Washington authors join Get Lit! lineup
It’s not often that two National Book Award nominees come from the same state.
Especially when that state is Washington, about as far from the literary center of the United States – New York – as you can possibly get.
Yet that’s exactly what happened not long ago when Spokane author Jess Walter and Seattle journalist/author Timothy Egan earned NBA nominations for books that were published in 2006.
Egan, who is a national reporter for The New York Times, ended up winning the award for nonfiction for his book “The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl” (Mariner Books, 352 pages, $14.95 paper).
Walter’s novel “The Zero” (Harper Perennial, 336 pages, $14.95 paper) was a finalist in nonfiction.
Egan and Walter are further newsworthy because they have been added to the lineup of Get Lit!, the 2007 literary festival sponsored by Eastern Washington University that will be held in Spokane and Cheney April 18 through 22.
The two, both with journalism backgrounds (Walter is a former Spokesman-Review reporter), will interview each other at 7:30 p.m. on April 19 at the Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave.
Egan, an alum of the University of Washington who graduated from Gonzaga Prep in 1973, is the author of several other nonfiction books, including “Breaking Blue” and “The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest,” and the 2004 novel “The Winemaker’s Daughter.”
Walter, a 1983 graduate of East Valley High School who earned a bachelor’s degree in 1987 from EWU, started out his freelance writing career in nonfiction with 1995’s “Every Knee Shall Bow.” His first novel, 2001’s “Over Tumbled Graves,” was followed by 2003’s “Land of the Blind” and 2005’s “Citizen Vince,” which won the 2006 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Egan and Walter join a lineup that already boasts a pair of noted writers: novelist Walter Mosley (“Devil in a Blue Dress”) and environmental historian Donald Worster (“A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell”).
For further information about Get Lit! 2007, go online at www.ewu.edu/getlit. Or call the EWU Press office at (509) 623-4262.
Rhyming time’s short
There’s still time to get your entries in for the 2007 Spokesman-Review Limerick Contest.
I’m making a special appeal to schoolteachers: Get your students to work.
This year’s theme is “Spokane – near nature, near perfect: missing the mark – or not! Legends, lunacies and luminaries,” which is our obligatory requirement to make sure that the entries are both original and tied to the region.
Remember to adhere to limerick form. Following is an example, courtesy of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” author Lewis Carroll:
There was a young man of Oporta
Who daily got shorter and shorter.
The reason, he said,
Was the hod on his head,
Which was filled with the heaviest mortar.
E-mail entries to limerick@spokesman.com. By post, send them to S-R Limerick Contest, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside Ave., Spokane, WA 99201.
Deadline is March 5.
Writing movies
If you think you have what it takes to be a screenwriter, you might want to consider entering the Waterfront Film Festival Screenplay Competition.
For the first time, the Saugatuck, Mich., festival is accepting entries from across the country. And it’s open to both professional and nonprofessional writers.
For consideration, the screenplays must be full-length scripts for original feature films; the author’s original work and neither produced or sold previously; no less than 80 nor more than 130 pages in length; submitted in English; and able to be filmed in Michigan on a budget of less than $5 million.
Entry fee is $40 per submission. For complete guidelines and an entry form, go online at www.waterfrontfilm.org.
Deadline is April 16. Call (616) 247-0935.
Book talk
“Friends of Cheney Community Library Book Discussion Group (“Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams,” by Lynne Withey), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Cheney Community Library, 610 First St., Cheney. Discussion leader: Catherine Lauritsen. Call (509) 893-8280.
“Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers, noon Thursday, Old Country Buffet, 5504 N. Division St. Loren Robinson will speak about writing audiobooks. Call (509) 233-8051.
“Valley Readers Group (“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” by Lisa See), 7 p.m. Thursday, Valley Hastings, 15312 E. Sprague Ave. Call (509) 924-0667.
“Dr. Seuss Birthday Party, 3 p.m. Saturday, Valley Hastings. KHQ weathercaster George Maupin will read during story time.
The reader board
“Joy Passanante (“The Art of Absence”), reading, 5 p.m. Thursday, Gold Room, Student Union Building, University of Idaho. Call (208) 885-7251.