Whitefish Review hits stride

It’s been four years since a group of Whitefish friends created the “Whitefish Review.” In that time, it has presented to the reading public hundreds of local, regional and national writers, poets and artists in eight editions.

When Whitefish writer, editor and photographer Brian Schott first announced plans for the literary journal in January 2007, he said he had two goals — give unpublished and undiscovered writers and artists a chance to get in print, and to include established writers to give the journal credibility.

“The idea for the Whitefish Review came to me after returning to Montana from a semester of graduate school in New Hampshire,” he said. “I wanted  to create a venue to celebrate regional literature and at the same time build a community of artists.”

The former spokesman for Big Mountain Ski Resort, Schott had won a literary prize for a fiction piece as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and had written on travel and outdoor recreation for newspapers and magazines across the U.S. After working in public relations, marketing and journalism for more than a decade, he was back at Dartmouth in graduate school.

Three of Schott’s friends made up the Whitefish Review’s first editorial board. Ryan Friel, who received his bachelor’s in political science from Colby College, in Maine, is currently a Whitefish city councilor. Mike Powers also graduated from Colby College, with a bachelor’s in English. Tom Mull had a bachelor’s in psychology from Lynchburg College, in Virginia.

Schott described how he and Friel were roommates back in 1995. They had an old Underwood typewriter set up in their living room and started a story called the “Underwood Files.” Each day, they added a few sentences to the tale.

To kick off the first issue of the “Whitefish Review,” Schott wrote to University of Montana creative writing professor William Kittredge explaining their project. Kittredge responded right away, providing Schott with a previously unpublished short story and an interview.

The 128-page first edition hit the bookstores in June 2007, with 24 writers and artists and 12 color plates. It also included an interview with retired NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who owns a home in Whitefish and goes fly-fishing with Friel.

The second edition came out in December 2007. More than 100 artists and writers had submitted fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art and photography, and 30 were selected. Ian Griffiths had joined the staff as art director, and Schott’s wife Lyndsay managed the Web site.

Over the past four years, the journal has benefited from the generosity of many authors, including Rick Bass, Tim Cahill, Pete Fromm, Pam Houston, Doug Peacock, John Irving, Douglas Chadwick and Laura Munson.

Among the local artists and writers who have appeared inside the covers of the “Whitefish Review” are photographer Chuck Haney, Daily Inter Lake editor Frank Miele, former Whitefish Pilot reporter Paul Peters, artist Tom Suiter and Whitefish High School student and ski racer Stella Holt.

Their eighth issue topped out at 150 pages and includes works by or interviews with 25 writers and artists. Several new volunteers had joined the “Review” team, including senior editors Sabine Brigette and Matt Holloway and poetry editor Lowell Jaeger. Six more people are listed as editorial assistants.

Schott says his team has chosen to publish without advertising. They received tax-exempt status last summer and are operating as a nonprofit. In November, Schott stepped up to the podium at the O’Shaughnessy to receive a grant from the Whitefish Community Foundation.

They also hold readings as fundraisers. This summer, Laura Munson read under the tent at The Lodge At Whitefish Lake. In December, more than 200 people showed up at the Crush Wine Bar to hear Rick Bass, Stella Holt, Cedar Brant and Montana Poet Laureate Henry Real Bird.

About 2,000 copies of each issue of the “Whitefish Review” are printed. Copies are available for $12 at Bookworks, in Whitefish, or at Borders and at Rocky Mountain Outfitters, in Kalispell, or online at www.whitefishreview.com.