ENTERPRISE — The Big Read is in full swing in Wallowa and Union counties with weekly events and readings in celebration of “The Cold Millions,” a novel by Jess Walter.

The next program is Wednesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m. at Fishtrap, 107 W. Main St., and online at fishtrap.org. Admission is free.

Moe Bowstern will present “Unabashed, Unafraid, Unashamed: Women Fighters on the Front Line of Oregon’s Labor Movement.”

Bowstern, labor activist and historian, offers a look at the remarkable and brave lives of union writer Julia Ruuttila, who Jess Walter included as a character in “The Cold Millions,” and her longtime partner and women’s rights champion, Dr. Marie Equi.

Bowstern contributes to underground literary-cultural traditions as a reader, writer and editor best known for the commercial fishing zine Xtra Tuf, which shares stories from her decades in the Alaskan salmon, halibut, herring, cod and crab fisheries. She is a regular performer and emcee at the annual Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria.

According to a Fishtrap press release, from 1997 to 2007 Bowstern gave her time to DIY social practice projects in Portland “co-creating space for citizens to protest within the queer, fun-centered, anarchist Amalgamated Everlasting Union Chorus, and making ceremony outside of mainstream capitalism with an annual mega-collaboration, the Winter Solstice Puppet Show, among other projects.”

This event is the second week of programming as Fishtrap celebrates the NEA Big Read, an annual program that encourages people to read a great book together as a community.

“The Cold Millions” is a critically acclaimed, nationally bestselling novel set in Spokane, Washington, about two brothers who are swept into the turbulent class warfare of the early 20th century.

Fishtrap has provided more than 700 free books to schools, libraries and community centers in Wallowa and Union Counties. Fishtrap, in partnership with Cook Memorial Library, Eastern Oregon University Library and Art Center East, will host weekly events and discussions for readers of all ages.

More events

• Friday, Jan. 17: Cook Memorial Library, 2006 Fourth St. in La Grande, will screen the Disney musical “Newsies” at 4 p.m.
• Saturday, Jan. 18: The documentary film “The Wobblies” will be screened at 2 p.m. at Fishtrap, 107 W. Main St. in Enterprise.
• Tuesday, Jan. 21: Jennifer Gibbs of the Wallowa History Center will talk about Eugene Barnett, the man who wrote a song, titled “Wallowa Love,” to his wife from jail in 1919. Her talk starts at noon at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, 403 N. Main St. in Joseph.
• Wednesday, Jan. 22: Join a book discussion at 2 p.m. at the Enterprise Public Library, 101 NE First St.
• Thursday, Jan. 23: Aaron Goings presents “Industrial Works of the World 1905-1935” at 7 p.m. online at fishtrap.org. Also, “The Wobblies” will be screened at 4:30 p.m. at Eastern Oregon University’s Ackerman Hall room 201 in La Grande.