Literary Arts is pleased to announce the next events of the 2009 Oregon Book Awards Author Tour, with readings in Enterprise and Baker City. Authors on the tour will be Steven Bender, winner of the Sarah Winnemucca Award in General Nonfiction for One Night in America: Robert Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, and the Dream of Dignity and finalists Pamela Smith Hill, author of Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life, and Kate Gray, author of the poetry collection Another Sunset We Survive.
The readings take place in:
• Enterprise on Thursday, August 13, at 7:00 p.m. in the Gazebo on the lawn of the Wallowa County Courthouse (101 S. River Street) immediately following the Courthouse Concert.
• Baker City on Friday, August 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Crossroads Art Center (2020 Auburn Avenue). The authors will appears as part of the Writer's Guild of Eastern Oregon Second Friday Literary Night series.
Previously on Paper Fort, a few of the writers had this to say about their books:
Steven Bender describes his book this way: "One Night in America chronicles the friendship of two leaders with a bold political and economic vision of extending the American dream to farm workers. It examines the significance today of their coalition on issues ranging from immigration, labor, and education to poverty and religion." Steven says he was inspired to write it because "Against the backdrop of increasing demonization of immigrants and Latinos in the United States, I hoped to get us back on the pathway to extending dignity to all workers and the impoverished. As I argue, there is still time to prove Kennedy and Chavez right."
Pamela Smith Hill says her book "explores how Wilder shaped her memories of childhood and transformed them into the enduring fiction of the popular Little House books." Pamela says "although I was commissioned to write this book by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press, I've written about Wilder since the late 1970s, and always wanted to know more about her life as a writer, and the influences that inspired her to write. The popular myth about Wilder-- that she suddenly began writing in her 60s and was an instant success-- never satisfied me."
A poem from Another Sunset We Survive was featured on Paper Fort in April, with commentary from Kate Gray.Labels: Oregon Book Awards Author Tour
