Author reminds us what’s good about city in ‘Life’
Spokane is a great place to … Well, you can fill in the blank yourself. Just know that Rich Karlgaard could do it and say a lot of nice things. Just as he does in his book “Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness” (Three River Press, 373 pages, $13.95 paper).
Karlgaard includes Spokane in his list of “150 Cheap Places to Live.”
“Spokane has accomplished what too many cities only dream about,” he wrote (page 254). “It has come back from disaster.”
No, he’s not talking about the 1889 fire. Not the South Hill rapist, Aryan Nation marches, serial killers, fire or ice storms. Not even problem city officials.
Instead, Karlgaard is referring to the 15 or so years of depressed economy that occurred after Expo ‘74 “as the local mining industries shut down.”
“But Spokane has bounced back,” he wrote, adding that “it’s still one of the most affordable places to live in the nation.”
Why’s that? Well, one reason may be, as Karlgaard wrote, “Spokane has more in common with the Panhandle of northern Idaho than it does with its snooty coastal cousins in Seattle and Bellevue.”
Good point. Just imagine how those cousins would fill in the above blank.
It’s ba-a-a-ck
A bit of Northwest literary history, Poetry Northwest, is set to return in March.
The literary journal, which was founded in 1959 by the likes of Carolyn Kizer and Richard Hugo but was discontinued because of funding difficulties in 2002, will be published in a biannual edition. Poet and editor David Biespiel will serve as editor.
Poetry Northwest will be co-sponsored by the University of Washington and Portland’s The Attic Writers Workshop. For further information, go online at www.poetrynw.org.
In print
Spokane writer James Nelson has had a story selected by “Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul II,” which he says is due to be published in January.
The story, which is included in Nelson’s book “The Way It Is and the Way It Was,” is titled “Answer to Prayer.” Nelson says that two of his other stories have been published in the “Chicken Soup” series, which now has 69 titles in print.
Awash in wheat
The Washington Association of Wheat Growers has put out a book titled “Images of the Land: Washington Wheat Country” (The Donning Company, 112 pages, $44.95) by David Andersen.
The book, which was put together as a way for the association “to celebrate its history and as … (a) fund-raiser,” includes more than 100 photographs “of Washington wheat country.”
Only 1,000 copies of the book have been printed. For order information, call Gretchen Borck at (800) 598-6890, ext. 11.
Books for sale
The annual Friends of Spokane Public Library Fall Book Sale continues Tuesday at the downtown branch, 906 W. Main Ave. The sale runs from noon to 5 p.m. daily from Tuesday through Friday. It ends on Saturday, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For further information, call 444-5307.
Go for it, poets
Seattle-based Floating Bridge Press is looking for a few good poems.
Actually, it’s looking for some “quality” poetry chapbook manuscripts that might qualify for the press’ 2006 Poetry Chapbook Award.
The competition is open only to Washington state residents. In addition to being published in a “limited-edition, archival-quality chapbook,” the winner will receive $500, 15 copies of the publication and a sponsored reading “in the Seattle area.”
For entry information, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Floating Bridge Press, c/o Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. Or go online to www.scn.org/arts/floatingbridge. The deadline is Feb. 15.
Book talk
•Poetry Reading Group (747-3454), 3 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).
•Family Book Night at Starbucks, 4 to 5 p.m. Monday, Nevada Starbucks, 915 E. Hawthorne (465-1531).
•Auntie’s Youth Book Group (“Urchin of the Riding Stars,” by M.I. McAllister, illustrated by Omar Ryan), 2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
The reader board
•Jess Walter (“Citizen Vince”), book discussions, 10 a.m. Monday, Asotin County Library (509-758-5454); 3 p.m. Monday, Kooskia, Idaho, Community Library (208-926-4539); 7:30 p.m. Monday, Lapwai Community Library (208-843-7254).
•Sarah Conover, Tracy Springberry (editors of “At Work in Life’s Garden”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Gary E. Moulton (editor, “The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition”), lecture, 7 p.m. Thursday, Cataldo Hall, Gonzaga University (323-6693).
•Stuart Davis (“Following the Yellow Line: Across America on a Hack”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Patricia Campbell Kowal (“Stillpoint”), signing, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Waldenbooks, Spokane Valley Mall (892-3907).