Hope, Oregon Book Awards Finalist

Today is the official release date for the paperback edition of my book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, and, in an odd coincidence, I just found out that it is a finalist for the 2006 Oregon Book Awards. Here is the shortlist:

Ken Kesey Award for the Novel
Laila Lalami of Portland, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (Algonquin Books)
Peter Rock of Portland, The Bewildered (MacAdam Cage)
Justin Tussing of Portland, The Best People in the World (Harper Collins) 

To see my name associated with anything named after Ken Kesey is a huge honor, and it’s a thrill to find myself in the company of Peter and Justin (both of whom I have met in the last year at the Loggernaut Reading Series.) The judge for this year’s award is Francine Prose, who also adjudicates the short fiction award. The finalists in that category are:

H.L. Davis Award for Short Fiction
Tracy Daugherty of Corvallis, Late in the Standoff (Southern Methodist University Press)
Scott Nadelson of Portland, The Cantor’s Daughter (Hawthorne Books)
Gina Ochsner of Keizer, People I Wanted to Be (Houghton Mifflin/Mariner Books)
Geronimo G. Tagatac of Salem, The Weight of the Sun (Ooligan Press) 

You can find out more details at the OBA site. The winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Barry Lopez at the Portland Art Museum on December 1st.