As the Nye Beach Writers Series moves into an eighth year of existence, it should come as no surprise that return authors show up more frequently. Tonight I have the honor of welcoming back one of Oregon's most notable contemporary scribes. Few novelists produce work that consistently garners awards and recognition. After gaining notice with her first novel, Outside the Gates, she won the Oregon Book Award and the Northwest Booksellers Award for Fiction for her second, The Jump-Off Creek. Her third, The Dazzle of the Day, was named a New York Times Notable Book and won the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award. Wild Life, her latest novel, was awarded the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award.
Her female characters are tough and intelligent, as firm-jawed as Mattie Ross of Charles Portis' True Grit and as two-fisted as Amelia Evans of Carson McCuller's The Ballad of the Sad Café. Her ideas are nothing if not original; she has managed to put Quakers into outer space and a turn of the century feminist out among a tribe of Bigfoot. She writes in an introspective style reminiscent of Willa Cather with a touch of wry cynicism and open-heartedness that reminds one of Emma Goldman.
She's a Northwest original and we're proud to have her stop by.
Please welcome Molly Gloss...
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