ENTERPRISE — February’s Fishtrap Fireside features Wallowa County writers June Colony from Lostine, John Gaterud of Wallowa and Lauren MacDonald, who lives a few blocks from Fishtrap.

The literary evening takes place Friday, Feb. 2, at Fishtrap, 107 W. Main St. Admission is free.

Light snacks are provided and drinks are available for purchase. For those who can’t attend in person, anyone anywhere can take in Fireside online at Fishtrap.org and on Fishtrap’s YouTube Channel.

February’s Fishtrap Fireside is sponsored by Wild Carrot Herbals.

June Colony

Colony wasn’t born in Eastern Oregon, but she just knew it was home the first time she came out of the Minam and found the valley. She soon returned, having coaxed her 1968 VW bus into bringing her, a few belongings and a box of canned food (from her mother) up the steep roads and into Lostine. That was 50 years ago and it looks like she is here to stay.

John Gaterud

Gaterud is a journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor, graphic designer, college teacher, and newspaper and book publisher in a career spanning nearly 50 years. Born in New Jersey, he worked part-time during high school as a printer’s devil for his hometown weekly paper.

He briefly attended forestry school at the University of Maine, but dropped out and traveled for several years. After earning a journalism degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 1978, he moved to Oregon, where he served for a year and a half as editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle in Grant County.

He earned a master’s in journalism from the University of Oregon in 1981, then began teaching at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he spent 25 years specializing in feature writing, editing and graphic design. He is the founding publisher of Willow Avenue Review, a literary quarterly; The Minnesota Times, a statewide newspaper; and Blueroad Press, a small award-winning book company he started with his daughter.

Over the years, Gaterud has worked as a freelance writer and designer, and served as publishing faculty for Howling Bird Press, in the creative writing MFA at Augsburg College, Minneapolis. He holds a doctorate in American studies and journalism from The Union Institute, Cincinnati, where he pursued creative nonfiction focused on American road stories.

Current projects include editing a book manuscript for the Wallowa History Center, assembling a collection of his own work, and chasing ambitions in woodworking. Parents to two kids, he and his wife, Cindi, had no idea they would return to Eastern Oregon four decades after leaving John Day, but here they landed. As for writing tips, Gaterud defers to a favorite teacher, who advised, “You don’t know what you think until you write it down.”

Lauren MacDonald

MacDonald works with words while curiously exploring the cosmos — plants, stars, humans, mysteries, patterns, roles, love and pain. Her work is her expression of experiencing the natural world inside and out.