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VJ Books Presents Author Brian Doyle!

Brian Doylet Brian Doyle (1956 - 2017) was American essayist, editor, and fiction writer. He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1978.

He was the author of thirteen books: six collections of essays, two nonfiction books, prose poems he calls "proems," the short story collection Bin Laden's Bald Spot, the novella Cat's Foot, and the novel Mink River. He was also the editor of several anthologies and Portland Magazine.

Doyle's books have seven times been finalists for the Oregon Book Award, and his essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion, The American Scholar, The Sun, The Georgia Review, and in newspapers and magazines around the world, including The New York Times, The Times of London, and The Age (in Australia).

His essays have also been reprinted in the annual Best American Essays, Best American Science & Nature Writing, and Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies. Among various honors for his work is a Catholic Book Award, three Pushcart Prizes, the John Burroughs Award for Nature Essays, Foreword Reviews' Novel of the Year award in 2011, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2008.

In February 2017, Doyle was selected as the winner of the 2017 John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing for his book Martin Marten.

Brian Doyle passed away May 27, 2017.

A NOTE FROM JOHN IN REMEMBRANCE OF BRIAN:

I first met Doyle at a breakfast put on by the PNBA in Portland. He spoke with humor and elegance about his family and his experiences as a celebrated author. A native of New York, he attended Notre Dame, before coming to Oregon, where he was known for his essays and novels that brought Oregon people and land to life.

In 2015, Doyle said, "You want your stories to keep traveling long past you. I want them to travel everywhere." The author died at his home in Saturday after a months-long struggle with cancer. He was just 60 years old.
His stories will "keep on traveling" even though his voice has been forever silenced.

Brian Doyle Book List and Awards
Similar authors: Kate Atkinson, William Boyd, Joyce Carol Oates

Adventures of John Carson in Several...
Signed First Edition

Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World by Brian Doyle

Chicago

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Chicago by Brian Doyle

The Plover

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The Plover by Brian Doyle

Brian Doyle Bibliography


Novels and Essays

  • Credo: Essays on grace, altar boys, bees, kneeling, saints, the Mass, priests, strong women, epiphanies, a wake, and the haunting thin energetic dusty figure of Jesus the Christ - 1999
  • Apocalypse of Isaiah metaphorically speaking : a study of the use, function, and significance of metaphors in Isaiah 24-27 - 2000
  • Saints passionate & peculiar : brief exuberant essays for teens - 2002
  • Messages from Oregon (designed by Joseph Erceg ; edited by Brian Doyle) - 2002
  • Leaping : revelations and epiphanies - 2003
  • Spirited men : story, soul & substance - 2004
  • Wet engine : exploring the mad wild miracle of the heart - 2005
  • Grail : a year ambling & shambling through an Oregon vineyard in pursuit of the best pinot noir wine in the whole wild world - 2006
  • Epiphanies & elegies : very short stories - 2007
  • Mink River : a novel - 2010
  • Bin Laden's bald spot & other stories - 2011
  • Shimmer of something : lean stories of spiritual substance - 2014
  • The Plover - 2014
  • Chicago - 2016
  • Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World - March 2017

Brian Doyle Awards

  • Catholic Book Award
  • Pushcart Prizes
  • John Burroughs Award for Nature Essays
  • Forward Reviews' Novel of the Year Award in 2011
  • Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2008
  • 2017 John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing for his book Martin Marten

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