Congratulations to the winners of the 2015 Oregon Book Awards, announced by Literary Arts on April 13! ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Susan Hill Long of Portland Whistle in the Dark (Holiday House) LESLIE BRADSHAW AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE April Henry of Portland The Body In the Woods (Henry Holt) FRANCES FULLER VICTOR …
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 …
Until I was 12 years old we lived in the city, where our house was a short walk to two movie theaters that screened Saturday matinees for kids, matinees comprised largely of 1930s and 1940s westerns—I saw Roy Rogers before he came to television, saw John Wayne in his early horse operas before John Ford …
Who in their right mind, in 2014, would publish a novel that touches upon the American War in Vietnam? And what sort of nutter would write, let alone try to publish, a novel that involves one of the protagonists being accused of sexual misconduct? I was raised partly by a Vietnam veteran stepdad whose anger …
Springfield, Oregon author William Ritter’s recently released 12-and-up novel Jackaby (Algonquin Young Readers) earned the BuzzBooks contest title this past weekend at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association annual tradeshow, in Tacoma, Sept 26-28. Nearly 200 booksellers and librarians from around the Northwest made stops at publisher booths on the show floor to hear pitches …
Bookseller at Annie Bloom’s… author… male model? Jeff Shaffer (also the author of the Shelf Talker column for this blog) and his new book, Who Am I Today?, are featured in an article by Anna Marum for The Oregonian. Congratulations, Jeff! We know you won’t forget the little people– or all the readers.
“This Portland-based author has conjured in his first novel a society so close to home that you may never want to go online again. Okay, that may be overstating it. But this smart, funny and ultimately disturbing novel asks who will control the information scooped from our oh-so-handy devices and how will it be used. …
“Benjamin Parzybok has now woven two novels into the network known as my brain. Couch, the story of three slackers who literally cannot get rid of a charmed/cursed sofa that hurtles them on an incredible physical and metaphysical journey has regularly sparked my system since I read it 2008. Where as Couch sends its heroes from …
If I could give every teenager in the world one thing, it would be J-Hall. When I was in high school, J-Hall was my haven. The nerds ruled J-Hall. It housed the band, choir, and theater departments, and at the end of the hall, far from the clamor of the crowded cafeteria, sat a magical …
This fantastic new cheese-making cookbook from Portland’s own northwest indie crafter is so easy to use it’s almost hard to believe. Almost. I’ve made yummy cheese from the step-by-step photo recipes in it several times now, thanks to Claudia’s simple, encouraging instructions. This book boasts 16 varieties of fun cheese recipes to try, all in one hour …
