Salt Lake City News

Western Book Roundup

Love Amid the Book Stacks and Regional Writers Win Prizes

By Jenny Shank, 2-11-09

In time for Valentine’s Day, I bring you a story of books and love: Shelf Awareness noted Caitlin Hamilton Summie’s piece on the blog She Is Too Fond of Books, in which she writes about her wedding reception that was held at the LoDo Tattered Cover a few years ago.  Hamilton Summie is the Marketing Director for Colorado-based publisher Unbridled Books, and she writes that she and her husband had a difficult time finding an affordable location in downtown Denver for their reception, until her friend, the events planner at the Tattered Cover, suggested she host it at the store.  She writes:

“Everybody was charmed. It was different, there was plenty of space, the building is old, and people from out of town got a real taste of the city. Book fans browsed the shelves. We never bothered the staff or customers. I’m not certain, unless you saw my husband and I squeak through the main doors, or heard the faint sound of jazz, that anyone would have ever known we were all there.”

University of Idaho professor Brandon Schrand won this year’s Carter Prize for the Essay sponsored by Shenandoah.  According to a press release, Schrand’s winning essay, “The Bone Road,” “explores four generations of vanishing fathers in Schrand’s family and occurs, in part, along the Bone Road in southern Idaho.” (Check out my review of Schrand’s book, The Enders Hotel.)

In other prize news, the Wasatch Journal announced that the winner of its second annual Quick-Draw Story Contest is Joe Totten of Park City, Utah.  Judge Jana Richman chose his story, “The Regulator,” for “carrying the reader over familiar terrain [and] offering us a glimpse of life in the Wasatch Mountains and valleys in the late 1800s.” The story appears in the current issue of the Wasatch Journal.

The Boulder Book Store has a number of promising events on tap this week.  Tomorrow, the Pearl Street Mall street performer who guesses people’s home zip codes, David Rosdeitcher, will discuss his new book, Adventures of the Zip Code Man (7:30 p.m.).  On February 13, Reg Saner, author of The Dawn Collector, will read (6 p.m.), and on February 14 there will be a Valentine’s Day poetry reading by David Mason, Veronica Patterson, and Denver Poet Laureate Chris Ransick (6 p.m.).  On February 16, Temple Grandin is sure to pack the house again as she did last time she appeared in Boulder (7:30 p.m.).

Arizona writer and editor Tom Miller sent word that he’ll be participating in The Writers Round-Up, a book festival to benefit the Friends of Patagonia Library.  25 regional writers who work in a wide variety of genres will discuss their books at Cady Hall in Patagonia, Ariz. (10 a.m.-3 p.m.).

Illiterate Magazine, which its founders describe as a “small square bookazine that puts Colorado’s arts scene on a pedestal” will celebrate the launch of its new website on February 12 at the Redline Gallery in Denver.  There will be food, live bands, DJs, fashion shows, and an art auction among other happenings (9 p.m., $25-$30).

Have some regional book news or events to share? 

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