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Spokane, Washington April 15-23, 2005 |
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|  Chris Crutcher Who is Chris Crutcher? Born on July 17, 1946 to a WWII B-17 bomber pilot and a homemaker, Crutcher is now a 58-year-old author, humorist and family therapist raised in the rural logging town of Cascade, Idaho. As his autobiography King of the Mild Frontier deftly reveals, Crutcher's Pacific Northwestern upbringing shaped his literary vision, his sense of humor and his unwavering moral compass. Barely accepted to EWU (then Eastern Washington State College) with a C average, Crutcher became a competitive swimmer and graduated with a BA in sociology and psych--but with no salable skills. So he earned his teaching credential, taught primary and secondary school in Washington and California, and later ran a "last chance" alternative school in Oakland, CA. Nearly a decade later, Crutcher returned to the Pacific Northwest to complete and sell his first book, Running Loose for Greenwillow in 1982. Eight other novels--Stotan!, Chinese Handcuffs, The Crazy Horse Electric Game, The Deep End, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Ironman, Whale Talk, and The Sledding Hill--as well as a collection of short stories (Athletic Shorts) followed the first. His tenth book, an autobiography called King of the Mild Frontier, was released in April of 2003 by Greenwillow/HarperCollins. The Sledding Hill, his latest novel is scheduled for publication in May of 2005. A second collection of short stories and a nonfiction project are also in development. Crutcher's fast-paced fiction, which is heavily influenced by his work as a therapist and child protection advocate, is known for its expert balance of comedy and tragedy, as well as its unflinching honesty and authentic voice. He has been honored with dozens of awards and honors including the ALA's 2000 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, the NCTE's 1998 National Intellectual Freedom Award and the ALAN Award. A popular columnist (for publications such as Voices from the Middle, Family Energy Magazine, Signal Journal, Spokane Magazine, iParenting.com) and a public speaker, Crutcher lectures at universities, conferences, libraries, schools and bookstores across the United States roughly 30 to 40 times a year to standing-room-only audiences. His home is in Spokane, Washington. Salman Rushdie | Rita Dove | David Sedaris | Bob Edwards | Robert Bly |  | ||||||||
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Workshops | Tickets | Schedule | Panels | Keynotes | Children's Events | Authors | Sponsors | Back to Main | |||||||||||
