Peter Donahue, author of Clara and Merritt, was recently interviewed for KUOW Preseents by Seattle’s Dave Beck. You can listen to the interview at: http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=21032

from Louise Hawker, Watermark Communications

Garrison Keillor, host of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer’s Almanac on public radio, will read Ellen Waterston’s poem, “Designed to Fly” on June 26, 2010 on The Writer’s Almanac. The poem was selected from Waterston’s poetry collection, Between Desert Seasons, which won the prestigious 2009 WILLA Award in Poetry. The Writer’s Almanac is a daily radio program produced by American Public Media (APM). In each program Mr. Keillor presents a list of cultural events and anniversaries, many associated with literary figures, then ends with the poetry reading. APM currently distributes The Writer’s Almanac for broadcast to about 320 non-commercial public radio stations around the country. The program audio is also streamed and podcast from and archived on the APM website at http://www.writersalmanac.publicradio.org and may be streamed, archived on carrying station websites as well.

Appearances in conjunction with the release of his new novel, Clara and Merritt, published by Wordcraft of Oregon, LLC. Release date: June 1, 2010.

Appearances:

Wednesday, June 9, 7:30 p.m. Blue Mountain Writers Series, La Grande Public Library, La Grande, OR 

Thursday, June 10, 7:00 p.m., Annie Bloom’s Books, Multnomah Village, OR

Friday, June 11, 7:00 p.m., Powell’s City of Books (Burnside), Portland, OR

Saturday, June 12, 3:15 p.m., Pacific Northwest Labor History Association Conference, Portland, OR

Thursday, July 8, 7:00 p.m., Orca Books, Olympia, WA

Sunday, July 11, 3:00 p.m., Eagle Harbor Books (Winslow), Bainbridge Island, WA

Monday, July 12, 2:00 p.m., Freeland Public Library, Whidbey Island, WA (Sponsored by The Bookbay)

Tuesday, July 13, 7:00 p.m., Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park), Seattle, WA

Friday, July 16, 7:00 p.m., Elliott Bay Book Company (Capitol Hill), Seattle, WA

Monday, July 19, 7:00 p.m., University Books (U District), Seattle, WA

Tuesday, July 20, 7:00 p.m., Riverwalk Books, Chelan, WA

Thursday, July 22, 7:00 p.m., Parkplace Books, Kirkland, WA

John Griswold’s historical novel, A Democracy of Ghosts, based on the Herrin Massacre, has won the 2010 Eric Hoffer Award in the Micropress category. A micropress is a press that publishes fewer than 24 books annually. Previoius winners in this category include 2007 winner, Thomas E. Kennedy, for Greene’s Summer, published by Wynkin de Worde (and newly released in March by Bloomsbury Books with the new title of In The Company of Angels). 2008 winner was Clown Girl by Monica Drake, published by Hawthorne Books of Portland, Oregon.

http://www.hofferaward.com/HAbookwinners.html#micro

“Where the Yellow Brick Road Turns West,” David Memmott’s long narrative poem published in GIVING IT AWAY, has been selected as a finalist for the Western Writers of America 2010 Spur Award in the Western poem category. The WWA has been presenting Spur Awards for the best Western writing since 1953. For more information, check their website at: http://www.WesternWriters.org  If you’d like to read Memmott’s poem, it has been published as an e-book at: http://chapbooks.webdelsol.com/worldvoices/memmott/memmott.html

World Voices is edited by Walter Cummins and Thomas E. Kennedy.

Below are links for reviews of Thomas E. Kenney’s novel, In the Company of Angels, released in March from Bloomsbury Books (both USA and UK).

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/brieflynoted/2010/03/22/100322crbn_brieflynoted2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031901397.html

Wordcraft of Oregon recently sent 25 copies of Alex Kuo’s story collection, White Jade to Hong Kong for the author’s appearance at the Man International Literary Festival in Hong Kong and at the Wormwood Bookstore in Beijing. All copies were sold. In a Q & A session at Man, someone asked what could be done to sell more copies of White Jade and Kuo suggested maybe a dildo could be included with it (referring to the first story in the collection, “10,000 Dildos.” Though such an ingenius marketing scheme might be profitable in the long run, a limited budget relegated this idea to Kuo’s own imaginative package shown on his website:

http://www.alexkuo.org

In her recent annual address to the Western History Association, President Sherry Smith cited Soldier to Advocate by George Venn twice: beginning paragraph and ending. Should you be curious about that speech, “Reconiliation and Restitution in the American West,” the address of the published text from The Western Historical Quarterly, as reprinted on The History Cooperative website can be found at:

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/whq/41.1/smith.html

Soldier to Advocate has also been cited in The Nez Perces in the Indian Territory: Nimipuu Survival by J. Diane Pearson, and The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story by Elliott West.

John Griswold’s first novel, A Democracy of Ghosts, has been selected as a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s 2009 Book of the Year Award in historical fiction.

The finalists, representing 360 publishers, were selected from 1,400 entries in 60 categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its best.

For a full list of the finalists searchable by category, publisher, title, and author, visit www.bookoftheyearawards.com.

The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from our readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America in New York City on May 25. The winners of the two Editor’s Choice Prizes will be awarded $1,500 each. The ceremony is open to all BEA attendees.

ForeWord’s Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books from independent publishers across a number of genres. The Awards program often serves to provide these worthy projects with a second wind of publicity.

Salon.com has a great review of Thomas E. Kennedy’s recently released novel, IN THE COMPANY OF ANGELS, by Laura Miller. Check it out, then order your own copy.

http://www.salon.com/books/what_to_read/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2010/03/14/in_the_company_of_angels