Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards

The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association announced the winners of their 2008 awards today; six titles were chosen from the almost 200 nominees:

â€¢ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie of Seattle, WA (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Alexie’s book has already won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and looks like at least an honor book, if not the winner, for the American Library Association’s Printz Award. Suzi Steffen reviewed Alexie’s novel in our Winter Reading issue.

â€¢ Returning To Earth
by Jim Harrison, who spends part of his year in Paradise Valley, Montana (Grove Press)

â€¢ Tree of Smoke
by Denis Johnson of Northern Idaho (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Hey, I didn’t know Denis Johnson was a Northwest writer! That’s pretty cool. For Chuck Adams’ take on Johnson’s National Book Award-winning novel, see our Winter Reading issue.

â€¢ Dancing With Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer’s
by Lauren Kessler of Eugene, OR (Viking)
UO professor Kessler’s book was reviewed by Lois Wadsworth when it came out in May.

â€¢ The God of Animals
by Aryn Kyle of Missoula, MT (Scribner)

â€¢ Bad Monkeys
by Matt Ruff of Seattle, WA (HarperCollins)
Now where did my copy of this one go?

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!