Western author brings Fireside Stories

As the long winter nights set in, it is time again for the popular Fireside Stories Evenings sponsored by Three Sisters Historical Society, beginning Wednesday, November 20, with the return of award-winning Western author and storyteller Rick Steber.

Thanks to a community grant from the City of Sisters, and the support of their membership, TSHS will host four Fireside Stories Evenings at the FivePine Conference Center over the next five months, bringing to town four popular authors and lovers of local history.

Besides Steber in November, on Tuesday, January 21, historian Steve Lent from the Bowman Museum in Prineville will be sharing his photographs and extensive knowledge of the history of logging in Central Oregon, much of which took place around Sisters.

Jarold Ramsey, Madras essayist, poet, and respected authority on traditional American Indian literature, will be here Thursday, March 5, to entertain with stories from the homesteading era of Central Oregon. He will be referencing two of his books – “New Era Reflections on the Human and Natural History of Central Oregon” and “Words Marked by a Place – Local Histories of Central Oregon.”

On Sunday, April 26, Bill Sullivan will kick off the hiking season with an armchair hiker’s tour of photographs from his book “Hiking Oregon’s History.” He will share some of Oregon’s most scenic historic sites like Lewis and Clark’s trail across Tillamook Head and Chief Joseph’s Trail of Tears through Hells Canyon.

Each of the authors will have their books available for purchase and signing the evening of their presentation.

For society members whose dues are current through 2020, the four evenings are free of charge. General public admission is $10 per event. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. to allow time to become members, purchase books and artwork, and find a seat. All three of last year’s evenings had well over 100 in attendance.

Steber is a masterful storyteller who brings his characters to life as he captures the “Voices of the High Desert,” inspired by historical figures and events in Central and Eastern Oregon. He will provide an enjoyable evening of “story and introduction to the people and places that make the High Desert like no other place on earth.”

The prolific author of more than 40 books, Steber has extensively researched and interviewed early Oregonians for their personal reminiscences and historical knowledge. His favorite quote regarding those oral histories is, “Every time an old person dies, it’s like a library burns down.”

More than two million copies of his works have sold, including “Traces,” “Jackson Sundown,” “Red White Black,” “Little White Man,” and his new release, “A Cowboy to Love.” Steber has won numerous awards for his colorful and intensively researched non-fiction books, biographies, and novels. Among his accolades are the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Western Novel, the Independent Publishers Award – Best Regional Fiction, the Western Heritage Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Mid-America Publishers Award, the Oregon Library Association Award, and the Oregon Literary Arts Award.

Steber’s early years were spent in the small town of Bonanza in Klamath County, where he was steeped in the Western culture. He now makes his home in Prineville, where he writes in a cabin in the foothills of the Ochoco Mountains. He recently opened a new retail business in Prineville, Rick Steber & Company – MAKERS, which sells items from more than 50 rural artists and craftspeople.

More information about Steber and his books is available on his website: www.ricksteber.com.