Spokane’s Sharma Shields claims top prize at Washington State Book Awards

For the second straight year, the winner of the Washington State Book Award in fiction hails from Spokane.

Sharma Shields won this year’s award for her debut novel, “The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac.” She follows Bruce Holbert, who won last year for his second novel, “The Hour of Lead.”

There was an excellent chance that a Spokane writer was going to win this year, as three of the five finalists are from the East Side. Joining Shields on the list were Spokane writers S.M. Hulse, for “Black River,” and Shann Ray for “American Copper,” along with Seattle writers Stephanie Kallos (“Language Arts”) and Ann Pancake (“Me and My Daddy Listen to Bob Marley”).

The awards, presented by the Seattle Public Library, honor books of literary merit and lasting importance from Washington authors. The awards, which were presented Saturday night, are given in fiction, poetry, biography/memoir, history/general nonfiction, as well as four children’s categories.

Another Spokane nominee, Jack Nisbet, author of “Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest,” was beat out by winner Erik Larsen, for his book, “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.” Other winners are listed below.

Shields, who was born and raised in Spokane, studied at the University of Washington and the University of Montana. Her first book, the story collection “Favorite Monsters,” won the 2011 Autumn House Fiction Prize.

“The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac,” published in 2015 by Henry Holt, centers on Eli Roebuck, who as a boy watches as his mother leaves home to live in the woods with a sasquatch named Mr. Krantz. As Eli grows up, he becomes increasingly obsessed with proving sasquatches are real, to the detriment of his home life. Along the way, he and his family encounter lake monsters and other creatures.

Set in a Spokane-like place called Lilac City, “Almanac” is steeped in magical realism. It’s a multigenerational and multilayered novel the judges “were in love with,” said Linda Johns, a reader services librarian with Seattle Public Library.

“She (Shields) has a lot of fans here,” Johns said. “It’s a big book for us here.”

Shields, who also organizes the annual Lilac City Fairy Tales event, is the co-founder of Scablands Lit, a nonprofit literary press and arts organization. She lives in Spokane with her husband and two children, and is at work on her next novel.

Other winners announced Saturday are:

• Carl Phillips, in poetry, for “Reconnaissance”
• Mark Rozema, in biography/memoir, for “Road Trip”
• Martha Brockenbrough, for the young adult novel “The Game of Love and Death”
• A.L. Sonnichsen, who lives in Kennewick, for the middle reader book “Red Butterfly”
• Deborah Underwood, for “Here Comes the Tooth Fairy Cat,” a book for young readers
• Jessixa Bagley for the picture book “Boats for Papa”

Gonzaga hosts food/travel writer Jeff Koehler

The Gonzaga Visiting Writers Series on Tuesday will host a talk by Jeff Koehler, an American writer, photographer, traveler and cook whose most recent book is “Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World’s Greatest Tea” (Bloomsbury).

The book, winner of the 2015 IACP Award (from the International Association of Culinary Professionals) for literary food writing and the Gourmand Award for Best in the World for a tea book, also was named paperback of the week by the Guardian newspaper.

Koehler’s other books include “Spain: Recipes and Traditions,” named one of 2013’s top cookbooks by the New York Times; “Morocco: A Culinary Journey with Recipes; Rice, Pasta, Couscous” (2012); and “La Paella” (2006). His work has appeared in Saveur magazine, Food & Wine Magazine, NPR.org, NationalGeographic.com, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Afar magazine, Fine Cooking magazine, Tin House magazine and “Best Food Writing” (2010).

Koehler, a Seattle native, graduated from Gonzaga in 1991. As he puts it on his website, he then “hit the road,” spending the next four years traveling through Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He did his postgraduate work at King’s College London, and since 1996 he has lived in Barcelona and now divides his time between there and the Mediterranean island of Menorca. His website is www.jeff-koehler.com, and he tweets with the handle @koehlercooks.

Koehler’s talk is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Cataldo Hall Globe Room on the GU campus. The visiting writer series is organized by English professor and poet Tod Marshall.

Speaking of Tod Marshall …

Marshall, also Washington’s poet laureate, has logged a ton of miles on his car, crisscrossing the state for readings, workshops and other poetry-related events.

This fall he’s doing a series of talks closer to home, at area libraries. Each event will center on two poets, and Marshall will talk about each one and read some of their works. Audience members are invited to read works by the poets being discussed, or their own works inspired by the poets.

Wednesday: 6:30 p.m., Otis Orchards Library, 22324 E. Wellesley Ave., “Does it Explode: Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.”

Nov. 21: 6:30 p.m., Moran Prairie Library, 6004 S. Regal St., “My Life Had Stood: Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.”

Nov. 28: 6:30 p.m., Spokane Valley Library, 12004 E. Main Ave., “The Book of Myths: Adrienne Rich and June Jordan.”

For more information on the Washington poet laureate and events, visit https://wapoetlaureate.org/.

Speaking of the poet laureate …

Spokane’s poet laureate, Laura Read, is continuing her I Am a Town Project. The project involves creating poetry of place – and of places in Spokane specifically.

She’s held a series of workshops and two readings of poems written by experienced and novice poets. She’s continuing to hold workshops, with two planned later this month. The next will be Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the downtown Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main Ave. Another will be a week later, on Oct. 18, from 6-8 p.m., also at the downtown library. Both are aimed at teens and adults.

Meanwhile, there’s a public art component as well. People are asked to submit poems about particular places in Spokane that spark a personal memory. Those poems may be included in a public art project in 2017; the plan is to have the poems appear on city sidewalks and rights of way.

The deadline to submit is Dec. 16. For information, go to https://spokanearts.submittable.com/submit/57021/poet-laureate-i-am-a-town.