and other activities.

What about the writing classes offered by the Bainbridge Island Parks and Recreation District?

Field’s End is intended to complement, not replace or compete with, the writing classes offered by the Parks and Recreation District. Likewise, other organizations and individuals offer useful writing programs throughout the region. The expanding array of Field’s End offerings underscores its goal of building a writing community that brings together writers of diverse experiences and interests.

How do you choose which classes to offer?

Based on survey responses, Field’s End will initially offer classes in fiction and nonfiction writing. If you have specific class suggestions, please click here to e-mail your suggestions to Field’s End.

Will you offer sequential certificate classes like University of Washington Extension?

Not currently. If you feel sequential classes would be useful, please click here to e-mail your suggestions to Field’s End.

Check here for the latest announcements, press releases, and media coverage about Field’s End.

Press Clippings

“Searching for a Sense of Place”
Bainbridge Review, May 15, 2004

“New York Times Reporter to Make Island Stop”
The Bainbridge Islander, May 18-14, 2004

“Author/Journalist Tim Egan Lectures May 16”
Bainbridge Island Community News, May, 2004

“Utopia, not Realpolitick, is Poet’s Place”
Bainbridge Review, March 6, 2004

“Michigan Poet Diane Wakoski Lectures March 9”
Bainbridge Island Community News, March, 2004

“Field’s End Announces Spring Writing Courses”
Kingston Community News, March, 2004

“Neurologist Explores Why We Write”
Bainbridge Island Community News, February, 2004

“Reuniting Man and Nature”
Bainbridge Review, May 7, 2003

More press clippings...

Press Releases

February 22, 2005

Author Ivan Doig Lectures April 30

Bainbridge Island, Washington---Award-winning author Ivan Doig will share strategies and tactics for putting memory into literary form at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at Island Center Hall, 8395 Fletcher Bay Road, Bainbridge Island, in a lecture sponsored by Field’s End.

Titled “Makings: Putting This House of Sky Together,” Doig’s lecture draws on his first book, a memoir of growing up the son of a ranch hand and a ranch cook in the small towns and valleys of Montana. This House of Sky, published in 1978, became a finalist for the National Book Award, won The Christopher Award, and was chosen “best book about Montana” in a readers’ poll by Montana, The Magazine of Western History. More than 200,000 copies have been sold in the U.S.

Born in Montana, Doig grew up along the Rocky Mountain front, and that dramatic landscape has inspired much of his writing. Since This House of Sky, Doig has authored nine other books of fiction and nonfiction, and an eleventh is due out this spring.

Doig decided in high school that he’d rather be a writer than pursue a not-promising career as a ranch hand. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism at Northwestern University. Work as a journalist followed. He next pursured a doctorate in history from the University of Washington, expecting to teach journalism, but he decided he’d rather write.

During the 10-year gestation of This House of Sky, Doig discovered his continuing dedication to what he calls “a lyrical language, what I call a poetry of the vernacular” and a desire to “write it all as highly charged as poetry.” Robert Kirsch wrote in the Los Angeles Times, Doig’s language “begins in western territory and experience, but in the hands of an artist, it touches all landscape and all life.”

The Western Literature Association has awarded Doig a lifetime Distinguished Achievement award. In a poll by the San Francisco Chronicle to name the best Western novels and works of nonfiction, Doig was the only living writer with books in the top dozen of both lists: This House of Sky (nonfiction) and English Creek (fiction).

Lecture tickets are $12 general, $10 for seniors and students, and can be purchased beginning April 1 at Eagle Harbor Book Company, 157 Winslow Way East, Bainbridge Island. Any remaining tickets will be for sale at the door. Doig will be signing copies of his books after the lecture.

Doig is the fourth guest author in a twice-yearly lecture series presented by Field’s End, the writers’ community affiliatied with the nonprofit Bainbridge Public Library. The lecture is supported by Eagle Harbor Book Company.

April 22, 2004

Author/Journalist Tim Egan Lectures May 16

Bainbridge Island, Washington---Award-winning author and New York Times reporter Tim Egan draws on his familiarity with Pacific Northwest cultural issues to talk about “The Power of Place — Finding a Literary Voice in the Land” on Sunday, May 16, at 7:00 p.m. at IslandWood, 4450 Blakely Avenue N.E., Bainbridge Island. An optional wine social at 5:30 p.m. precedes the lecture.

Starting April 23, tickets will be available at Eagle Harbor Book Co., 157 Winslow Way East, Bainbridge Island: 

·        Wine social tickets—$22, including wine, appetizers, and the lecture—must be purchased by May 10.

·        Tickets for the lecture only—$10 for general admission/$7 for seniors and students—can be purchased in advance or at the door.

Egan’s books will be for sale at the event, and he will sign books afterwards. Both the wine social and lecture will be in the Great Hall at IslandWood. For directions on getting to IslandWood, go to http://islandwood.org. 

According to Egan, “Theme Park America and global media culture have made the world seem a smaller, duller place of late. But people still long for the authentic, whether it be a seasonal ritual or a changeless place, where they can measure their lives, and get some sense of where they belong.”

A third-generation Westerner who’s made a career of writing about the Pacific Northwest, Egan says, “In writing about place, I’m trying to find details in a landscape not yet lost, to see if there exists a common narrative in the land—our land, in this far corner.”

Egan has written three nonfiction books about the West: The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest (1990), Breaking Blue (1992), and Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West (1999). The Good Rain remains a regional bestseller, and a poll by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ranked it one of ten essential books written about the region. Lasso the Wind won the 1999 Washington State Governors’ Writers Award and the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and the New York Times Sunday Book Review named it a Notable Book of the Year. 

For 15 years, the Seattle-based Egan has been a national reporter for the New York Times. In 2001, Egan won a Pulitzer Prize as part of team of reporters who did a series on race in America. He has also been a featured radio essayist for the British Broadcasting Corporation. 

In January 2004, Egan made the transition from journalism to fiction with a novel, The Winemaker’s Daughter. Set east of the Cascade Mountains, The Winemaker’s Daughter draws on Egan’s knowledge of critical Northwest issues during the second half of the twentieth century: land development, water rights, Indian rights, and the environment. 

Born in Seattle and raised in Spokane, Egan graduated from the University of Washington in 1980. In 2000, Whitman College awarded Egan an honorary doctorate of humane letters for his writings on the land.

Egan’s lecture is sponsored by Field’s End, the writers’ community affiliated with the nonprofit Bainbridge Public Library, with support from Eagle Harbor Book Co. For more information about the lecture or to request transportation from the ferry terminal, send e-mail to info@fieldsend.org, and put EGAN LECTURE in the subject line.

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February 16, 2004 

Michigan Poet Diane Wakoski Lectures March 9

Bainbridge Island, Washington---Acclaimed Michigan poet Diane Wakoski lectures on “Secrets and Revelations: How Poems Use Trope To Store Secrets” on Wednesday, March 9, at 7:00 p.m. at the Bainbridge Public Library, 1270 Madison Avenue North, Bainbridge Island.

According to Wakoski, “Poems use figurative language and myth to glitter and beguile.  These disguises save poetry from the burden of prosy messages while still containing all the poet’s hidden stories.”

A distinguished professor of English at Michigan State University since 1976, Wakoski describes herself as “a poet who’s absolutely unwilling to accept other people’s aesthetics or definitions of beauty.” Wakoski has written more than 40 poetry collections, including Emerald Ice: Selected Poems 1962-1987 (1988), which won the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award.

Other honors include a Fulbright fellowship, a Michigan Arts Foundation award, and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Michigan Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Tickets are $7, available at the door or in advance from Eagle Harbor Book Co., 157 Winslow Way East, Bainbridge Island. Wakoski’s books will be for sale at the event, and she will sign books afterwards.

Wakoski’s lecture is sponsored by Field’s End, the writers’ community affiliated with the nonprofit Bainbridge Public Library, with support from Eagle Harbor Book Co.

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February 12, 2004

Field’s End Announces Spring Writing Courses 

Bainbridge Island, Washington---Writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry can start applying for professional-quality courses being offered in Spring 2004 by Field’s End, the regional writers’ community located on Bainbridge Island.

Three experienced instructors debut with Field’s End: award-winning novelist and short-story writer Laura Kalpakian from Bellingham, poet and Seattle University Professor Sharon Cumberland, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Mark Trahant.

All three classes are craft classes that generally incorporate both in-class and out-of-class assignments for instructor evaluation and comment:

• In Navigating the Past: A Guide for Writers, Kalpakian helps writers re-create the past in order to add both broad context and intimate depth to fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, and essays. The class meets two Saturday afternoons (April 24 and May 1) at Strawberry Hill Center at Strawberry Hill Park on Bainbridge Island.

·        In I Have an Opinion: Writing to Persuade, Trahant covers techniques and strategies for writing that persuades and delights simultaneously. Students will write formal and op-ed columns, as well as a more in-depth essay, and share their work in class. The class meets five Tuesday evenings starting April 20 at Pegasus Coffee House, 131 Parfitt Way, Bainbridge Island.

·        In The Craft of Poetry, Cumberland addresses all poets, beginning to advanced. The class covers key elements of poetry—metaphor, rhyme and repetition, imagery, forms, revision, and content—coupling hands-on exercises with analyses of great poems. The class meets six Thursday evenings starting April 15 at the Bainbridge Public Library, 1270 Madison Avenue, Bainbridge Island.

On March 11, Field’s End will start processing applications for Spring classes. Enrollment is limited. Applications received on or before March 11 have the best chance of acceptance as all three classes will fill on a first-come, first-served basis.

Field’s End classes are open to writers of every skill level. More information and registration forms are available at the Bainbridge Public Library and at http://www.fieldsend.org.

Since 2002, Field’s End has been a regional resource for all adults interested in learning the art and craft of writing. In addition to its writing courses, Field’s End hosts a free monthly Writers’ Roundtable series on Bainbridge Island, a free Writers’ Workout series at various West Sound locations, plus lectures and other special events open to the public. 

Field’s End is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Bainbridge Library, 1270 Madison Avenue, Bainbridge Island.

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