The Cabin’s free and open online writing workshop, held from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the third Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

Join The Cabin for Open Books, Open Minds, our annual celebration of books, ideas, and the freedom to read.

This inspiring evening brings together readers, writers, and community members who believe in the power of stories to spark curiosity, build empathy, and strengthen our communities. Enjoy a cocktail hour from 5:00–6:00 p.m., followed by remarks from The Cabin’s Executive Director, Kurt Zwolfer, and a special presentation from author Danny Caine, whose book How to Defend Books and Why is one of this year’s Read Freely Project selections.

At The Cabin, we believe every story has the potential to open minds and connect us to one another. Through literary programs, educational opportunities, and initiatives like the Read Freely Project, we champion the freedom to read while creating spaces for meaningful conversations inspired by books.

Your support of Open Books, Open Minds helps make this work possible. Every dollar raised supports The Cabin’s mission to connect readers and writers of all ages, expand access to literature and ideas, and ensure that stories continue to find their readers.

Join us for an evening celebrating the books that challenge us, the stories that connect us, and the shared belief that a vibrant literary community makes us all stronger.

Celebrate the freedom to read. Invest in the power of stories.

100% of proceeds from Open Books, Open Minds benefit The Cabin.

Join The Cabin for an evening at the Egyptian Theatre with R.F. Kuang, the decorated author of bestsellers like the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis, as she debuts her latest novel.

Each ticket also includes a hardcover copy of Taipei Story!

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.

The Page Turner: Techniques of Writing the Propulsive Novel w/ Mitch Wieland

Come study novel writing with the current Idaho Writer in Residence, the founding editor of The Idaho Review, and the co-founder and longtime director of Boise State’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Drawing on Wieland’s thirty years of teaching the techniques of storytelling at the graduate and undergraduate level, this class will provide the tools to write an engaging and propulsive novel with complex characters. Each student ends the course with a novel logline, novel outline, and novel opening.

Time: 

Thursdays, 6:00-8:00 PM

Location: The Cabin - 801 S Capitol Blvd

Dates:

Thursday, Oct. 1st

Thursday, Oct. 8th

Thursday, Oct. 15th

Thursday, Oct. 22nd

Thursday, Oct. 29th

Thursday, Nov. 5th

Mitch Wieland is the author of the novels Willy Slater’s Lane and God’s Dogs. His short stories have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, The Best of the West, and The Kenyon Review, among other publications. He’s been awarded grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Wieland is the current Writer in Residence for the state of Idaho. 

The Cabin’s free and open writing workshop, held at The Cabin from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

The Cabin’s free and open online writing workshop, held from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the third Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

The Cabin’s free and open writing workshop, held at The Cabin from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

Join The Cabin at the Egyptian Theatre as we welcome Tony Shalhoub, an Emmy-, Tony-, and Golden Globe–winning actor whose career spans film, television, and theater. Shalhoub’s literary debut, co-written with his daughter Josie Adams, We Thought They'd Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family is a love letter to both.

The Cabin’s free and open online writing workshop, held from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the third Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

The Cabin’s free and open writing workshop, held at The Cabin from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

The Cabin’s free and open online writing workshop, held from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on the third Tuesday of each month. It is hosted by writers who create unique prompts designed to inspire a supportive community of local writers.

Join The Cabin and the Boise Philharmonic for a part-concert, part-conversation with NPR host and classically-trained pianist Lara Downes as she speaks with The New Yorker author Adam Gopnick about the musical kaleidoscope of America. 

In a musical conversation developed for her NPR series "America in Pursuit", renowned pianist and thought leader Lara Downes presents an evening with essayist, author, and long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, Adam Gopnick, the musical expression of American optimism and patriotism by immigrants to our country, expressed in the music of composers including Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. Exploring our nation’s story through its music, Downes and Gopnick share iconic songs from "Rhapsody in Blue" to "Blue Skies" and "Over the Rainbow," tracing our history and celebrating our shared hopes and struggles. This program invites audiences to find common ground and shared purpose in imagining the possibilities of the American future.