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 …
by Sue Corbett Sep 14, 2017 for Publishers Weekly A decade after its original release, Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award winner, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown) is being reissued in a special anniversary edition, with 70-plus pages of bonus material including a new introduction from Jacqueline Woodson, family photographs, and—most intriguing—an excerpt …
It happens at least once a week. A well-meaning adult will come to the store looking for a gift for a kid– sometimes with the kid in tow, sometimes not. The adult will be wandering lost, clueless, picking up and dismissing book after book after book. If they’ve come in with a kid, the kid …
The March Trilogy is one of the most important graphic novels created. A superbly told history of the civil rights movement, John Lewis’s personal account of the actions of individuals and organizations throughout the South (but focused largely in Alabama) is a gripping, passionate, and richly detailed narrative of the events that would eventually lead …
Finding Winnie is a nearly perfect picture book; a great story, well told and married to exquisite illustrations. Lindsay Mattick tells the story of her great-grandfather who rescues a bear cub, names her Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg and takes her with him when he joins the Canadian army at the beginning of World …
Last night, friends and family and fans of Martha Brockenbrough gathered at Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle for the presentation of her 2016 PNBA Book Award for The Game of Love and Death. How cool is that plaque going to look on her office wall? Congratulations, Martha!
It’s been a good week for Seattle author, Laurie Ann Thompson! It kicked off with the announcement early Monday morning from the American Library Association that her debut picture book won the Schneider Family Book Award, given to books that “embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.” Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, …
It didn’t seem like overkill when I dropped twenty pounds of good unsalted butter and ten liters of Moroccan olive oil on Jess Thomson’s porch in April of 2013. She’d need at least that much for recipe testing for A Boat, a Whale and a Walrus. As I drove away, I couldn’t have known that …
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about inspiration since publishing Jackaby. What inspired me to write about X, Y, or Z; what do I do when I don’t feel inspired; where does inspiration come from? Inspiration is weird. Here’s my best advice on the subject. Inspiration is a marvelous thing. There are times when whole …
People harbor certain assumptions about the Pacific Northwest, and they seem to get more incorrect the farther I get from home. Many folks think, for example, rain. But here in Boise we average just 12 inches of rain a year, only 6 more than Baghdad, and 31 fewer than Cincinnati. Other folks think, lumberjacks, but …
