Hello, my fellow book people! Today, we’re diving into the Washington State Book Awards, a project of The Washington Center for the Book (an affiliate of The Library of Congress Center for the Book administered by Washington State Library). Awards are given yearly based on the strength of the literary merit, lasting importance and overall quality of the work.
The Washington Book Awards have several categories: children’s, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Two books with Olympia connections, The Fine Art of Camouflage by Lauren Kay Johnson and Into the Dark, illustrated by Corinna Luyken, made the finalist list. We’re going to take a look at those books today.
The Fine Art of Camouflage by Lauren Kay Johnson is a memoir of her deployment to Afghanistan during the height of the Second Gulf War, interlaced with her memories of her mother being deployed for the first Gulf War when she was seven.
The armed forces fondness for lingo can make for slow going. It’s worth getting through it to understand what her job was there. Her vivid descriptions of what life was like on a forward outpost as a woman in charge of communicating with the local community and her crew draw you into the narrative. The complications of a military adjusting to women being deployed and working for the freedom of a society that did not value her gender add to her questioning on the reasons she was there to begin with.
Johnson’s unflinching vulnerability in examining her experience in light of her role as disseminating information in a war that escalated, in a deployment she was told she would never have to serve, makes this memoir riveting. I’d recommend this for anyone considering a military career, if you have a person in your life who served. I was entertained and intrigued and came away wanting to know more about the war in Afghanistan.
Corinna Luyken is the illustrator of In The Dark and Nothing in Common, both written by Kate Hoefler. She was raised in Oregon, California, and Hawaii; and studied dance improvisation, poetry, and printmaking at Middlebury College in Vermont. She now lives in Olympia, which enriches our community. The illustrations and the spare text are beautiful and charming.
In the Dark is a lovely children’s book that asks us to reconsider what we think we know about the dark, what fears and judgments we make quickly based on what we think we know. The illustrations illuminate what happens when we shine a light on the darkness, and the spare prose adds to the beauty of this idea. Luyken is the author and illustrator of several books, and her expertise brings this story to life. This is a great book for a child who’s afraid of the dark and for planting the seeds that the unknown is only scary if we don’t learn about it. Give it a try and check out her other books as well.
The Washington Book Awards have several categories, children’s, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. We’re fortunate to have some many great writers in this state, and my TBR pile has several books from this list in it Check out this years finalists and previous years winners here. There’s plenty to savor for your winter reading plans!
Next week, I’ll be reviewing Stephen Hendricks' book Now Beacon, Now Sea and Ansley Clark's new poetry collection, Bloodline. Check out Olympia Poetry Network’s regular open mike night, Wednesday, at Traditions Cafe. Signups begin at 5:30 and they fill up quickly. This month the featured Poet is Jane Wong.
This column, Sound Words, is by Amy Lewis and focused on the literary world of Thurston County. Taking inspiration from the phrase, “A rising tide lifts all boats,” its focus will be on the local writing community, spotlighting writers, small presses, book artists, poets, storytellers of all types.
As always, please reach out to me (amy@thejoltnews.com) if you have a literary event, book, or reading I can feature in this column. Looking forward to hearing from you!
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