Authors Receive Recognition From State
Yes, hard work sometimes does pay off.
It certainly has for Glen Adams and J. William T. Youngs. Both Adams, the founder and longtime owner of Fairfield’s Ye Galleon Press, and Youngs, Eastern Washington University history professor and author of “The Fair and the Falls: Spokane’s Expo ‘74, Transforming and American Environment,” have been honored by the state of Washington.
Adams was awarded the 1998 Nancy Blakenship Pryor Award, which honors “unique contributions to the literary culture of Washington.”
And Youngs’ book, which was published by Eastern University Washington Press, was one of 10 such books chosen to receive 1998 Governor’s Writers Awards.
“It’s kind of flattering,” Adams said. “It means something to me because I knew Nancy Pryor personally. A time or two she even visited the press.”
Youngs, who was aided in his research by 17 student assistants, thanked them for helping him write his massive work.
“I’m utterly delighted, naturally enough,” Youngs said. “My first reaction was feeling very happy myself about that recognition, but it was followed very quickly by a sense of pleasure for the students who took part in it.”
Scott Poole, managing editor of the Eastern Washington University Press, was also pleased.
“We’re real proud to have the award because it’s a spotlight on Eastern, too,” he said. “It’s kind of a team effort by the university.”
Other Governor’s Writers Award winners for 1998 included:
Peter Bacho (Seattle) for “Dark Blue Suit and Other Stories”; Bruce Barcott (Seattle) for “The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier”; Teresa Bateman (Tacoma) for “The Profile Makers: Poems”; Chief Lelooska for “Echoes of the Elders: The Stories and Paintings of Chief Lelooska”; George B. Dyson (Bellingham) for “Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence”; Edward J. Lawson (Stanwood) for “Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion”; Nancy Rawles (Seattle) for “Love Like Gumbo”; and Shelby Scates (Seattle) for “Warren G. Magnuson and the Making of the Twentieth Century.”
The Governors Writers Awards and the Nancy Blakenship Pryor Award are co-sponsored by the Washington State Library and the Washington Commission for the Humanities. This year’s winners will be honored in an Oct. 25 ceremony in Olympia.
The page not turned
Literary awards are seldom without controversy, and this year’s Governors Writers Awards choices (see above) are no different.
In a Tuesday story about the 1998 awards, written by Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter John Marshall, the emphasis was given less to the 10 books that won than to one of the 400-odd others that did not - namely, Seattle writer Jon Krakauer’s best-seller “Into Thin Air.”
Marshall, pointing out that another national best-seller by a Washington writer - Bainbridge Island novelist David Guterson’s book “Snow Falling on Cedars” - failed to win a state award in 1995, quoted the director of the Washington Commission for the Humanities as saying these “omissions” have caused the commission to rethink the awards process.
“Our board is looking into whether appropriate criteria are in place…” said Margaret Ann Bollmeier, “and whether those criteria are being followed, in part because of the omission of these two books.”
I’m going to write more about all of this in a forthcoming story. For now, though, let me just say this: As a former Governors Writers Awards juror myself, I can tell you that such decisions - especially the controversial ones - are never arrived at lightly.
And this: It’s always easy to second-guess critical evaluations.
The story of Story
Story magazine is offering a reward for good writing.
The literary journal will give $1,500, its highest cash award ever, to the winner of its seventh-annual short-story contest. Other cash awards include $750 for second place, $500 for third, $100 for fourth through 10th, and a $50 gift certificate for Story Press books for places 11 through 25.
All stories must be 1,500 words or less, must be original and unpublished. All winning entries will be eligible for publication in the magazine. Deadline is Oct. 30.
For a complete set of rules and an official entry form, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Story Short Story Competition, Dept. PR, 1507 Dana Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45207.
Manito Park revisited
In advance of their reading from the book “Manito Park: A Reflection of Spokane’s Past,” authors Tony Bamonte and Suzanne Schaeffer Bamonte have placed copies of the self-published history in a variety of area stores.
These include: Auntie’s Bookstore, any Hastings outlet, the Country Cottage, the Arthur H. Clark Book Co., the Corner Door and the Rubber Stamp Store. Interested readers can also order the book through the Bamontes’ publishing company: Tornado Creek Publications, P.O. Box 8625, Spokane, WA 99203. For more information call 838-7114 or 455-6798.
The reader board J.J. O’Connell, 30-year veteran of the Spokane Transit Authority, will explain the new STA bus route book at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. The Rogue Readers will perform a tribute to cats in story and song at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore. Tony Bamonte and Suzanne Schaeffer Bamonte will read from their book “Manito Park: A Reflection of Spokane’s Past” (Tornado Creek Publications, 128 pages, 21.95) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s Bookstore. Frank Bartel, author of “World That Never Was,” will read from his novel at 11:30 a.m. at the Hastings outlet in Coeur d’Alene, 101 Best Ave. Frank Mace, author of “The Story of Wake Island: The Life of a War Prisoner of the Japanese for 44 Months,” will sign copies of his book between 5 and 8 p.m. at Hastings, Sprague and Sullivan. R.G. Robertson, author of “Idaho: Echoes in Time,” will read from his book of history at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore. Robinson will sign copies of the book between noon and 3 p.m. at the Book & Game Co. in Coeur d’Alene’s Silver Lake Mall.