Willy Vlautin is an author and songwriter from Scappoose, Oregon, just up Hwy 30 from the St. John’s Bridge. He’s revered enough to have been recruited to read the works of William Stafford and Ken Kesey in documentaries of their lives and work recently aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Still, there are a lot of …
This announcement comes from a Richmond Fontaine newsletter sent to fans last week. The band, recently inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, has been lead by Scappoose, Oregon author Willy Vlautin for the past 20 years. “In case you haven’t heard, Willy’s first novel, The Motel Life, has been adapted to the big screen. …
When his band’s newsletter mentioned that Willy Vlautin (Lean on Pete) would be buying rounds of drinks if Vlautin takes home the IMPAC literary award for which he’s been shortlisted, we just took it to mean that there’d be a general cause for celebration. We then clicked the link for a little more info and, …
Willy Vlautin has a lot of fans here in the Northwest, and the upcoming release of the film version of his 2006 novel The Motel Life might just mean a lot more for the Scappoose, Oregon writer/musician/everyman, who took home two Oregon Book Awards last year for Lean on Pete. Europeans are long onto Vlautin. …
Day 17. Willy Vlautin. It was a Paul Kelly song, based on Raymond Carver’s Too Much Water So Close to Home, that inspired Vlautin to start writing stories. He has published three novels in that spirit, The Motel Life (2007), Northline (2008) and Lean on Pete (2010), all characterized by what one reviewer called “melancholy …
Willy Vlautin’s name seems to be in the air at NWBL this week. First, there’s this funny Read Roll Show video of him talking about bad jobs he’s had, including one where he worked for a veterinarian in Reno and had to pick up dead cats and dogs in an El Camino. We don’t know anyone …
One of our favorite unsung Northwest authors was honored in a big way this week in the UK’s The Guardian. Famous authors were asked to select their favorite book from the last ten years. George Pelacanos chose Northline by Scappoose, Oregon author Willy Vlautin. Michael Gruber has described Vlautin as the “secret love child …
