Local authors writing new chapter for Las Vegas

By Jackie Valley

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas may not be filled with as many academics as Boston, Washington, D.C., or the Bay Area, but Southern Nevada has a growing literary community.

“I see the groundwork for a really strong literary culture,” said Joshua Shenk, executive director of UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, the university’s literary center.

This year, for instance, brought a crop of books by writers from Las Vegas and stories set in the valley, including mysteries, graphic novels, nonfiction accounts and poems.

Las Vegas is emerging as an unexpected haven for writers, Shenk said.

“Most of my friends in New York and Los Angeles would raise their eyebrows to hear me say that, but I do think it’s possible,” he said.

Shenk moved here this summer. He said the desert’s open spaces and unique landforms make Southern Nevada ideal for reflection, while the city’s entertainment provides potent stimulation.

The Black Mountain Institute, in the heart of UNLV’s campus, is crucial to growing the local literary community. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this spring, the center has helped launch the careers of dozens of writers.

This month, it will be involved with the Vegas Valley Book Festival, featuring sessions with writers including Claire Vaye Watkins and Laura McBride.

Unlike in years past, today’s local writers set their stories more in an unromanticized version of Las Vegas, said Drew Cohen, a buyer for the Writer’s Block bookstore on Fremont Street. An increasing number of stories turn away focus on places such as Chinatown, Henderson or North Las Vegas.

“It’s more about people who live here every day,” Cohen said.

Looking for a new book to read? Las Vegas plays heavily in several new releases. Here are our recommendations:

• "We are Called to Rise," by Laura McBride. Published in June 2014, this is the breakthrough novel for McBride, who lives in Las Vegas. Set in the valley’s suburbs and loosely inspired by a 2008 officer-involved shooting in Henderson, this story is about three people’s lives bound together by a defining moment.

• "Rel[am]ent," by Jamison Crabtree. Published in March, this book of poetry from by a Black Mountain Institute Ph.D. casts horror movie characters such as Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers.

• "Dragonfish," by Vu Tran. Published in August, this page-turning thriller touches on migration and loss is set in Las Vegas’ Vietnamese community, with an emphasis on the city’s seedy underbelly. It’s the first novel by Tran, who has a Ph.D. from UNLV and was a Glenn Schaeffer Fellow in Fiction at the Black Mountain Institute.

• "Gold Fame Citrus," by Claire Vaye Watkins. Published in September, this is the debut novel for Watkins, who spent time as a child in Pahrump. Set in the future, this love story takes place in the drought-stricken Southwest as a couple meet a mysterious child and head east from Southern California.

• "Still Life Las Vegas," by James Sie. Published in August, this coming-of-age novel by tracks a 17-year-old who is working a dead-end job on the Strip and is troubled by his mother’s abandonment years earlier. His life begins to change when he meets siblings working as living statues at the Venetian. The novel includes graphic illustrations by Sungyoon Choi.

• The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death," by Colson Whitehead. Published in May 2014, this is Whitehead's humorous memoir based on the experience or participating in the World Series of Poker. Grantland, an online sports magazine, gave Whitehead $10,000 to play in the event.