Lit Life: Kudos to Karl Marlantes, Wendy Call; new book from Egan

Lit Life
Lit Life: Kudos to Karl Marlantes, Wendy Call; new book from Egan

It's time to crank up the literary-news machine (I'm thinking a steampunk-type contraption here, spitting out ticker tape and lightning bolts) and share some news bites about local authors and events.

Actually, I found some earlier dispatches caught in the crankshaft:

Dublin-prize finalist: Don't know how I missed this, but Woodinville author Karl Marlantes' novel "Matterhorn" was one of 10 finalists for the 2012 International Dublin Literary Award, reputed to be the largest (100,000 pounds!) prize for a novel published in English. Marlantes didn't win — an Irish author, Jon McGregor, took the prize earlier this month for his novel "Even the Dogs." Still, an honor.

New from Timothy Egan: In a recent column on books by local authors coming out this fall, I missed the fact that one of our local National Book Award winners has a new book out in October. And it's about a man who began his career in Seattle. Egan's "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) tells the story of Curtis, whose magnificent portraits of Native Americans from more than 80 tribes captured them for the ages, even as their way of life was changing forever.

Latino book award: Seattle author Wendy Call has won a first-place prize in the Best History/Political Book in English category of the International Latino Book Awards for her 2011 book, "No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy" (University of Nebraska Press).

Upcoming events

It's summertime, a ripe season for literary festivals and events around the Sound:

• Field's End, the Bainbridge Island writing center, is keeping busy with summer story slams, teen-writing workshops and summer roundtables. "Online Research For Writers" (Aug. 21) looks useful. Go to fieldsend.org, or call the Bainbridge Public Library at 206-842-4162.

• The Port Townsend Writers Conference, which begins July 8 and proceeds for two weeks thereafter at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, still has openings. Featured authors and poets include Gary Copeland Lilley, Kim Addonizio, Cheryl Strayed, Pam Houston, Dorothy Allison and children's author Chris Crutcher. (For information, go to www.centrum.org, search "Port Townsend Writers Conference")

• The Pacific Northwest Writers Conference takes place July 19-22. Location: Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center. This conference is not cheap (around $400-$700, depending on when you sign up), but you get access to editors, agents, panels, workshops and, of course, other authors. Last year it sold out. For more information go to pnwa.org.• How inconvenient: Author Terry Tempest Williams, an articulate writer and speaker, reads from her memoir "When Women Were Birds" at 7 p.m. Friday at the main branch of the Seattle Public Library, free (206-386-4636; www.spl.org). Also at 7 p.m. Friday, Francine du Plessix Gray, who also has quite the way with words, reads from her new novel, "The Queen's Lover," based on a real-life love affair between a Swedish aristocrat and Marie Antoinette, at the Elliott Bay Book Co. Also free.

Mary Ann Gwinn: 206-464-2357 or mgwinn@seattletimes.com. Gwinn appears every Tuesday on TVW's "Well Read," discussing books with host Terry Tazioli (go to www.tvw.org/shows/well-read for archived episodes). On Twitter @gwinnma.

By Mary Ann Gwinn Seattle Times book editor

By Mary Ann Gwinn
Seattle Times book editor