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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tonasket’s Fox earns award for short fiction

Tonasket writer Wendy J. Fox, who earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University, has won the first-ever Press 53 Award for Short Fiction for her collection of stories, “The Seven Stages of Anger and Other Stories.”

The book, due out in October, will be published by Press 53, a small publishing house based in North Carolina that specializes in poetry and short works. Her manuscript was selected out of 264 entries, according to a news release from Press 53. She also won a $1,000 advance and will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October for the book launch.

Kevin Watson, Press 53’s publisher, said in a news release that “What impressed me most about Wendy’s collection was her attention to detail, not with just everyday items, but with emotions, word choices, actions.”

Her works have appeared in Washington Square Review, The Madison Review, The Pinch, and elsewhere.

A novel for Toor

Speaking of the Inland Northwest Center for Writers, an associate professor there will mark the publication of her first novel with a June 10 reading at Auntie’s Bookstore.

That’s the day Rachel Toor’s “On the Road to Find Out” will be released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book centers on 17-year-old Alice Evelyn Davis, who deals with life’s disappointments by running.

While “On the Road” marks Toor’s debut novel, it’s not her first book. It’s her fourth. Three previous works on nonfiction are “Admissions Confidential,” about her time as an admissions officer at Duke University, “The Pig and I: How I Learned to Love Men Almost as Much as I Love My Pets,” and “Personal Record: A Love Affair With Running.”

Her writing also regularly appears in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Running Times, and she’s been published in a number of magazine and academic journals.

Toor will be at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave., at 7 p.m. on June 10. For more information, call the store at (509) 838-0206, or visit Toor’s website, racheltoor.com.

Rowing to Spokane

Also coming to Auntie’s next week is Daniel James Brown, the author of the best-selling nonfiction book “The Boys in the Boat.”

Brown’s book tells the story of the University of Washington’s nine-man crew team that went to the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and beat out the Germans for gold. The book has won a heap of praise and was named the nonfiction book of the year by the American Booksellers Association.

Brown, who lives in the Puget Sound area, will read from his book at 1 p.m. June 8, to mark its paperback release.

Not-so-fractured fairy tales

Seven Spokane writers will read original works based on the theme “Magic is normal” at a new literary event this fall at the Bing Crosby Theater.

“Lilac City Fairy Tales: Music and Literature from Local Muses” will be Sept. 25 and will feature organizer Sharma Shields, Kris Dinnison, Nance Van Winckel, Laura Read, Brooke Matson, Maya Jewell Zeller and Ellen Welcker. Two indie-folk performers, Liz Rognes and the band Mama Doll, also will take the stage.

The night also will feature a panel discussion. Tickets are $15, and 75 percent of the proceeds will benefit the Ink Art Space. The remaining proceeds will benefit the Friends of the Bing Crosby Theater.