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Visual arts, literature,
theater, music & more
Sixth annual event celebrates
fiction and those who love it
By BRENNA VISSER
uthor Molly Gloss says that much
of her writing is inspired by what
does not exist.
In her case, the story she seeks
to tell is one of pioneer women of
the American West, a genre best known
for cowboys, gun fights and the eternal
romance of riding off into the sunset.
“I have had a lifetime passion of read-
ing Western fiction,” Gloss said. “But what
I couldn’t find was the great Western novel
with a woman at the center of it.”
The fourth-generation Oregonian will
be sharing her experience about those
stories and how she arrived at them with
four other bestselling authors at the sixth
annual Get Lit on the Beach, May 19
through 21 in Cannon Beach.
Organized by the Tolovana Arts Colo-
ny, Get Lit will include a series of presen-
tations and networking opportunities from
Lev Grossman, Karl Marlantes, James
Owen and, the ‘Master of Ceremonies,’
Terry Brooks — authors whose genres
cover history, Western, fantasy and specu-
lative fiction, Tolovana Arts Colony Chair
Watt Childress said.
“People will have the opportunity
to have a close relationship with these
authors. It’s different than going to just a
book signing,” Childress said. “You also
have an opportunity to get those folks
personally.”
Author Molly Gloss
Terry Brooks, an American au-
thor of epic fantasy novels who
lives in Cannon Beach, will re-
turn as the “Master of Ceremo-
nies” at Get Lit at the Beach.
Author Lev Grossman
Author James Owen
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Author Karl Marlantes
TRUTH IN FICTION
TAKING THE PLUNGE
This will be Gloss’ first time at Get Lit.
She is best known for her novels “The
Jump-Off Creek,” “The Dazzle of Day,”
“Wild Life,” “The Hearts of Horses” and
“Falling From Horses.” Her work has
earned several awards, including an Ore-
gon Book Award and a Pacific Northwest
Booksellers Award.
Gloss always knew she wanted to be a
writer, but didn’t take the serious plunge un-
til she was in her 30s, after her son was born.
even living on a ranch in Idaho by herself
to fully understand the lifestyle.
The old Western cowboy trope is often
considered a relic of a bygone era. But
Gloss said it is a theme that is becoming
more and more culturally relevant.
“The American cowboy hero has a lot
of good qualities: He’s self-reliant and
brave,” Gloss said. “But he also has a
dark side, one fascinated with violence
and guns, gangs and deadbeat fathers.
The mythology of the West continues to
shape American culture.”
It’s a culture, she said, that is still
shaping the United States’ current politi-
cal climate, even the president himself.
“(President Donald Trump) is not real-
ly trying to be a cowboy hero, but his role
can be demonstrated as the swaggering
sheriff who runs the town,” she said.
In Gloss’ work, toughness and resil-
iency is not gendered, and the romance
of open fields unfettered by fences is an
all but universal love. By sharing more
narratives about the women behind the
scenes — women breaking in horses and
keeping the lives of pioneers afloat — she
said she hopes to nudge the narrative in a
different direction.
“Writing became the one place I could
just be Molly instead of a mother and a
wife,” Gloss said.
A lot of Gloss’ inspiration comes from
digging into the past, whether that means
reading memoirs of people in the West
during the First World War, manuals on
how to break horses from that era, or
Widening that narrative is particular-
ly significant in a time that some call a
“post-truth era,” dominated by the discus-
sion of alternative facts and fake news,
Gloss said.
“Fiction is where we can point to the
truth,” she said. “Fiction is more signifi-
cant than it ever has been. It’s where you
get your sources of empathy, where you
discover you have more in common with
a character than you realize. It’s not about
the facts then, it’s about how people live
their lives, and discovering truth within
that.”
Full pass tickets are $85; the Friday
evening reception is $30; and the Sat-
urday night dinner and keynote speaker
presentation is $70. Tickets may still be
available on-site or at www.getlitatthe-
beach.com.