The Nye Beach Writers' Series Presents...
Willy Vlautin and Tim Sproul
September 20 - 7 p.m.
Newport Visual Arts Center
Admission is $5 at the door;
as always, students may attend free.
A man of many talents, Willy Vlautin splits his time between writing novels and his rock star expressions as lead singer and songwriter for the Portland-based urban country music band Richmond Fontaine.
Now calling Scappoose home - a river town about 40 miles west of Portland - Vlautin is a native of Reno, Nevada, the backdrop against which he set his novels "The Motel Life," published in 2007, and "Northline," published earlier this year.
"The Motel Life" received national recognition as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and was named a Top 25 Books of 2007 selection by the Washington Post. The Oregonian named the novel among the 2007 Top Ten Books of the Northwest.
"The Motel Life" follows the lot of two brothers whose lives go from bad to abominable when one of them flees a hit and run accident while under the influence.
"When I lived in Reno, I'd see all these weird guys living in these motels," Vlautin recalled. "One of my best friends growing up, when he was 19 he would live that life -- he just kind of dropped out of society, wouldn't tell you where he was staying, moved once a week. Granted, he was a drug dealer -- but more than that, I think he just liked to hide out and be his own man. I used to hang out with him in these hotels, so a lot of the idea for the book was from him.
"The thing that's kind of interesting about the novel," he continued, "is there's always that dream of escape -- but no place to escape to. You just run into yourself." The main characters have "that 'beaten man' idea about themselves, they automatically assume they are wrong. They make bad choices because they don't think much of themselves, took a bad hand and made it a lot worse."
Opening the show will be poet Tim Sproul, born and raised in Newport. Sproul is a graduate of Newport High, who now resides in Milwaukie, Oregon, where his day job is creative director at Avenue A/Razorfish International Advertising Agency.
Sproul's formative years took place near Newport's Nye Beach. His father, a career Naval officer, supported the family by spending as much -- if not more -- time deployed at sea as he did at home on the Oregon coast. Sproul's poem "66 Days at Sea" captures a perspective that mirrors the childhood experiences of many commercial fishermen's sons and daughters:
"With one small suitcase and a half-salute to the wind, my father steps onto the ship's gangplank and out of our lives," reads an excerpt. "We fall back to who we think we are -- tough beach kids who never go to the beach... I learn the language of loss in our eyes... we suffer this house and its various empties... time doesn't pass, it enters us."
Sproul holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism and a Master's in creative writing, both from the University of Oregon. During his recent experience as a featured writer at the Fisherpoets spoken word event held in Astoria, he commented on coastal Oregonians' recognition of their unique experience, noting, "It's great to see a celebration of a culture; a recognition of what makes our lives here in this moist environment, separated from the convention of people who don't always understand what it's like to be here."
After their spoken word performances at the Nye Beach Writers' Series, Vlautin and Sproul will answer questions from the audience. Their books will be available for purchase courtesy of Ulrike Bremer of Nye Beach Book House.