Evil Companions Literary Award Fact Sheet
Tuesday, March 4, 1997
* The Evil Companions Literary Award is given each year to a
writer living in, writing about, or with ties to the West. The
winner this year is Mona Simpson, whose latest book, "A Regular
Guy," has won critical acclaim. The event is 6-8 p.m. April 10 at
the Oxford Hotel in Lido.
* The award is sponsored by the Colorado Review, Colorado State's
literary magazine; the Oxford Hotel; and the Tattered Cover Book
Store. Tickets are $35 per person and $60 per couple, and
available at the Colorado Review Office in Fort Collins. Call
(970) 491-5449 for ticket information. Tickets also will be
available at the door. All proceeds go to support the Review,
which publishes twice a year and features short fiction, poetry,
essays and reviews.
* The Evil Companions were a group of Denver journalists in the
1950s and 1960s who would get together to drink. Although some
discussion centered around the art of writing and journalism, the
gathering was mostly social in nature. Organizers of the event
try to maintain the same environment, offering food, drink and a
noted author with whom to discuss good literature. This is the
fifth annual Evil Companions Literary Award event at the Oxford.
* The format is fairly informal--the winner reads from his or her
work, then answers questions. The atmosphere is more like a
cocktail party than a strictly literary gathering. The Oxford
Hotel provides great food (hors d'oeuvres) and the Wynkoop
Brewing Company brews a special Evil Companions Ale to mark the
evening. (Matt McAleer at the Wynkoop describes the Evil
Companions Ale as a dark American lager with a nice amount of
hoppiness--a perfect complement for this event.)
ABOUT THIS YEAR'S WINNER
* Simpson, 39, has published three novels, "Anywhere But Here"
(1986), and "The Lost Father" (1992). Her most recent work, "A
Regular Guy," was released in 1996 and has since played
prominently on national best-seller lists. Simpson was named one
of 20 best young American novelists by the literary magazine,
"Granta," on the basis of the first chapter of her latest book.
* Simpson's work has been translated into 14 languages. She is
recipient of a Guggenheim grant, the Whiting Writer's Award and
the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University. Since 1988, she
has taught at Bard College during the fall semester, where she is
now the Sadie Samuelson Levy Professor of Languages and
Literature.
* Simpson lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Richard Appel,
and her toddler son, Gabriel.
PAST WINNERS
* 1996--Novelist Robert Boswell
* 1995--Yusef Komunyakaa, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Colorado State University alumnus
* 1994--Poet and writer James Galvin
* 1993--Novelist Joanne Greenberg
This page © 1997-1998 World Wide Express, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Many news stories on RamLine.com come from the Colorado State University Public Relations Office. You can get copies of the news releases directly by filling out this form.