Former S-R reporter among book award winners
Former Spokesman-Review reporter Jim Lynch is one of six winners of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s 2006 Book Awards. Lynch’s novel “The Highest Tide” (Bloomsbury USA, 272 pages, $23.95) drew particular praise from the PNBA Committee for the author’s ability to portray both the problems faced by a teenage boy and his love of the Olympia tidal flats.
” ‘The Highest Tide’ has captured the turbulence of teen angst amidst the wonder of the natural world,” the committee said.
Other 2006 PNBA winners are: Diana Abu-Jaber, Portland (“The Language of Baklava”); Kurt Cyrus, Eugene (“Hotel Deep: Light Verse from Dark Water’); John Daniel, Elmira, Ore. (“Rogue River Journal: A Winter Along”); Floyd Skoot, Amity, Ore. (“Approximately Paradise”); Garth Stein, Seattle (“How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets”).
The PNBA, a nonprofit trade association representing independent booksellers in the five Northwest states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska), has been rewarding “exceptional books written by Northwest writers” since 1965.
Poets take note
Sandpoint-based Lost Horse Press is soliciting entries for this year’s version of its annual poetry contest.
The winner of the Idaho Prize for Poetry 2006 will receive $1,000 plus publication of his or her manuscript by Lost Horse Press.
The contest is open to any U.S. citizen who writes in English. The reading fee is $25, and the submission deadline is May 15.
The winner of the 2005 contest was Melissa Kwasny, who claims both San Francisco and Montana as home. Kwasny’s book, titled “Thistle” (84 pages, $18), is her second book of poetry.
“Melissa Kwasny’s poems are so exact in their movement and presentation, so fresh in their botanical and observatory language, they invoke for the reader, with aching clarity, what it would be like to be brave enough to touch both the inner and outer worlds simultaneously, and with identical honesty and care,” wrote Christopher Howell, the final judge for the 2005 contest.
Submission guidelines for the 2006 contest are online at www.losthorsepress.org.
More Mootsy’s
The biweekly “Out Loud” poetry series at Mootsy’s Tavern is mixing in some music.
On Jan. 29, musician/storyteller Bill Wiley will open the evening. The open-mike event is for anyone interested in reading five minutes of poetry, either their own or someone else’s. It begins at 6 p.m. (though readers should show up early to sign in).
The series will continue every other Sunday through March. Mootsy’s is located at 406 W. Main Ave. (838-1570).
Books to screen
The relationship between books and film is curious, in that the two often tell the same story but in such different ways.
“Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda” (Carroll & Graf, 584 pages, $16.95 paper) is a powerful memoir by Romeo Dallaire (with Brent Beardsley) that was published in 2004.
It was followed by the 90-minute documentary film “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire,” which premiered at last January’s Sundance Film Festival.
Both the book and film focus largely on Dallaire’s tenure as the Canadian Army general in charge of the United Nations peacekeeping force during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when Dallaire was forced to stand by as 800,000 people were murdered.
The book is still in print, and the movie is coming to Spokane on March 28 as part of a film series at Gonzaga University.
Sponsored by GU’s Institute for Action Against Hate and the Gonzaga Center for Law and Justice, the series begins with the documentary “Faces of the Enemy” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the GU School of Law, 721 N. Cincinnati St.
Besides the Dallaire film, others in the series are: Feb. 21, “Liberia: An Uncivil War”; and April 18, “Long Day’s Journey into Day.”
The screenings are free and open to the public (323-3665).
Unless otherwise noted, the following events are free and open to the public.
Book talk
“Poetry Reading Group (230-0950), 3 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).
“Philosophy Book Discussion Group (“Socrates Café: A Fresh Tale of Philosophy,” by Christopher Phillips), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Valley Barnes & Noble, 15310 E. Indiana Ave. (922-4104) Note: In the discussion, wrote group leader Jean Corder, “Socrates and his ideas are reincarnated into the Spokane area in the form of ‘Spokatres.’ “
“Auntie’s Youth Book Group (“Molly Moon’s Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure,” by Georgia Byng), 2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
“Friends of the Cheney Community Library (“Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America,” by Linda Lawrence Hunt), discussion leader Donna Roloff, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Cheney Community Library, 610 First St. (235-7333).