Western Book Roundup

LA Times Ends its Book Review and Colorado Seeks A Poet Laureate

By Jenny Shank, 7-30-08

	Jim Harrison, photo by M. Bourgois.

As many have noted, the Los Angeles Times published its last freestanding book review section this weekend.  That leaves the San Francisco Chronicle as the only paper west of the Mississippi with a separate newspaper book review section (the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and the Chicago Tribune’s books section also remain).  Although the LA Times will incorporate some book criticism into the rest of the paper, its coverage of books will diminish.  That’s unfortunate, given the attention to Western books that the paper has provided, such as Nick Owchar’s recent piece for the Times’ book blog, Jacket Copy, analyzing Jim Harrison’s introduction to a new edition of James Welch’s The Death of Jim Lonely.  (According to the National Book Critics Circle’s interview with editor David L. Ulin, Jacket Copy and other online features will continue.)

On a happier note, the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association has announced the winners of this year’s regional book awards:

Adult Fiction: The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle, Scribner
Adult Nonfiction: Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn, Joseph P. Marshall III, Viking
The Arts: Great Ranches of the West, Jim Keen, Keen Media
Children’s: Wind Rider, Susan Williams, HarperCollins
Poetry: Adobe Odes, Pat Mora, University of Arizona Press

With a story in The Atlantic’s fiction issue and this award for her novel, Missoula’s Aryn Kyle is having quite a summer.  The awards will be presented in Colorado Springs on September 19.

The Colorado Council on the Arts is seeking nominations for the next Colorado Poet Laureate.  Anyone in Colorado can nominate a poet—you can even nominate yourself.  Nominations are due on October 1 to the Colorado Center for the Book.  According to the press release, “Colorado became one of the first states to have a Poet Laureate when Governor Oliver Shoup appointed Alice Polk Hill in 1919. Since then five other people have served: Nellie Burget Miller (1923-1952); Margaret Clyde Robertson (1952-1954); Milford E. Shields (1954); Thomas Hornsby Ferril (1979 – 1988); Mary Crow (1996-present).”

Speaking of poets, Maria Melendez, a poet and lecturer based at Utah State, will present her piece “The Seven Gates to Aztlan (for mixedbloods)” on August 1 on the University of Utah’s Salt Lake City campus (10:30 a.m., Heritage Center Building).  Melendez appears as a part of the National Conference for Latina Academics and Activists and she will perform as a participant in the “Reading with Chicana Authors and Poets” panel.

Finally, given the passionate response of New West readers to Rick Bass’s Why I Came West, I thought I’d mention Bryan Woolley’s review of the book for the Dallas Morning News.  Woolley writes that “much of Mr. Bass’ nonfiction comprises essays, sermons, screeds and manifestos about” his desire for the government to designate the remaining roadless areas in the Yaak as wilderness.  He further writes:

“Although Mr. Bass calls his book a memoir, he writes almost nothing about his writing life and little about his family and background. The chapters amount to linked essays on such subjects as hunting, forests, the power of landscape, oil and glaciers. There’s much repetition, as if they’ve been published separately elsewhere.”

Discuss amongst yourselves.  Better yet, discuss here: leave a comment.

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