Author of “Snow Falling on Cedars” at Peninsula College
PORT ANGELES — Northwestern award-winning author David Guterson will be writer-in-residence at Peninsula College Tuesday through Thursday.
He is best known for his debut novel, “Snow Falling on Cedars”, described as “a courtroom drama, war novel, romance and location novel all rolled into one”.
Guterson’s latest novel, “The Final Case,” was published in January and is a time capsule that New York Times book reviewer and author Scott Turow has described as a shrewd courtroom thriller that distills family love in “the mystery of how the deep attachments of one family can stand alongside breathtaking cruelty in another.
His book “Turn Around Time” was nominated for a 2020 Washington Book Award.
His honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Washington State Governor’s Writers Award, the Swedish Academy Crime Writers’ Award, the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for Snow Falling on Cedars.
Guterson is the co-founder of Field’s End, a community of writers, and he created the Guterson Prize for MFA students in creative writing at the University of Washington.
Author of 12 books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, he lives on Bainbridge Island.
For more about him, see www.davidguterson.com.
“I’m excited to write more poetry grounded in the mountains and river valleys of the Olympic Peninsula and can’t wait to be in Port Angeles,” Guterson said.
The current Writers-in-Residence schedule is as follows:
• On Tuesday there will be a reception for Guterson at 10 am at J-47 of the Pirate Union Building (PUB) on the Port Angeles campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. Light refreshments will be available.
• At 10:20 am, the English teachers will lead a class discussion with Guterson after the reception.
• At 1pm, he has an interview scheduled with Todd Ortloff on KONP Radio.
• On Wednesday at 10 am, Guterson will be signing books at the PUB, courtesy of community partner Port Book and News.
• At 1:35 p.m., he will present at the Port Angeles High School Library at 304 E. Park Ave., with host Mark Valentine. Proof of vaccination will be required for community participation.
• On Thursday, the Studium Generale program will welcome Guterson in a talk that also honors a return to the Petit Théâtre. Members of the public are invited to join the presentation live, in person or via Zoom for “Why Write?” The purpose of writing and meaning.
The 45-minute conference will be followed by a question-and-answer session. It is free and open to the public. Doors to the theater will open at 12:15 p.m. and the presentation will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Zoom at https://pencol-edu.zoom.us/j/88082575506, meeting ID is 880 8257 5506.
Audiences are also invited to watch the 1999 film, “Snow Falling on Cedars,” Monday through Thursday through Peninsula College’s Magic of Cinema program.
The film starring Ethan Hawke, James Cromwell, Max von Sydow, Youki Kudoh and Rick Yune is rated PG-13 and centers on an American journalist and World War II veteran who takes a particular interest in a murder trial in racial motivation involving a former lover in the Pacific Northwest.
There are two ways to access the movie.
A public screening is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. Thursday at the Little Theater at Peninsula College. At 3:45 p.m., after the conclusion of the film, Guterson will speak about the film. Masks are optional, at this time, for campus visitors.
To stream the film independently, contact Helen Lovejoy at [email protected] or 360-417-6362 for an access code and link.
These events are free and open to the public and funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Rescue Plan.
