Shakespeare & Co. is pleased to host a reading by award-winning Laurel, Montana-based author A.J. Otjen on Friday, June 28, at 6:00 pm. Otjen will read from her new book Burned Over! The Survival of Montana Firefighter Dan Steffensen (Farcountry Press, May 2024). This event is free and open to the public.

A.J. Otjen lives in Laurel, Montana. Originally from Oklahoma, Dr. Agnes J. Otjen has been a professor of marketing for over twenty years at Montana State University in Billings. Before becoming a professor, she was a marketing executive for over twenty years, in Colorado, Nevada, and Missouri. In addition to numerous newspaper and journal articles, A.J. has written, collaborated on, and published children's books that have been accepted by Indian Education for All in the Office of Public Instruction and chosen for award recognition in 2023 by the Library of Congress.

About Burned Over!
In 2021, Montana firefighter Dan Steffensen tried to outrun a sixty-mile-an-hour wall of fire. But it overcame him, burning over 60% of his body. He should have died. The citizens of Red Lodge, Montana, needed him and prayed for his life. Three more tragedies hit his hometown during that Summer of Hell. Drawing from a wealth of interviews and research, author A.J. Otjen tells the inspiring story of how often first responders, doctors, and hundreds of good people stepped up to greatness. All the while, Dan fought his own internal battle to live or die.

A.J. Otjen