Portland Magazine editor’s debut novel already required reading at local schools
By Corey Fawcett Staff Writer fawcett13@up.edu
Editor of UP's Portland Magazine Brian Doyle has been awarded the ForeWord Reviews 2010 Book of the Year Award for Fiction for his first novel "Mink River." It has been deemed Editor's Choice, which is the highest distinction. It was earned by only one other book out of the 215 to win the award.
"Mink River" has also been selected by the Lake Oswego Public Library for its 2012 city-wide reading program called Lake Oswego Reads.
"Now people will pick it up at the library and say ‘Hey, this looks interesting,'" Doyle said. "That's so exciting."
"Mink River," which can be found in libraries and bookstores throughout the greater Portland area, has already made its way onto local high schools' required reading lists, including at Doyle's own sons' schools.
The book is about the fictional town Neawanaka, a 5,000-year-old Oregon settlement inhabited mainly by Native Americans and people of Irish descent, like Doyle himself.
"To grow up Irish American is to be soaked in stories," he said. "To grow up in the Northwest is to be soaked in wet stories."
Doyle weaves together the stories of the townspeople and animals in a tale celebrating the natural world and examining grace under duress, a subject Doyle often finds himself returning to in his work.
"I'm fascinated by how people carry their loads," he said. "Everyone has scars on their heart."
