Author of national bestseller featuring a NW octopus to speak in Tri-Cities
The first-time novelist who turned an octopus into an engaging character will speak at a free event at Columbia Basin College in Pasco Thursday, Nov. 13.
Shelby Van Pelt, who grew up in Tacoma, set her best-selling novel, “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” in a fictional small town on Puget Sound.
In the book, Tova Sullivan works the night shift, mopping floors and tidying up at the Sowell Bay Aquaraium, home to Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus.
The widow, whose only son mysteriously disappeared on a boat decades earlier, finds an unexpected connection and companion in the octopus.
The book has sold more than 2 million copies and is being adapted for a Netflix series featuring Sally Field as Tova.
The doors to the Gjerde Center at CBC will open at 6 p.m. Thursday, with Van Pelt speaking at 7 p.m.
Mid-Columbia Libraries, in cooperation with CBC, arranged Van Pelt’s visit, for the conclusion of the annual Mid-Columbia Reads literary festival.
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 6:34 PM.