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Author Talk with Brad Orsted
Country Bookshelf 28 West Main Street Bozeman, MT 59715

Community Events

October 8, 2024 @ 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Country Bookshelf is happy to present Brad Orsted for an author talk during which he will discuss Through the Wilderness, a finalist for the High Plains Book Award.

Tickets are not required, but RSVPs are appreciated.

The event at a glance:

On October 8th, please arrive early to secure your seat. Seating is general admission first come, first serve.

At 6:00pm the event program featuring Brad Orsted will begin. Brad will take audience questions following their program.

After the talk, Brad will be available for book signing.

Can't attend in person? Order a signed copy of Through the Wilderness on our website or by calling 406-587-0166. Signing requests will need to be placed 24 hours before the event.

About Through the Wilderness:

When Brad Orsted’s fifteen-month-old daughter, Marley, tragically and mysteriously died at his mother’s home, he descended into madness. There was an investigation, autopsy, and eventual charges, yet Marley’s cause of death remained inconclusive. Blaming himself, he plunged into an abyss of grief, guilt, and self-recrimination, fueled by prescription drugs and alcohol. For the next almost two years Brad wanted and tried to die too, until a twist of fate found the deeply traumatized family moving from Michigan into the heart of Yellowstone National Park, in search of refuge and redemption in the 2.2 million acres of glorious American wilderness.

Through the Wilderness: My Journey of Redemption and Healing in the American Wild by Award-winning Yellowstone photographer and documentary filmmaker Brad Orsted begins in Yellowstone, five months after the family’s arrival, when in an alcoholic haze, Brad stumbled into a field of sage and comes close to an adult male grizzly bear. Against all odds, Brad survives and comes to the realization he wants to live – he just doesn’t know how.

Brad’s ten-year odyssey is about finding the wild inside the human heart. It is a journey of the spirit – a journey to forgiveness and sobriety, to love and life, to memory and ultimately, back to Marley. Through the Wilderness is a gripping tale of redemption and courage, as Orsted reinvents his life in the wake of loss and grief, and depicts the healing powers of the wild and the redemptive nature of the human spirit.

Brad Orsted’s passion for wildlife conservation filmmaking and photography has earned him work with top networks like: Nat Geo Wild, The BBC, PBS, Nature, The Smithsonian Channel, and The Washington Post. Brad resides in Big Timber, Montana where he is hard at work on his second book and wilderness therapy programs. Brad’s film with Jeff Bridges and Doug Peacock, “The Beast of Our Time” won Best Environmental Film Award at the prestigious L.A. Doc Film Festival.

Accessibility Information:

The event will take place on the first floor of Country Bookshelf.

All doorways have a width greater than 32 inches with the narrowest being our front door at 35 inches.

The speakers will be using a microphone at this event. Additionally, there will be seating reserved for folks who are hard of hearing in the front row.

Please email staff@countrybookshelf.com if you have any specific accessibility needs and we will do our best to serve you!

Do you or someone you know provide ASL interpretation? Country Bookshelf is seeking an interpreter to call on for future events. Please send information to staff@countrybookshelf.com if there is interest!