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The Signature Dish

Monday, September 30   -   6:00 - 8:00 pm

Mt. St. Helens Ballroom

​Sponsored by HarperCollins                                                                                                                                (tickets required)


An evening for national and Northwest-known authors to meet with booksellers while enjoying this literary feast. Authors will rotate through ten tables of booksellers, spending about eight minutes with each group.
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Waka T. Brown | Rock Kotani's 400 Million Dollar Summer | HarperCollins / Quill Tree Books
Weaving together family, baseball, and Japanese folklore, Waka Brown’s novel, Rick Kotani’s 400 Million Dollar Summer (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, due 1/25), tells the story of 12-year-old Rick, whose dreams of baseball glory seem to disappear when he and his mother move from California to Oregon to care for his Grandpa Hiroshi. Waka T. Brown is the author of several previous novels for middle grade readers, including the Oregon Book Award-winning Dream, Annie, Dream.
P.C. Cast | Boudicca | HarperCollins Publishers
Inspired by the rich history of warrior-queen Boudicca’s attack on Roman Britain, bestselling author P. C. Cast crafts an epic, mythic retelling of one of the most legendary female warriors of all time. Boudicca (William Morrow/HarperCollins) is the perfect blend of larger-than-life characters, powerful magic, and steamy romance. P.C. Cast is the author of scores of books, including the landmark House of Night series, which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. She lives near Portland.
Kristin Cast | The Empress | Bloom Books
Best-selling Oregon author Kristin Cast returns with The Empress (Bloom Books/Sourcebooks), the first book in Cast’s new tarot-inspired romantasy series, Towerfall. He is ruthless, battle-scarred warrior with a dark past, and she is from another world, pretending to be his obedient wife to save a fantasy kingdom--and to stay alive. Kristin Cast is a #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author with over 25 million books in print.
Alexis Castellanos | Guavas and Grudges | Bloomsbury Publishing-YA
Guavas and Grudges (Bloomsbury YA/Macmillan) is Alexis Castellanos’s charming and undeniably sweet romcom, featuring two teens from rival family bakeries. This Romeo-and-Juliet-like story offers up witty, relatable characters with plenty of chemistry, delectable descriptions of Cuban treats, and an ending as satisfying as pastelitos de guayaba. Alexis Castellanos is a writer, book marketer, and graphic designer, and is author of the award-winning graphic novel Isla to Island. Guavas and Grudges is her first novel for young adults.
Elaine Cho | Ocean's Godori | Hillman Grad Books
Elaine Cho’s Oceans’ Godori (Hillman Grad Books/IPS) is a big-hearted Korean space opera, a hyperkinetic adventure featuring a disgraced space pilot struggling to find her place while fighting to protect the ones she loves. With plenty of action and irresistible romance, Cho’s debut novel also offers a nuanced exploration of colonialism and capitalism. Elaine U. Cho is a former film critic, former bookseller at Elliott Bay Book Company, and current associate editor for Shelf Awareness.
Sneed Collard III | Birding for Boomers | Mountaineers Books
Beginning birders--regardless of age--will love Birding for Boomers (Mountaineers), Sneed Collard III’s friendly, accessible and humorous guide to the joys of bird watching. Birders of a certain age will especially appreciate Collard’s personal insights and tips to make birding with aging-related challenges easier and more enjoyable. A marine biologist and scientist by training, Sneed Collard III has more than 75 books focus primarily on natural history, science, and the environment.
Dianne Dugaw | California Medieval | Schaffner Press
With a wry voice, Oregonian Dianne Dugaw recounts her time at a Bay-Area Franciscan convent during the heyday of the 1960s in her unique memoir, California Medieval (Schaffer Press/B&T Pub. Services).  Sprinkled with poetry, song, and lyrical vignettes, this is a lively and literary intersection of music, spirituality, sociology, and sexuality. Dianne Dugaw, Professor Emerita at the University of Oregon, is a singer, musician, scholar, and writer focusing on folklore and with an emphasis on queer topics.
Phil Hanley | Spellbound | Holt
Stand-up comedian Phil Hanley offers a fascinating, funny, at times heartbreaking window into living with severe dyslexia in his memoir Spellbound (Henry Holt & Co./Macmillan). Hanley’s unlikely path from struggling student to A-list comedian took a number of unexpected turns, as he tried to first compensate for, then conquer, the learning disability that marked him out as different. Phil Hanley has appeared on stage and screen, from open mics to late-night television shows.
Patrick Hutchison | Cabin | St. Martin's Press
Patrick Hutchison’s CABIN (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan) is part memoir, part how-to (or not how-to) manual, and ultimately a love story to a place, a process, and an idea. Based on his wildly popular Outside Magazine piece, CABIN chronicles Hutchison’s journey from office job to living off the grid, as he slowly renovates a 120 square foot fixer-upper located in the Washington Cascades at the end of a gravel road called Wit’s End. Patrick Hutchison lives in Tacoma.
M. Jackson| Ice to Water | Torrey House Press
Ice to Water (Torrey House Press/Consortium), by Eugene-area writer, geographer and glaciologist M Jackson is a gripping story of loss, love, and redemption set alongside a fragile and rare ice cave in Alaska. M Jackson has worked for over a decade chronicling climate change and communities in the Arctic and Antarctic, and is the author of several books, including The Secret Lives of Glaciers and the novel The Ice Sings Back.
John Larison | The Ancients | PRH/Viking
John Larison’s new novel, The Ancients (Viking/PRH), is a sweeping tale of hope, love, and adventure set in an unforgiving future. It's the story of very different lives intersecting amid a crumbling empire and a rapidly changing climate. The Ancients has already been selected by Publishers Marketplace as a Buzz Book for Fall/Winter 2024/2025. John Larison’s previous novel, Whiskey When We’re Dry, appeared on numerous Best of the Year lists and was twice an Indie Next pick.
Scott Nadelson| Trust Me | Forest Avenue Press
At turns humorous and heartbreaking, Scott Nadelson’s new novel, Trust Me (Forest Ave. Press/IPS), is the story of a turbulent year in the life of a father and middle school daughter spending their time together in a cabin on a wild river in the Cascade foothills. Scott Nadelson, who teaches at Willamette University, is the author of a previous novel and six collections of short fiction and the Oregon Book Award-winning memoir, The Next Scott Nadelson.
Brian Patrick O'Donoghue | The Fairbanks Four | Sourcebooks
Alaska journalist Brain Patrick O’Donoghue chronicles a powerful true story of a broken justice system in The Fairbanks Four (Sourcebooks), the story of four young men wrongly convicted of murder in 1997. The case haunts O’Donoghue for years, until he finally enlists his students in an investigative journalism course to help him dig into what really happened, ultimately uncovering the lies, deceits, and prejudices that had wrongly sent these four men to prison.
Rosanne Parry | A Wolf Called Fire | HarperCollins / Greenwillow Books
Portland writer and bookseller Rosanne Parry’s newest “Voice of the Wilderness” middle grade novel is A Wolf Called Fire (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins, due 2/25), a stand-alone companion to the New York Times bestseller A Wolf Called Wander. This tale of a pup born small is inspired by the real-life story of Wolf 8, who went from runt to patriarch of the largest and most successful pack in Yellowstone by choosing a more collaborative and generous leadership style.
Michael Sampson | Rainbow Bear | Brown Books Publishing Group / Brown Books Kids
In the latest addition to Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson's beloved children's collection, Rainbow Bear (Brown Books Kids) is sure to delight both old fans and new with its vivid illustrations and charming characters. Young readers will learn the names of every color of the rainbow, following Little Bear as he wakes up from his hibernation and fills his hungry belly with berries! Michael Sampson collaborated with his friend, Bill Martin, Jr., on over 20 books.
Trang Thanh Tran | They Bloom at Night | Bloomsbury
Something horrible is lurking in the waters of Mercy, Louisiana in Trang Thanh Tran’s new novel for young adults, They Bloom at Night (Bloomsbury YA/Macmillan). And for Noon, a girl searching for a future where she can be free, confronting that monster, as well as her own past, is the only way to freedom. Trang Thanh Tran writes speculative stories with big emotions, and is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel She is a Haunting.
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Julia Park Tracey | Silence | Sibyline Press
Inspiration for California writer Julia Park Tracey’s new novel Silence (Sibylline Press), a tale of Puritanism, witchcraft, punishment, and redemption came from her seventh great-grandmother. Accused of blasphemy, Silence Marsh is sentenced to one year without speaking, until she is called on to offer witness at a witchcraft trial--or be deemed a witch herself. Julia Tracey is the author of several novels, including Bereaved, based on her third great-grandmother’s experiences during the Civil War.
Edward Underhill | The In-Between Bookstore | HarperCollins/Avon
Edward Underhill’s debut novel for adults, The In-Between Bookstore (Avon/HarperCollins), asks one question: If you had the chance to talk with your younger self, would you? Darby, a trans man nearing 30, laid off and broke, moves back to his small Illinois hometown, walks into the bookstore he worked at in high school. . . and slips through time to come face-to-face with his pre-transition, teenage self. Edward Underhill is also the author of two young adult novels.
Ana Velez | The Three Little Guinea Pigs and the Andean Fox | Page Street Publishing
The Three Little Guinea Pigs and the Andean Fox (Page Street Kids/Macmillan) is Ecuadorian-born author and illustrator Ana Velez’s fresh new take on a classic tale featuring animals of Andean South America. Young readers will love these three little guinea pigs who find a local fox’s over-friendliness rather suspicious until their community of mountain-dwelling animals unites to help them feel safe, welcome, and included. Ana Velez, a special education teacher, lives in Portland.
Carole Boston Weatherford| Hair Like Obama's, Hands Like LeBron's | Abrams
New York Times bestselling author Carole Boston Weatherford serves up powerful and inspiring words for young readers in Hair Like Obama’s, Hands Like Lebron’s (Abrams Appleseed/Abrams), an ode to all the things that make Black and brown kids beautiful, and a celebration of Black history and excellence. Carole Weatherford is a two-time NAACP Image Award winner, and author of 70-plus books, including nine Coretta Scott King Award winners, a Newbery Honor winner, and four Caldecott Honor winners.