Join us for a presentation on the history of the jackalope.  Part rabbit, part antelope, full American West icon.  Learn about the myths, the hoaxes, the very real scientific breakthrough it inspired.  Our guests will be author and jackalope expert Michael P. Branch (On the Trail of the Jackalope) and radiomaker Fil Corbitt (from the podcast The Wind) with their live performance about the elusive and omnipresent critter. Originally aired on the podcast 99% Invisible, this live reading will combine interviews, music, and audio clips to tell the story in a live multimedia presentation.

An award-winning humorist and high desert writer, Michael Branch is Foundation Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has authored more than 300 essays and reviews, and 10 books, including his Nevada trilogy: Raising Wild, Rants from the Hill, and How to Cuss in Western. Mike’s recent book, On the Trail of the Jackalope, has been called “an entertaining and enlightening road trip to the heart of an American legend.” Mike lives with his wife and daughters in the high desert of northwestern Nevada. There he writes, plays harmonica, curses at baseball on the radio, and walks more than 1,000 miles each year (with Huckleberry the dog) in the remote hills, canyons, arroyos, and playas.

A few years ago, radiomaker Fil Corbitt found a handsaw in the mountains and built a small desk out in the woods. High in the Sierra Nevada, flanked by an aspen grove and a lodgepole pine stand, this is where Fil makes The Wind—a critically acclaimed podcast that investigates our relationship to place through sound. The Wind has aired nationally and internationally on 99% Invisible, Snap Judgement, and BBC’s Shortcuts, and has featured interviews with John Luther Adams, buZ blurr, Jessica Bruder (Nomadland), Gary Farmer, Dom Flemons, and Joe Lally (Fugazi), among many others, and has covered everything from Brazilian punk music to the history of cowboy yodeling.

This literary event is free and made possible by Great Basin Arts and Entertainment in memory of Aliceann Doyle.

RSVP today!