PORT ANGELES — Award-winning Northwest author David Guterson will serve as writer in residence at Peninsula College on Tuesday through Thursday.
He is best known for his first novel, “Snow Falling on Cedars,” described as “a courtroom drama, war novel, love story, and a novel of place all rolled into one.”
Guterson’s newest novel, “The Final Case,” was published in January and is a time capsule that New York Times book reviewer and author Scott Turow described as an artful courtroom thriller that distills family love into “the mystery about how one family’s profound attachments 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 writer’s community, and he established the Guterson Award 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 be writing more poetry grounded in the mountains and river valleys of the Olympic Peninsula and look forward to being in Port Angeles,” Guterson said.
The current Writer in Residence schedule is as follows:
• On Tuesday will be a reception for Guterson at 10 a.m. in 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 a.m., English faculty will facilitate a class discussion with Guterson following the reception.
• At 1 p.m., he has an interview scheduled with Todd Ortloff on KONP Radio.
• On Wednesday at 10 a.m., Guterson will sign books in the PUB, thanks to 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 facilitator Mark Valentine. Proof of vaccination will be required for community attendance.
• On Thursday, Studium Generale program will welcome Guterson in a lecture that also honors a return to the Little Theater. Audience members are invited to join the presentation live, in person, or via Zoom for “Why Write? The Purpose of Writing and Meaning.”
The 45-minute lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session. It is free and open to the public. Theater doors 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, The meeting ID is 880 8257 5506.
Audience members are also invited to watch the 1999 film, “Snow Falling on Cedars,” from Monday through Thursday, courtesy of 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 focuses on an American journalist and World War II veteran who takes a special interest in a racially-motivated murder trial involving a former lover in the Pacific Northwest.
There are two ways to access the film.
A public screening is planned at 1:35 p.m. Thursday in Peninsula College’s Little Theater. At 3:45 p.m., following the conclusion of the movie, Guterson will speak about the film. Masks are optional, at this time, for campus visitors.
To stream the film independently, contact Helen Lovejoy at hlovejoy@pencol.edu or 360-417-6362 for an access code and link.
These events are free and open to the public and funded in part by National Endowment for the Humanities and American Rescue Plan grants.
