Author Craig Lesley launches new memoir

               Photo/Katheryn Stavrakis
Craig Lesley will read from his new
memoir on Friday, Oct. 21, in
Pierce Library.

By Laura Hancock
Media and Publications Writer
lhancock@eou.edu

LA GRANDE, Oregon – Author Craig Lesley will read from his new book, “Burning Fence: A Western Memoir of Fatherhood,” at Eastern Oregon University on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in Pierce Library. The reading is free and open to the public.

“We are honored that Craig Lesley has chosen Pierce Library as one of the locations for the launch of his new memoir, “Burning Fence,” and we look forward to hearing him read from that work,” said Shirley Roberts, interim library director at EOU.

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“Burning Fence” is a personal look into Lesley’s childhood – growing up without a father in rural Oregon – and his own experience as a father, raising a Native American foster child suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome. Lesley will be making stops in Pendleton, Enterprise and Baker City as he continues on his book launch tour across the northwest.

Lesley has written four novels, “Winterkill,” “The Sky Fisherman,” “Storm Riders,” and “River Song.” His memoir, published in August by St. Martin’s Press, is his first work of non-fiction. Lesley is the recipient of three Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards. “Storm Riders” and “The Sky Fisherman” were both nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Lesley will be introduced at the reading by his long-time New York editor, Diane Higgins, who grew up in La Grande and attended EOU for her first year of college. Higgins’ worked in mainstream publishing in New York City for 21 years, which is where she first met Lesley 17 years ago.

Lesley is currently the senior writer-in-residence at Portland State University. He holds a doctorate of Humane Letters from Whitman College. He lives in Portland with his wife and two daughters.