POCATELLO — The Rocky Mountain Writers Festival is an annual event held in Pocatello in which writers from the area gather and read their works, which includes any type of piece from prose to lyric essay. Since 1991, Walrus and Carpenter Bookstore have put this event together for the community to gather and listen to the different array of writing talent from the area. This year the festival will consist of three nights, all starting at 7 p.m. Thursday night will be at The College Market, Friday night will be at Impressed Coffee Co. in Chubbuck (the first time a night will be in Chubbuck) and Saturday night will be at Station Square.

Looking back at the first writers festival, Leslie Leek recalls when the original Walrus and Carpenter bookstore (where A Healthier Place To Eat is now located) held the first readings, “The balcony was so packed, we thought it would collapse on us.”

That first night featured writers like Margaret Aho, Ford Swetnam, as well as Leek. In the last 29 years, the festival has hosted a wide range from the famous to the infamous, such as William Bill Studebaker who drowned in a kayaking accident, and Geno Sky, author of “Appaloosa Rising.”

Featured readers:

— Thursday: Short story writer Tera Cole and legendary banjoneer Spike Coggins from Magic City, Idaho.

— Friday: poet Eric Whiteside will be reading.

— Saturday: Jackie Johnson Maughan, author of “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” and Florence Blanchard, comic prose stylist.