WILLY VLAUTIN

Willy Vlautin (who first appeared at the Nye Beach Writers' Series on September 20, 2008) returns to Newport to read from his new novel, Lean on Pete, about a 15-year-old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon, and befriends a failed race horse named Lean on Pete. The book is scheduled for release in Spring 2010.

Vlautin's debut novel, The Motel Life, was voted one of the Top Ten Books of the Northwest by The Oregonian, was chosen as one of the top 25 books of 2007 by The Washington Post, won Nevada's Silver Pen award, and was lauded by the New York Times Book Review as an Editor's Choice. His second novel, Northline, comes with an original instrumental soundtrack CD. A movie of the book is in the works. Vlautin is also the lead singer and songwriter for the band Richmond Fontaine.

1. “Vlautin’s writing has been compared with such icons of American fiction as John Steinbeck and Raymond Carver. He’s been heard to say that if writers like these are the kings of fiction, he’d compare himself more to a janitor. That modesty seems to me a little misplaced,” Marianne Klekacz said as she introduced Vlautin in 2008. “This isn’t the place to do a parsing of literary styles, but I would like to tell you this about Vlautin’s books: I came to care as much about the fates of Allison Johnson and the Flannigan brothers as I once did about the fates of the Joads and the mixture of misfits that drifted in and out of Doc’s house on Cannery Row. This, to me, is a hallmark of both good writing and good storytelling. Vlautin’s books offer both.”

More information: www.willyvlautin.com