PULLMAN, Wash. – Rick Bass, one of America’s foremost writers of the West, will read from his fiction and nonfiction as part of the Visiting Writer Series at Washington State University. The free, public reading will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the Bundy Reading Room, Avery Hall.
Bass has published more than 23 books, including his most recent novel, “All the Land to Hold Us.” In it, according to a review in the Boston Globe, Bass “magically infuses the right metaphor into his stories to make his subjects and their objects come alive. He conjures stories that become, at once, realistic and poetic lore.”
Bass earned a bachelor of science degree at Utah State University in 1979 and worked as a petroleum geologist in charge of prospecting for new wells, an experience that formed the basis for his book, “Oil Notes.” His memoir, “Why I Came West,” was a finalist for a National Book Award.
His first short story collection, “The Watch,” won the PEN/Nelson Algren Award, and his collection, “The Hermit’s Story,” was a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. His stories have been awarded the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award and have been collected in “The Best American Short Stories.”
Bass’ reading is a collaboration between the English departments of WSU and the University of Idaho.
Contacts:
Debbie Lee, WSU Department of English, 509-335-6812, deblee@wsu.edu
Scott Slovic, UI Department of English, slovic@uidaho.edu
