H e thought for sure Anthony Marra was going to win, for his “freaking amazing” book “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.” “I was not sitting there thinking, ‘I wonder if I’ll win,’ ” said Shawn Vestal, author of “Godforsaken Idaho” and a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. “I was thinking, ‘Yeah, Tony’s getting ready to win.’ ” So when the esteemed novelist Louise Erdrich read his name Monday night to present him with the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for debut works of fiction, Vestal was thunderstruck. “People afterward were asking me if I was OK,” he said. “I guess I seemed like I’d been hit in the head or something.” Winning the $25,000 award – the richest writing prize awarded by the PEN American Center – was a shock/Carolyn Lamberson, SR. More here.

Question: If memory serves me correctly, Shawn worked for the Coeur d'Alene Press at one time. Which means the two main columnists of The Spokesman Review -- Doug Clark and Vestal -- are Press alum. I worked for Duane Hagadone's Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., for five years. Hagadone Newspapers has launched many successful careers. Thoughts?