Submitted by Griffin Bay Bookstore

Ever wondered why Eastern Washington has so many canyons but so few rivers? So much black, volcanic basalt and so (apparently) few volcanoes? In a reading cosponsored by Griffin Bay Bookstore and the San Juan Island Trails Committee, Neil Mathison will talk about “Catastrophic Columbia” and his new book, “Volcano: an A to Z and Other Essays about Geology, Geography, and Geo-Travel in the American West.”

The event takes place at 7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 4 at the San Juan Island Library at 1010 Guard St., Friday Harbor.

Neil Mathison’s writing explores the ways in which the physical world influences our lives. He muses on heritage, boats, and the sea; ponders how living in the shadow of a volcano shapes a person; and ties the physical world to deeper themes of human life, such as relationships and personal tragedies.

Mathison is an essayist and short-story writer who has been a naval officer, a nuclear engineer, an expatriate businessman living in Hong Kong, a corporate vice president, and a stay-at-home dad. His work has appeared in Ontario Review, Georgia Review, Southern Humanities Review, North American Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Agni, Under the Sun, -divide-, Bellowing Ark, Pangolin Papers, Blue Mesa Review, and elsewhere. Born in Brazil, he grew up in Seattle, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, and ultimately returned to the Northwest where he now lives and writes.