• LAST YEAR, Seattle's Dark Coast Press launched Pharos Editions, an imprint with an intriguing premise: Contemporary authors select their favorite out-of-print titles for re-release. Stellar Washington writers Sherman Alexie, Jonathan Evison, and Jess Walter curated the first round of releases. Now Pharos is getting some of Portland's finest on board: Ursula K Le Guin, Cheryl Strayed, and Lidia Yuknavitch have each chosen books for reissue.
Yuknavitch selected two short novels by Theodora Keogh, The Tattooed Heart and My Name Is Rose. Keogh, the granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt, published nine novels in the 1950s and 1960s.
Le Guin picked Crazy Weather, Charles L McNichols' 1944 novel of a friendship between a white boy and a Mojave boy.
Strayed chose The Lists of the Past, a collection of short stories by Julie Hayden, most of which originally appeared in The New Yorker.
Yuknavitch, Strayed, and Le Guin will discuss their selection at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, Beaverton, Thurs May 15, 7 pm
• Speaking of Strayed, Fox Searchlight has set a release date for the film adaptation of her book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, starring Reese Witherspoon and Gaby Hoffman: It's scheduled to hit theaters on Dec 5 of this year.
• greybook is a new Portland-based art and literature quarterly that debuted May 9, featuring fiction, interviews, poetry, photography, and anything else that can fit on a page. The first issue is anchored by a few really strong pieces, including an interview and photo shoot with Portland musician (and issue cover model) Amenta Abioto; Alejandro Kolleeny's funny mock manifesto for the "post-hip" movement ("I drafted up a teeny little manifesto, I think it does a good job of communicating the substance of our message while giving no indication of what the message is"); and most notably Ann-Derrick Gaillot's lengthy, thoughtful interview with Kanye PDX [1] and Kanye PDX [2], the taggers responsible for Portland's ubiquitous Kanye stickers. The Kanyes' conversation ranges from the state of Portland street art and the commercialization of the public sphere to the basic artistic impulse. "Dude, look. I'm doing something," says Kanye [2]. "I exist. I'm real. I have ideas. They might be stupid, but at least you know what they are." Look for greybook at bookstores and galleries, or order it online at greybook-magazine.com
