Ruth Kirk, Northwest writer of three dozen books on natural history and culture, will give a public presentation Wednesday, May 14 at 2 p.m. at the North Mason Timberland Library, 23081 NE State Route 3 in Belfair. The program is free of charge and geared to a high school to adult audience.

Kirk will talk about why she writes. She’ll share stories "beyond the pages of the books" about experiences such as meeting Ansel Adams in Death Valley, California, and how he started Kirk writing; about taking basket lessons from Makah ladies; photo-documenting the life of a young Hoh Indian boy; and covering the Ozette archeological dig. She’ll talk about interviews with a pre-World War II lady-in-waiting to the empress of Japan, a doctor describing the experience of the atom bomb falling on Hiroshima, a bean farmer on northern Honshu bemoaning the influence of television. Tying all the topics together will be the question: Why write? Kirk’s answer: "to share the conviction that knowing about place and people enhances daily life and therefore informs and affects society’s decisions."

Now in her mid seventies, Ruth Kirk continues the writing and photography begun with her husband, recently deceased, who was a park ranger for 23 years, then a TV documentary producer. Together, the couple covered subjects ranging from the Japanese land ethic and the effects of snowmobiles on an Eskimo village to desert ecology and archaeological investigations along the Northwest Coast.

Kirk’s many books include "Death Valley" (with Ansel Adams and Nancy Newhall), "The Olympic Rain Forest: An Ecological Web" (with Jerry Franklin) and "Japan: Crossroads of East and West". Her most recent book is "Sunrise to Paradise: the story of Mount Rainier National Park". Her "Exploring Washington's Past: a Road Guide to History," has been updated recently. Kirk's nearly two dozen awards include the John Burroughs Medal and nomination for the National Book Award.

Some titles will be available for purchase. The presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the North Mason Timberland Library. For more information, people may call the library at (360) 275-3232.

Timberland Regional Library serves Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties at 27 community libraries and 6 school-based cooperative library centers. For information on any subject, the public can telephone Timberland’s Central Reference Service librarians at 704-INFO (704-4636) from Thurston County and Shelton or 1-800-562-6022, toll-free, from all other areas in the district. Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in a library’s program may contact the library 4 days in advance.