Tahoe publisher releases book about living in a national park

It was standing room only for the inaugural book launch for Bona Fide Books, the only small press operating on the South Shore.

The Meyers-base publishing house came out with “Permanent Vacation” on May 4. It’s a collection of 20 stories from people who have worked in a national park in the West. Publisher Kim Wyatt whittled the 200 submissions to 20 that stretch from Alaska to the California.

Publisher Kim Wyatt speaks about "Permanent Vacation" at LTCC May 4. Photo/Kathryn Reed

With more than 70 people, some who had to stand, it was a night about writers, about literature, about the written word. The May 4 event was part of the Writers Series at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Two of the authors read passages from their entries. Janet Smith, an instructor at LTCC, captured that teenage angst and wanderlust spirit that led her to be a maid at Yosemite National Park at age 18.

Tahoe City’s Joseph Flannery makes Tahoe’s black bears seem like house pets compared to the grizzlies he encountered while working in Yellowstone National Park.

Wyatt, publisher of Bona Fide, said her goal is to publish three to five books a year, offer classes through the Tahoe Center for Writers, and to create a literary center for the Lake Tahoe Basin.

— Kathryn Reed