Pacific City, Oregon…
An award-winning manuscript is often a matter of write, rewrite and rewrite again. For local NW author Anne Sweazy-Kulju, it may have been more a matter of write, rewrite…and regress. Kulju’s latest release BODIE was born in this way, and the newbie-novel has just proven it can already play with the big kids. The work has been selected 2014 “Finalist” in the WILLA Literary Awardsfor Original Softcover Fiction. Professional librarians judge the WILLA Literary Award
Award submissions, named for Pulitzer prize-winning writer, Willa Cather. Sweazy-Kulju will be honored at the 20th Annual Women Writing the West Conference, the group that underwrites the awards, in Golden, Colorado, October 16-19, 2014.
So, how tough is it these days to make it as an author? Award-winning or not, Kulju jokes she has resorted to driving her own bookmobile to help her publisher market her books…okay, it’s a wagon. But with the help of VistaPrint, it looks like a mini-bookmobile. The author and her “ride” have been spending Sunday afternoons at the Farmer’s Market, in Pacific City, where she spreads the word about her books–and right now that word is, “BODIE”.
BODIE is as a century-old love story (thwarted), a murder mystery one hundred years standing, and a political conspiracy that transcends time. Oh, and there’s a creepy measure of the paranormal, too. The book is actually inspired by a true story—Sweazy-Kulju’s own. In fact, the decomposing building on the book’s cover is the Swazey Hotel—home to ancestors of the author, according to one of those genealogy websites.
The WILLA Literary Award comes on the heels of Sweazy-Kulju’s first International win for her novel, Grog Wars, currently in production at Tate. The stand-alone Part I of a 2-Part epic historical fiction adventure is the Writer’sType.com 1st Place winner for March, 2013.
BODIE is available through bookstores nationwide, from www.TatePublishing.com/Bookstore, by visiting BarnesandNoble.com,Amazon.com, anywhere great books are sold…and of course, by bookmobile.
ORIGINAL SOFTCOVER FICTION
WINNER:
Junction, Utah
by Rebecca Lawton
(Wavegirl Books)
FINALIST:
Merciless
by Lori Armstrong
(Simon and Schuster/Touchstone)
