River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize Series

Praise for An Inside Passage:

"In these luminous essays on wanderlust, Caswell . . . embraces travel writer Bruce Chatwin's contention that walking is a poetic act that can cure the world of its ills. . . . His travels culminate in a Death Valley vision that replaces his pervasive sense of dislocation with the answer to a question that has nagged him for years: what is home? "—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“[Caswell is] more the inspired prose poet of the outdoor garden we all inhabit, describing it more beautifully than most, as when, after monsoon rains come in the fall, ‘the flowers want to bloom again in a second coming: desert globemallow, blue dick, storksbill, sacred datura, chicory, paintbrush, beardtongue and Arizona lupine. Some cacti, too: prickly pear and desert barrel. The acacia or catclaw, and mesquite roll out of the dry washes, entangling anything, dog or man or javalina, that tries to pass.’ They caught me.”—Alan Cheuse, Dallas Morning News

“The author moves from place to place, examining the natural world around him with scrupulous care and a keen, sympathetic eye, and examining even more intensely the seasonal transformations in his own heart and mind. By the end, I felt I had traveled along with him, sharing his sorrows and his epiphanies, his vigor and courage and ceaseless quest for experience and understanding. This is a memoir of extraordinary revelation, which transforms the reader as well as the author.”—Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books

“Kurt Caswell has mastered the noble tradition of the essay as walk-around, and he reads the contours of the land, his mind, and the urgency of companions who sometimes choose to accompany him on his solo journey with delicacy, generosity and a sharp attentiveness to the possibility of new life, in all its harmonious contradictions. This is lovely writing and musing.”—Phillip Lopate, author of The Art of the Personal Essay and Totally, Tenderly, Tragically

“A fine debut by a new voice in American nature writing.”—Dennis Covington, author of Salvation on Sand Mountain

Praise for The Enders Hotel:

2008 Summer Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection  

2008 School Library Journal Best Adult Books For High School Students

“Schrand’s deeply textured memoir of life in a small Idaho town boasts a rich palette of glittering iridescent hues, somber earth tones, and delicate, evocative washes. . . . Schrand’s memoir sings, stirring the senses as much as the soul.”—Whitney Scott, Booklist (starred review)

“For a young child, the hotel exerted a certain kind of magic, which Schrand effectively captures in his reminiscences. . . . An evocative account of a man coming to terms with his youth.”—Kirkus Reviews

"Schrand proves himself a top-notch yarn spinner with this richly described, poignant memoir."—Jenny Shank, NewWest.net

"A satisfying read."—C. K. Crigger, Roundup Magazine

Praise for House of Good Hope:

Finalist in the 2008 Sayoran International Prize for Writing, sponsored by Stanford University Libraries and the William Sayoran Foundation.

Finalist in the Connecticut Book Awards in the Biography or Memoir category.

“Combining a reporter’s eye for detail, the breathless narrative rush of an action movie and the generous heart of a hometown boy desperately trying to make sense of a place gone terribly wrong, Downs examines the social and economic disintegration of Hartford, Conn., in the 1990s through the coming-of-age of five African-American teenage boys. . . . The first half of the book flows with the power and grace of a finely tuned magazine article.”—Publishers Weekly

“Amid the broken glass that glitters on abandoned lots, amid the sense of abandonment and hopelessness, there beats the heart of an ancient city that refuses to die. And we’re still here. At its heart, House of Good Hope: A Promise for a Broken City is a lavish love letter to Connecticut’s capital city.”—Susan Campbell, Hartford Courant

Praise for The World Before Mirrors:

"Joan Connor's essays are a survivor's psalms, a secular spirit's prayers played brilliantly in ragtime. She sees herself and all the rest of us—our yearnings, our secrets, our foibles—with such clarity her vision would be terrifying if it were not at once so kind, if her words were not so salty and sharp, her sentences so energetic and exhilarating."—Richard Hoffman author of Half the House: a Memoir

"With candor, bracing wit, and the kind of skewering insight that could kill if she let it, Joan Connor investigates love, sex, motherhood, family, and the ways they echo back through memory, sometimes to comfort and sometimes to bite. I am so engaged by her vital, verbally adventurous voice that I would follow her pretty much anywhere she wants to go."—Rosellen Brown, author of Before and After and Half a Heart

The World Before Mirrors

by Joan Connor

Praise for Where the Trail Grows Faint: A Year in the Life of a Therapy Dog Team:

"Beautiful in its use of language and unsettling in its observations, this story was the worthy recipient of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Recommended not only for dog lovers interested in learning more about the training and accomplishments of a therapy dog but also for nurses, social workers, gerontologists, and anyone facing the prospect of long-term care for aging parents."—Library Journal

"This is a must-read for anyone interested in therapy dogs, the plight of nursing home residents, growing old and the basic human need to nurture and be nurtured."—Mike Nobles, Tulsa World

“Where the Trail Grows Faint is not just a book about a woman and her therapy dog, but a story of life, death, hope and the joy and comfort that animals can bring.”—Mary Howard, CC: Connecticut College Magazine

Where the Trail Grows Faint: A Year in the Life of a Therapy Dog Team

by Lynne Hugo

Praise for The Untouched Minutes:

"In this fascinating tour de force, Morrill extrapolates living with fear and insecurity on an individual level to national anxiety about the disasters than can befall us." —Booklist

"Emotional and literary, this memoir is recommended for all libraries."—Library Journal

“With one act of violation, the bubble of the private life opens to admit the public—and Morrill interrogates the nature of the ‘suddenness’ brought to bear on mortality. His acutely self-conscious and astutely philosophical response asks us to address the many kinds of violence—what we see and what we don’t—that connect our lives to a world outside.”—Judith Kitchen, author of The House on Eccles Road

The Untouched Minutes

by Donald Morrill

Five Shades of Shadow

by Tracy Daugherty