Book Notes: Get your tickets to Bedtime Stories
Want to hear some Bedtime Stories? Individual tickets are now on sale.
Bedtime Stories is a long-running Seattle gala event to benefit Humanities Washington. This year, for the first time, Bedtime Stories is coming to the East Side.
Regional authors Shann Ray, Kim Barnes, Nance Van Winckel and Jim Lynch will read short works inspired by the event’s theme, Red Eye. Jess Walter will emcee the event, planned for Sept. 28 at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park’s Skyline Ballroom, 303 W. North River Drive. Individual tickets to Bedtime Stories are $75, and are available online at www.humanities.org/ SpokaneBTS.9.28.12. Ticket sales close Sept. 14. For details, visit www.humanities.org.
Honor for Ray
Meanwhile, Ray’s book “American Masculine” is being honored with an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Ray, the pen name for Shann Ferch, a professor at Gonzaga University, is one of 12 authors nationwide to receive the American Book Awards. The awards recognize literary excellence within America’s diverse literary community. The 2012 winners will be honored at a ceremony Oct. 7 at the University of California, Berkeley.
“American Masculine” won the 2010 Bakeless Prize and its author won a $25,000 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2011.
Alexie sighting
Sherman Alexie is scheduled to be in Spokane in early October to read from his latest collection of short stories, “Blasphemy.”
According to Alexie’s website, www.fallsapart.com, he’ll be at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave., on Oct. 5. Most likely, Alexie’s appearance will be a ticketed event; we’ll pass along the details when they’re available.
“Blashphemy” is a collection of new and favorite stories. The older works include “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” “War Dances” and “The Toughest Indian in the World.” New works include “Night People,” about a man’s infatuation with a manicurist at an all-night nail salon, and “Basic Training,” about the world of donkey basketball, sons and fathers, betrayal and – ultimately – heartbreak.
Alexie is a National Book Award winner for his novel, “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and a PEN/Faulkner winner for “War Dances.” He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and now lives in Seattle.
“Blasphemy” will be released on Oct. 2. Publisher’s Weekly has said of the book, “As in previous volumes, Alexie hammers away at ever-simmering issues, like racism, addiction, and infidelity, using a no-holds-barred approach and seamlessly shattering the boundary between character and reader. But while these glimpses into a harried and conflicted humanity prod our consciousness, there’s plenty of bawdiness and Alexie’s signature wicked humor throughout to balance out the weight.”