Idaho writers have been on a roll this year
So it’s been a pretty good 12 months for Idaho writers.
Anthony Doerr, of Boise, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction late last month for his novel “All the Light You Cannot See.” Both Doerr and Sandpoint native Marilynne Robinson (“Lila”) were finalists for the National Book Award. And in September, Shawn Vestal, a native of Gooding, Idaho, won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, while playwright Samuel D. Hunter, of Moscow, won the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (aka the “genius grant”).
Way to go, Idaho.
Carolyn Lamberson
‘Clarkston’ on stage
Speaking of Hunter, Moscow Art Theatre (Too) in Hunter’s hometown will host a staged reading of Hunter’s newest play, “Clarkston,” on May 28.
Theatergoers on the Palouse are getting an early look at the piece, which will have its world premiere in December with the Dallas Theater Center in Texas. The staged reading will feature Kelly Quinnett, Michael Angelo Smith and Nick Eastman Pratt. “Clarkston” will be directed by David Harlan, MAT(T) artistic director.
The staged reading will be at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center, which partnered last fall with the University of Idaho to present the first fully staged production of a Hunter play in Idaho, “A Bright New Boise.”
Tickets to “Clarkston” are $20 and are available at BookPeople of Moscow or at the door. Showtime is at 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.kenworthy.com.
By the way, the Modern Theater Spokane will be staging “A Bright New Boise” in April 2016.
Carolyn Lamberson
Marshall named GU’s Powers chair
Renowned poet and English professor Tod Marshall has been named to a two-year term as Gonzaga University’s Robert K. and Ann J. Powers Professor Chair of the Humanities. He replaces philosophy professor Wayne Pomerleau.
Marshall, this year’s recipient of the Humanities Washington Award, is in his 16th year of teaching at Gonzaga. He founded and continues to curate the university’s visiting writers series, and has published three poetry collections.
The Powers chair is awarded to “an outstanding teacher-scholar in the area of history, philosophy, language or literature,” according to the university. It was established in 1979 by the late Robert K. and Ann J. Powers through a gift designed to affirm the centrality of the humanities in a Gonzaga education. Robert Powers is a former Gonzaga trustee, and had two master’s degrees from Gonzaga.
David Wasson
Hamill heading our way
Noted poet Sam Hamill will be in town next week to read at Auntie’s Bookstore.
Hamill, from Port Townsend, is the author of more than a dozen poetry collections. He’s been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. He won the lifetime achievement award from the Washington Poets Association. He’s worked in prisons and in shelters for victims of domestic violence. He once famously turned down an invitation from the White House, in protest of the looming Iraq War, and then formed the website poetsagainstthewar.org.
Hamill will read his work beginning at 7 p.m. May 13 at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave. Call (509) 838-0206 for more information.
Carolyn Lamberson
More poetry
Later that week, Auntie’s will host Mary Szybist, the 2013 National Book Award winner for poetry.
Szybist, a winner for “Incarnadine,” teaches at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. She’ll be at Auntie’s at 7 p.m. May 15 as part of the Eastern Washington University Visiting Writers Series.
Carolyn Lamberson