Literary Arts is pleased to specially honor Mark Mizell and Kim Stafford at the 21st Annual Oregon Book Awards. The honorees will receive their awards at the Oregon Book Awards ceremony, which will take place on Sunday, December 2nd at 7:30 p.m. at the Portland Art Museum (1119 SW Park Avenue). Poet Naomi Shihab Nye will host the ceremony.

The finalists for the Oregon Book Awards will be announced October 1. In addition to recognizing the finest achievements of Oregon authors in several genres, Literary Arts recognizes individual contributions with the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award and the Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award.

The Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award is presented to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s literary community. This year’s award honors Kim Stafford of Portland. Stafford founded the Northwest Writing Institute in 1986, and established the William Stafford center there in 2004. He co-founded the Oregon Folk Arts program, which Joanne Mulcahy directed from 1998-91. He was also co-founder of the Fishtrap Writers’ Gathering in Wallowa County. He has been involved in artists-in-the-schools programs around the state, has been a member of the Oregon Governor’s Task Force on Arts & Culture and a consultant to the Oregon Arts Commission. Rich Wandschneider, Executive Director of Fishtrap, says, “Kim helped me create Fishtrap, and over the years has been back to the Wallowas regularly to help us nurture Fishtrap and hundreds-maybe thousands-of writers and readers who come to us and him.”

The Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award is presented to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s young readers. This year’s award honors Mark Mizell of Seaside. Mizell teaches at Seaside High School, and is being honored for the many creative educational opportunities he has provided for his students that have increased their excitement for literature. Mizell has introduced his students to the work of many Oregon writers, and his school year ends with a field trip that allows the students to learn more about the setting of the book they are studying and develop a deeper connection to the work. Over the years he has taken students to museums in Pendleton and La Grande, the Cowboy Poetry Festival, Ashland, and Ken Kesey’s home in Veneta. Writer Molly Gloss says, “Mark has made it his life’s work to bring Oregon’s own writers into the curriculum, to educate and excite his students about the value of the literature of Oregon.”

Oregon Book Awards Special Awards candidates are nominated by the public, and reviewed by the Oregon Book Awards Advisory Committee and the Literary Arts Board of Directors.

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