I first read Brian Doyle’s The Grail (Oregon State University Press, $18.95) while serving on the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards Committee years ago. I fell in love with his abundant affection for people and place and his exquisite prose. Over the years, I had the pleasure of meeting him several times. I was just discovering his poetry/poetic essays and …
Every essay made me miss him being in the world all over again. An excellent collection and one of the best introductions I have read, by David James Duncan. –Cindy Heidemann, Ingram Publisher Services NW book rep One Long River of Song is a career-spanning retrospective of the work of legendary Northwest writer Brian Doyle; …
From Oregon Public Broadcasting July 14, 2018 This week on “State of Wonder,” some of the Northwest’s most prominent writers come together to share stories and memories of the man the “New Yorker” called “the Portland sage.” It’s hard to imagine a more quintessentially Northwest writer than Brian Doyle. He was not from Oregon, but he …
The late Oregon writer’s novel “Mink River” is a sinuous stream of words as music. Can its lush language be adapted for the theater? JUNE 26, 2018 // OREGON ARTSWATCH // MICHAEL N. MCGREGOR Language, says Portland director Jane Unger to explain why she spent two years pursuing the stage rights to Brian Doyle’s loquacious and widely beloved Mink River, a …
The Pacific Northwest Book Award Committee recognized late author Brian Doyle with an Indie Spirit Honor for his body of work and vigorous support of independent booksellers in the Northwest and beyond. Doyle passed away in May 2017. We republish this essay that he wrote upon winning a 2016 PNBA Award in memory of his …
Brian Doyle was an unusually gifted storyteller, and it is very bittersweet and perfect that his last book is, at its core, all about the gift of storytelling. This is Doyle’s take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s planned-but-unwritten novel about the great Scottish author’s time in 1880s San Francisco. Stevenson was living in a boarding house …
This Memorial Day Weekend has been particularly emotionally intense for our region. Every year at this time, our nation honors those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. This weekend, waves of mourning have rippled out from the Pacific Northwest after two brave men were killed on the MAX in Portland. Our community and …
From the Island Books blog: A few months ago a select group of attendees enjoyed one of the most enthralling author events Island Books has ever hosted. We had so much fun that I issued Brian Doyle a standing invitation to visit any time. It’s too soon to expect another in-person appearance, but luckily for …
What did I think of when I learned that my peculiar collection of essays had won a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award? Weirdly, not the barrels of cash and fine wines and excellent cheeses that would surely come my way, or the hordes of somber graduate students that would soon be studying my semicolons, or the …
“I was honored to talk. I was smiling the rest of the day at the interesting mix of speakers—the different speeds and approaches. I take refuge in the inarguable fact that I am not a speaker at all, not a performer or a lecturer or a wise person, which is hugely freeing, because I can …
