Hinton Publishing

Huge gratitude to Zachary Fletcher and The Seattle Times for this beautiful and deeply thoughtful feature on Ed Taylor and his remarkable new memoir, The Power of the River. The piece captures not just Ed’s extraordinary journey, but the quiet wisdom, mentorship, resilience, and humanity that flow through every page of this book. We’re incredibly honored to see this story receive such care and attention.

New memoir by UW dean explores his upbringing and the power of stories Ed Taylor spoke with The Seattle Times about growing up in a small town, feeling drawn to the power of stories and the metaphor of a river.

On May 21, Lucy’s Bottle Shop and Hinton Publishing’s literary journal Speak the Sojourner are teaming up for a live reading event offering something increasingly endangered: a room full of people, a glass of wine, and the electric feeling of being jolted awake by language again.

Come trade doomscrolling, dissociation, and the soft hum of existential dread for an evening of razor-sharp writing, vulnerable storytelling, and the kind of conversation that reminds you it’s still possible to feel deeply, laugh loudly, and walk out a little less alone than when you came in.

Featured readers:

Angela Garbes
Joyce Chen
Maggie Mertens
Danielle Marie Holland
Marcus Harrison Green
Kristen Millares Young
Juan Carlos Reyes

Doors open at 5pm. Readings begin at 7pm.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/speak-the-sojourner-an-evening-of-honest-readings-tickets-1989061843518?aff=oddtdtcreator

Join us Friday, May 9th at Third Place Books Ravenna for an evening that stays with you.

Ed Taylor shares from his debut memoir The Power of the River: a story that moves from Lompoc to a Gonzaga scholarship to the halls of the University of Washington, tracing a life shaped by loss, grace, and the people who refused to let him fall.

The evening will unfold as a conversation about the hands that held us, the selves we dared to grow into, and the sacred responsibility we carry to honor both.

The event is free and features an audience Q& A and book signing!

Come through and bring someone who helped shape your story!

Register here: https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/ed-taylor

Grateful to Traeanna Holiday for this conversation on The Day with Trae. Ed talks about The Power of the River and what it means to be shaped by loss, steadied by mentors, and forced to become yourself in spaces that weren't built for you.

Converge Media The Day With Trae | April 29th, 2026 - Ed Taylor

The latest issue of Speak the Sojourner is here!

Writing lives at the edge of the unseen. It's part language and part invocation. In the space between what can be said and what is lived, something flickers. This issue steps into that veil.

Featuring work that explores love, distance, lineage, God, and becoming:

The Moon in Leo — Trudy Shelf
Artemis — Rhyan Mack
Light Codes Oracle — Abi Louise
the world (not) reversed — Josephine Whittock
trouble — Jin Zeng
Dancing With You — Alia Zeng
In the Eyes of Eternity — Dia

This collection doesn’t just showcase writing but reveals what writing can do: conjure, question, transform.

Step into the veil.

Subscribe: https://speak-the-sojourner.ghost.io/

Thank you to New Day Northwest for spotlighting Ed Taylor and his debut memoir The Power of the River. Grateful for the space to share a story rooted in mentorship, resilience, and the forces that shape a life!

New Day Northwest 1 like. "'The Power of the River' explores identity and belonging - New Day NW"

Tremendous gratitude to the Northwest African American Museum and Executive Director Brandon Bird for carrying The Power of the River by Ed Taylor.

You can grab your copy there, and then come back on Wednesday, April 29, at 7pm for a powerful, unfiltered conversation between Ed and Reggie Brown about the life behind the book: the losses, the mentors, and the moments that shape who we become.

Come for the wisdom, stay for the truth bombs and the “wait…why don’t we talk about this more?” energy.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-power-of-the-river-book-launch-tickets-1985550359575?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Power of the River is here!

Ed Taylor’s memoir refuses the comfort of a tidy hero’s journey. Instead, it tells a deeper truth: that a life is shaped in the crucible of loss, under the weight of expectation, and in the quiet, decisive presence of those who choose to stand with us while we are still becoming.

From Lompoc, to Gonzaga University, to the fraught terrain of higher education, Taylor traces the work of becoming yourself without surrendering yourself. This is a book about belonging without erasure, about the courage it takes to remain whole in places that ask you to fragment.

It leaves an indelible mark long after the final page.
As Mónica Guzmán writes, “Wisdom flows from every page…”

Join us on April 29 at 7 PM at the Northwest African American Museum, in conversation with Reggie Brown, in celebration of the book.

Get your copy at the links below or wherever books are sold:

From us: https://www.vertvoltapress.com/work/the-power-of-the-river-a-memoir-by-ed-taylor

Third Place Books: https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/ed-taylor

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Power-River-memoir-Ed-Taylor/dp/1609441702/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

NAAM Book Launch: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-power-of-the-river-book-launch-tickets-1985550359575?aff=oddtdtcreator

Ed Taylor presents 'The Power of the River' | Third Place Books Ed Taylor presents 'The Power of the River' | Third Place Books

It’s not too late to join the coven, ticket link available in bio! Celebrate our upcoming feminine horror zine by watching The VVitch at followed by a discussion with local horror creators moderated by

Grateful to the University of Washington’s Undergraduate Academic Affairs for shining a light on Ed Taylor’s The Power of the River. His story reminds us how mentorship, resilience, and community shape who we become.

“The Power of the River” is not Ed Taylor’s first book, but it is a first for him Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, professor in the College of Education, academic author, scholar, board member of several international and community-based...