News

I was thrilled to learn that Scattered Lights has been named to the shortlist of finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award! It was such an honor to be among the distinguished company. Here's a link to the foundation's announcement.

And here's a link to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch story about the nomination.

I've been speaking to libraries lately on what I call "The New Ozarks Literary Renaissance." The amount and quality of the writing coming out of the Ozarks these days is tremendously heartening. For now, these talks have been on Zoom or Facebook Live, but I'm looking forward to delivering them in person once the pandemic recedes. If your library or organization would like to book an event, please contact me using the "Contact" page over there on the left.

The Language of Trees received the Walter Williams Major Work Award at the 2018 annual meeting of the Missouri Writers Guild. The award is named after the guild's founder, who was also the first dean of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. The award honors "a major work, whether in book form or in some other form of publication, that is worthy of special recognition because of the research or high literary quality involved in its creation." I'm grateful to the guild for this honor.

Thanks to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for naming Scattered Lights one of its "25 Favorite Books of 2020." Even in times of pandemic, we can still take comfort in literary pursuits.

Here's a link to the full listing.

There was also a wonderful review in the Hattiesburg, Miss., Clarion-Ledge / Hattiesburg American. Here's the link.