In May, Campfire Stories returns to the Modern! Join us under the ginkgos and around the fires – in the Modern Courtyard every 2nd Sunday from May to October – to experience this intimate storytelling event.

Stories are central to the Modern Hotel. Our story is planted deep in Idaho, in the rich history of the west, Basque boarding houses, sheep herding, immigration, the American dream and stories told around the campfire by pioneers. We tell the story of how the Modern came to exist each time a guest inquires about the pictures on the walls of our lobby. And sometimes even if they don’t ask!

Thanks to Story Forward and a passionate group of writers, original fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenplays and more will be offered from Idaho’s rich literary community. Produced by Christian Winn, Rebecca Evans, and Tomás Baiza, who curate and host each show. We are thrilled for the opportunity to work with this amazing team again!

Doors @ 6
Show 7-9pm
Reservations are available for seating between 6:15 – 7pm
Visit themodernbar.com now to secure a table!

2026 Schedule:

May 10 – GENERATIONS
Host: Christian Winn
Artists: Diane Raptosh, Alan Minskoff, Alisa Bohling, Josephine Klaas

June 14 – LOL
Host: Rebecca Evans
Artists: Jodi Eichelberger, Jessica Holmes, Jade Hanna

July 12 – INDEPENDENCE / FREEDOM
Host: Tomás Baiza
Artists: Joel Wayne, Jodeen Revere, Tomás Baiza

August 9 – GRAVITY
Host: Christian Winn
Artists: Mitch Wieland, Jennifer Sanders Peterson, and Josh Booton

September 13 – BULLSH*T
Host: Tomás Baiza
Artists: Susan Lasater, Matt Edwards, Ariel Vazquez, JR Rivero Kinsey

October 11 – BEASTS & FREAKS or FREAKS & BEASTS
Host: Rebecca Evans
Artists: Dave Yasuda, Desmond Fuller, Aurora Mehlman, Ryan Marsh

Producers:

Christian Winn is a fiction writer, poet, creative nonfiction writer, journalist, teacher of creative writing, and literary and storytelling event producer based in Boise, Idaho. He’s the co-founder and Director emeritus of Storyfort, co-founder of To Taste Life Twice a Ketchum Writers Seminar, founder and Director of Story Forward, Campfire Stories, the Couch Surfer Artist Series, and served as the Idaho Writer in Residence, the state’s highest literary honor, from 2016-2019. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Ploughshares, Joyland, Glimmer Train, The Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Journal and other fine and generous literary magazines. More about his publications and overall writerly work can be found at christianwinn.com.

Rebecca Evans writes the difficult, the heart-full, the guidebooks for survivors. Her work reflects, among many things, fractured relationships. This fracturing influences every subsequent relationship—carrying scars and wounds throughout one’s life. Evans weaves disability, domestic violence, and a fight for survival throughout her narratives, hoping to start conversations, create awareness, compassion, and tolerance. She’s a memoirist, essayist, and poet, infusing her love of empowerment with craft.  She teaches high school teens in the Juvie system through journaling and art projects. Rebecca is also disabled, a military veteran, and shares space with four Newfoundlands and her sons. She co-hosts Radio Boise’s Writer to Writer, offering a space for writers to offer tips on craft and life.

Tomás Baiza is originally from San José, California, but now finds himself in Boise, Idaho. He is the award-winning author of the books Delivery: A Pocho’s Accidental Guide to College, Love, and Pizza Delivery, and A Purpose to Our Savagery. Tomás’s third book, Mexican Teeth: Stories and Assorted Artifacts of an Errant Chicanidad, will appear on Inlandia Books in 2026. Tomás’s work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best American Short Stories, and the O. Henry Prize, and his novel, Delivery, has been accepted into the holdings of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Sherman Alexie has called Tomás’s writing “painful, scary, hilarious, incredibly vulnerable, and powerful in equal measure.” Tomás has been stalked by wild dogs while hitchhiking in Mexico, was once escorted by security out of the Pebble Beach & Tennis Club, and had the privilege of delivering a dozen pizzas to a Klingon-themed orgy at a sci-fi convention where he earned a very generous tip.