Local man shares how feeling out of place helped him find his voice as a writer and his father’s acceptance

IDAHO FALLS – For most of his life, Josh Foster has felt like a fish out of water.

The 41-year-old Ririe man grew up on his parent’s farm, but became interested in writing at an early age. After obtaining a Ph.D. in creative writing, he now owns a publishing company, Foster Literary, with his wife, Georgia, where they’ve released four books between them.

On Father’s Day, Foster released his third book, titled, “The Last Good Snow Hunt.” In it, Josh relates a personal story of attempting to shoot his first elk on a hunting trip with his dad, Boyd Foster.

“At 40, I decided it was finally time I shoot my first elk, which in Idaho, I should’ve done at 12,” Josh tells EastIdahoNews.com.

Josh’s perspective on hunting is one of many examples that illustrate how he felt like a fish out of water. Josh says he often felt out of place growing up because he held a different view of traditional Idaho values than his dad did.

He didn’t hunt as a kid because he “hated inflicting pain on animals.”

“On a cattle ranch, you’re surrounded by death all the time,” Foster explains. “There’s a personality type here that accepts that and moves on. But I took all of that personally.”

The book explores how Foster found an artistic outlet and created his own place on the farm. It’s a love letter to his son, who was born in 2022. It’s significant to him that he became a father for the first time at age 40. That’s part of the reason for the hunting trip he writes about.

“The rest of the book (revolves around) what I want (my son) to know about the hunt, our lifestyle in Idaho, the way I think, the way my fathers taught me to think … my quest for identity and coming to terms with how I’m different,” Foster says.

Discovering the artistic spark

Foster’s parents, Boyd and Laurie, own the Loft 745 wedding venue south of Rigby off U.S. Highway 20, which they bought from the previous owner in 2019.

Josh and Georgia managed it for five years and recently stepped down to devote more time to writing.

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Josh’s interest in writing began at an early age. Though he has fond memories of being with and working alongside his dad as a kid, he says their differing interests and personalities made it difficult for them to connect at times.

He’s always loved his dad but didn’t always feel understood or accepted by him.

“He’s a man of his generation. His values are hard work, dependability, duty, he believes in everyone fulfilling a role in a community. He has high expectations and very little patience for those who step away from those expectations,” says Josh.

Josh inherited his artistic interests from his mom and grandma, who was a painter. He recalls his grandma showing him how to paint when he was 7 or 8. Although Josh says he showed no real painting ability at the time, the experience led him to discover his own “innate talent, which was writing.”

As a kid, he spent hours writing stories, using the newspaper and books lying around the house as guides.

As a student at Rigby High School, he finally had some mentoring and encouragement writing for the school newspaper.

“I wrote features on people and we did interviews and I would do movie reviews. Eventually, I became the editor-in-chief and we won some national awards,” says Josh.

He briefly attended Ricks College before serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upon returning, he continued his studies. He started out in journalism and Spanish literature before ultimately ending up in the English department.

“My first paid publication was with Idaho Magazine in 2006. I got paid $18 for a little essay I wrote,” Josh recalls.

His passion for literature and books eventually lured him away from Idaho to Stanford University, where he obtained a prestigious writing fellowship before getting his doctorate at the University of Houston.

It was at Stanford where Josh says his love for the written word increased exponentially and he had access to some of the greatest academic writers in the world.

“I was in California during the Mitt Romney presidential run and I was there because … they wanted to see what a writer from Idaho in the Mormon faith would look like,” he says.

Just as he was finding his voice as a writer, Josh says the beliefs and values he was raised with put him at odds with some of his associates.

Many of his professors felt his stories about working on a farm in Idaho depicted a patriarchal upbringing that was unfair because women weren’t mentioned.

“My life on the farm has been very male dominant. That’s who’s out working on the farm every day, these good men and fathers who are providing for their family,” Josh says. “The women in the room were like, ‘Where are the women?'”

Others criticized his faith, saying stories about devout religious people are not popular.

The church’s later involvement in political discussions in the Golden State around the same time left a bad taste in his mouth, which caused him to question some of the church’s policies and he chose not to attend.

Though he eventually returned home to the farm, the new perspective forced him to rethink the stories he was telling.

Sticking with it and finding validation

Josh took over managing the farm in 2019 when his parents left to serve a three-year mission in the Marshall Islands.

Josh published his first book in 2021. It’s called “The Crown Package” and is a collection of short stories about Foster’s life that incorporates fictional elements.

Josh says his dad was pleasantly surprised to hear his son had written a book. It was a proud moment for him to see his dad reading it at their home in Ririe.

“My mom sent me a picture of him reading my book and he was engrossed,” says Josh. “I had been looking for validation from my dad for as long as I’ve been a writer. It was so special (to see that).”

It made the experience of including his dad as a character in his latest book even more meaningful to him.

Boyd says he’s impressed with his son’s talent and the way he handled one particularly tragic incident in the book that involved the death of his cousin.

“He’s worked so hard and dedicated so much of his life to being a writer, truly burning the candle at both ends so that he can live that love of writing,” Boyd says. “I couldn’t be more proud of his work.”

Boyd says he’s watched his son over the years and was skeptical initially that he’d ever be successful in this profession.

Despite numerous disappointments in Josh’s life, Boyd is glad his son stuck with it and never gave up on his dream.

He never thought his son would stay in eastern Idaho or be part of the farm, but he’s grateful for Josh’s efforts and the “remarkable part” he plays in the family operation.

Josh is still working through his faith issues as he and Georgia, who comes from a Catholic background, raise their son together.

“I’m really proud of him. He’s embraced the love of Jesus Christ, the importance of family, devotion and loyalty,” says Boyd. “He has the most incredible wife. They’re a team and they’re both part of Foster Literary. I’m just so glad that it turned out he could be here and still do what he loves.”

Josh tears up as he reflects on these family relationships and shares what he hopes his future adult son takes away from “The Last Good Snow Hunt.”

“I was (my dad’s) only son and got to pal around with him and be with him and understand why he does what he does. That constant question of ‘If he’s that, then who am I?’ — that yearning to understand myself is what I would like my son to understand most about the book,” he says, choking up.

To buy the book or learn more, click here.

WATCH SNIPPETS OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH JOSH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.