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"Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, a Writer's Life" In-Person

An evening with Todd Goddard, author of the definitive biography of Jim Harrison - one of America's most beloved writers - and a penetrating deep dive into the life of the talent behind Legends of the Fall, Dalva, and True North. Goddard will be in conversation with Martha Williams, the Library's director of programs and education.

Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was widely considered one of the finest voices of his generation. His twenty-one books of fiction and fourteen books of poetry influenced a generation of writers. Harrison helped to shape the course of contemporary American literature, revitalizing in particular the novella form, of which he was a recognized master.

Harrison's literary achievements were matched only by the literary persona that he cultivated during a fecund time in American letters and in the company of a remarkable cohort of friends, writers, actors, and artists, including Thomas McGuane, Peter Matthiessen, Jimmy Buffett, and Jack Nicholson. His articles for such magazines as Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Esquire, and Outside in the 1970s won him a loyal readership who reveled in his high spirits and prodigious appetites.

For all his notoriety as a writer of prose, however, poetry remained his first and longest-abiding love. He cherished his geographic remoteness from what he called the "dream coasts" of New York City and Los Angeles, preferring to hunt, fish, and drink in the backwoods bars of Michigan, Arizona, and Montana.

Based on more than one hundred original interviews and drawing upon Harrison's collected papers, Devouring Time is the first and only literary biography of this beloved author, whose playful, irreverent, and spiritual work continues to find and delight new readers. Book signing with Iconoclast Books to follow.

Registration recommended to join us in person. To watch live online (no registration needed): https://vimeo.com/event/5736991. The recording will be available to watch later on The Community Library's Event Archive.

Date:
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Time:
5:30pm - 6:30pm
Time Zone:
Mountain Time - US & Canada (change)
Location:
John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall
Campus:
The Community Library
Audience:
  Adults  
Categories:
  Lectures & Conversations  
Registration has closed.

Todd Goddard grew up in the Philadelphia area. He earned his bachelor’s degree from New York University; a J.D. from the University Connecticut School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Connecticut Journal of International Law, and a Ph.D. in literary studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work has been funded by the Mellon Foundation, a Bordin-Gillette Fellowship from the University of Michigan, a Presidential Fellowship from UVU, a Mary Adams Trust Fellowship, a Humanities Exposed Grant, and a Vilas Research Travel Award, among others. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for Elk River Arts & Lectures.

His awards include the Joseph Glick Prize for International Law and multiple best paper awards from the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He has published and presented widely on topics pertaining to American and English literature and history. An associate professor of literary studies at Utah Valley University, his newest project is a biography of the writer Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall and almost twenty books of poetry. Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, A Writer’s Life, the first and only biography of this beloved author, was published by Blackstone Publishing in November 2025.

Author photo credit: Jon Margolis.