Bozeman News

Western Book Roundup

Chinese in the Old West, Jackson Hole Review Relaunch, and Temple Grandin’s New Book

By Jenny Shank, 11-24-10

I recently reviewed Brian Leung’s heartfelt historical novel Take Me Home for the Dallas Morning News.  Set in a rough mining town in Wyoming, the book tells the story an improbable love affair that develops between a white woman and a Chinese man. 

Leung’s novel got me thinking about the many books published over the past year or so that address the theme of Chinese miners in the Old West.  There’s The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West by Christopher Corbett (which I reviewed for New West) and Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon, by R. Gregory Nokes. That Idaho massacre is central to Dana Hand’s novel Deep Creek (which David Abrams reviewed for New West), and Chinese miners had a cameo role in Ivan Doig’s Montana mining novel, Work Song (which Abrams reviewed for New West and I reviewed for the Dallas Morning News).  All of these books are worth checking out for anyone who has an interest in Chinese immigrants in the Old West, or who is just looking for a good read.

• The literary magazine Jackson Hole Review published its first issue in 2009, focusing on “‘The West’ as a place of convergence.” Jackson Hole Weekly recently acquired the Review, and they will be revamping it with a new website and magazine design for 2011.  Editor-in-chief Matthew Irwin, managing editor Amy Early (who founded Jackson Hole Review), and art editor Ben Carlson are currently accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art for the Winter 2011 issue on the theme of “Connect/Disconnect.” For inspiration, the editors offer this quote from Idaho writer Kim Barnes: “There are so many ways in which the West – or at least the idea of the West – is a study in contradictions. We are both nomadic and desirous to put down roots… We want both community and isolation.” There are more details about the theme here.  The deadline for submissions is January 12, 2011.

It’s been a mixed year for literary magazines in the West--unfortunately, Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing, edited by Christopher Cokinos and based at Utah State University, ceased publication this summer due to budget cuts, but on the positive side, the new Whitefish Review seems to be going strong, hosting a variety of events in Montana, and now the Jackson Hole Review will be rejuvenated.

• It’s weird that Colorado State professor and writer Temple Grandin has risen to the level of fame that Entertainment Weekly is the first to report on her forthcoming book, but that’s what an Emmy-winning bio-pic starring Claire Danes will do for you.  According to EW, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired Grandin’s next book, The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum, written with Richard Panek, a “cutting-edge account of the latest science of autism and Grandin’s groundbreaking new theory of how the autistic brain works.” The book is due to hit bookstores in Fall 2012. (Via Pimp My Novel.)

• And happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  In keeping with the holiday spirit, the Boulder Book Store will donate $200,000 worth of books to local schools and libraries.  According to a press release:

“On Friday, December 3, 2:30-5:00 PM, and Saturday, December 4, 8:00-11:00 AM, we will open the doors at Boulder Valley School District Shipping & Receiving Warehouse (6500 Arapahoe) to all Boulder educators and librarians for this massive book giveaway.  We’ll have hundreds of titles. We invite educators to come by with bags & boxes and stock up (while supplies last)!”

Please follow me on Twitter and with any regional books news or events.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.