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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2021)
A photo showcasing local boats, featured in Bono’s book. Fisher Poet,” much of the scenery and many of the characters in the Sylvia Avery series are drawn from people and places Bono has encountered in her life, such as finding the name “Sylvia” while visiting Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport. Bono is at work on the sixth installment of the Sylvia series. She is also a regular Jan Bono holds up a sturgeon she caught off the Columbia River. Continued from Page 6 the area.” “Fisher Girl, Fisher Wife, Fisher Poet” is far from Bono’s first piece of writing. This is Bono’s third collection of poetry and 14th published book. “Sometimes, I’ll be talking, and some- thing will come out of my mouth, and I’ll think ‘Crap! That’s a poem,’” Bono said. Years ago, while working as a teacher, Bono suffered an injury that had her on bed rest for two weeks. “I started writing op-eds, just 750 words each, to send into the Chinook Observer,” she said. A few months into writing opinion col- umns, Bono was challenged by a friend to submit a 900-word romance story into Star Magazine. She accepted, wrote the story in one night, and ended up with a published piece and check from the publication. “I’ve been a natural storyteller my whole life,” Bono said. From there, Bono was urged by family and friends to grow her career as a writer even more. By 2011, Bono had finished two short books of poetry and six collection books. “I remember, my mom asked me, ‘Honey, are you ever going to write a whole book?’” Following this, Bono penned the first installment in her famous Sylvia Avery cozy mystery series, set on the Washington coast, which was released the same year. “I love cozy mysteries,” Bono said. “Cozy mysteries are a genre that has three no’s — no graphic violence, explicit sex scenes or obscene language. But (it has) five yes components — an amateur sleuth who works with the police department, it takes place in a small town, has a quirky cast of characters and there’s a lot of humor in it.” Similar to “Fisher Girl, Fisher Wife, writer for the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series and is one of the series’ top five con- tributors worldwide. During the pandemic, Bono has contin- ued safely selling and shipping books from her home. “I call my garage my book warehouse,” she said. 2020 READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS VOTE NOW! WWW.DISCOVEROURCOAST.COM Voting begins January 22 THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 // 7
