Author Annie Proulx Reads 'Barkskins' at The Seattle Public Library May 5
release date: April 26, 2017
Pulitzer-prize winning author Annie Proulx will be presented the 2016 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and read from her latest novel, "Barkskins," from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 5 at the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium, 206-386-4636 .
Library events are free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Parking is available in the Central Library garage for $6 after 5 p.m.
In the late 17h century two young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters - barkskins. The novel "Barkskins" tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over 300 years - their travels across North America, to Europe, China, and New Zealand - the revenge of rivals, accidents, pestilence, Indian attacks, and cultural annihilation. Over and over, they seize what they can of a presumed infinite resource, leaving the modern-day characters face to face with possible ecological collapse.
Proulx is the author of eight books, including the novel "The Shipping News" and the story collection "Close Range." Her many honors include a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and a PEN/Faulkner award. Her story "Brokeback Mountain," which originally appeared in The New Yorker, was made into an Academy Award-winning film. She lives in Seattle.