The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association PNBA Award Committee announced a shortlist of 15 titles for the 2015 PNBA Award. Up to six of the shortlisted books will be selected as 2015 PNBA Award Winners; the winners will be announced in January 2015. Award Committee members will share reflections on the shortlisted titles on this site …
“Willy Vlautin is one of the bravest novelists writing. Murderers, cheats, sadists, showy examples of the banality of evil, are easy, but it takes real courage to write a novel about ordinary good people. They don’t fit into the cynic’s little boxes—they’re way too big. The guy working two eight-hour jobs who still can’t meet …
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 …
“Lean on Pete is an unforgettable tale about a 15-year-old boy who becomes homeless after his father dies. Left with nothing, Charley seeks refuge at a Portland horse track until his heart sends him on a journey to find an aunt who may or may not be in Wyoming. Vlautin’s straightforward, spare writing brings everything …
“Book by book, Willy Vlautin is establishing himself as a seasoned literary talent. His characters maintain an aching innocence as they navigate a flawed planet. Lean on Pete appears to be the story of a boy and a horse, yet the story telescopes beyond its simple beginnings into something more.” – Johnny, Third Place Books, Seattle
