This was recommended to me by Alison, our Children’s Buyer, and boy, am I glad she told me to read it. This perfectly illustrated, character-driven picture book puts the reader in the mind of a young girl who instantly judges one of her classmates. Through her, we see how a child who is not innately …
The house where my father grew up is immortalized on an old Egyptian banknote. It’s the 25 or 50 piastre bill, I think, though I haven’t seen one since I was a child and they’ve been redesigned since then. The old bill, if memory serves me correctly, features a drawing of a narrow alleyway in …
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 …
Portland’s Broadway Books hosted a fantastic award presentation party for two of the 2017 Pacific Northwest Book Awards winners, Alexis Smith and Kelly Sue DeConnick. Congratulations!
OK, in my opinion, he needs the next PNBA award. I so loved Pete’s latest experience tending salmon eggs in the backcountry. Pete is never better than in his thoughtful accounting of years spent outdoors. With humor and grace– this is a another glimpse into heart that’s as big as his mustache. I’ve always counted …
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!
This week, 600 booksellers gathered in Denver for the 11th annual Winter Institute, a 3-day educational conference for people who own or work in independent bookstores, hosted by the American Booksellers Association (ABA). The ABA started a new tradition on the opening night: a backlist book swap. “Backlist” titlesare books that have been around (the opposite of …
“There is more time than there is expanse of the world and so any voyage at last will end.” –Ivan Doig, This House of Sky Ivan Doig, beloved author, passed away April 9, 2015. His loss is felt deeply throughout the literary community and beyond. We collect some memories here. Our thoughts and condolences go …
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 …
