Special Events

Lewis & Clark Library and the Lewis & Clark Library Foundation are pleased to announce an evening with New York Times best-selling author Amor Towles in conversation with Russell Rowland. This event will take place at the Helena Civic Center on Monday, April 25th at 7:00 PM. Admission is free. The Montana Book Co will be selling books at the event and there will be a chance for a book signing after the reading and discussion. Towles’ visit is made possible by a gift from the estate of longtime Helena Librarian, and friend of the Library, Christian Frazza.

New York Times best-selling author Amor Towles was born and raised in the Boston area. He graduated from Yale College and received an MA in English from Stanford University. Prior to becoming an award winning author, Towles worked as an investment professional for over twenty years. Towles’ books include the Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and his
current title The Lincoln Highway, and they will be the centerpiece of the evening of readings and discussion.

In addition to his novels, Towles has published short stories in the Paris Review (#112), Granta (#148), British Vogue, and Audible Originals. He wrote the introduction to Scribner’s 75th anniversary edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night and the Penguin Classics edition of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. “As for Clothing,” Towles’ essay on Walden, appears in the anthology Now Comes Good Sailing: Writers Reflect on Henry David Thoreau.

Critically-acclaimed Montana author Russell Rowland will serve as moderator for the evening. Rowland is the author of six books, a literary podcast host, writer and host of an NPR radio program, and a mentor to fledgling writers. A fourth-generation Montanan, Rowland inherited the experiential legacies of his father’s bluecollar Wyoming roots and mother’s 100+ year ranch family history. He earned an MA in Creative Writing from Boston University. He co-hosts the monthly podcast series “Breakfast in Montana." Rowland also hosts "Fifty-Six Counties," a radio program on Yellowstone Public Radio where Rowland  converses with Montanans and explores the ways in which this state and its people shape one another.

Christian Frazza was the Director of the Carroll College Corette Library and a longtime Lewis & Clark Library supporter. Library Director John Finn says, “Christian loved words and language. Helena's Library community misses him and we are grateful for the opportunity to remember him.” Frazza passed away in 2020.

An Evening with Amor Towles in conversation with Russell Rowland is brought to you by the Estate of Christian Frazza, the Lewis & Clark Library Foundation, Lewis & Clark Library, and the Helena Civic Center.