“The Everybody Ensemble”

Montana State University instructor presents at English colloquium

Critically acclaimed author Amy Leach presented her latest book, “The Everybody Ensemble,” in a read-aloud at the winter quarter English department colloquium on Monday, February 28. 

Leach read from her book with an upbeat tone, starting with an essay titled “Beanstan for Pet” describing her Pomeranian. A chorus of audible joy erupted often from the audience as she read phrases such as, “I had a Pomeranian and a Labrador – a little bad dog and a good big dog. The big dog had thought for many years and was in possession of great understanding. The little one attacked anything he did not understand, and he did not understand anything” (26). 

"Considering that I scrounged up $26 to buy her book afterwards, I really enjoyed her reading of ‘The Everybody Ensemble,’” said Macy Moon, a junior English and secondary education double major. “It was hilarious, poetic, joyful, and true, and I am very excited to read more of what she has to say about humans and the earth."

Leach graduated with her bachelor’s from Southern Adventist University and went on to receive an M.F.A. in non-fiction writing from the University of Iowa. She currently has two books of her own, “Things That Are” and “The Everybody Ensemble.” Her essays have been published in “The Best American Essays,” “The Best American Science and Nature Writing”, as well as several other publications including the Los Angeles Review of Books. Leach has received a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a Pushcart Prize. 

She currently lives in Bozeman, Montana and works as an instructor for creative writing and composition at Montana State University. 

To learn more about the department of English at WWU visit wallawalla.edu/English.

Posted March 18, 2022

 

Portrait of Amy Leach taken by Ingrid Stuart.
Leach graduated with her bachelor’s from Southern Adventist University and went on to receive an M.F.A. in non-fiction writing from the University of Iowa. Photo by Ingrid Stuart.
Book cover for Amy Leach's book "The Everybody Ensemble."
"The Everybody Ensemble," published in 2021, is Amy Leach's second book. Her first book is titled "Things That Are."