Copyright Jake Mosher
The late Howard Frank Mosher sits by a beaver dam built in the mirroring lake.
Thursday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m.—RUTLAND— Phoenix Books Rutland will celebrate beloved author Howard Frank Mosher, and his final book, “Points North,” at a reception and reading on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. Yvonne Daley, Chuck Clarino and Will Notte will read from “Points North” and share reminiscences of Mosher and his work. Light fare will be provided.
Upon his passing in January 2017, Howard Frank Mosher was recognized as one of America’s most acclaimed writers. His fiction set in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, chronicles the intertwining family histories of natives, wanderers, outcasts and others. In its obituary, the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Mosher’s fictional Kingdom County, Vt., became his New England version of Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County.” Howard Frank Mosher was the author of 13 previous books of fiction and nonfiction, including “God’s Kingdom.” He received Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award, the New England Book Award and the 2011 New England Independent Booksellers Association’s President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. In January 2017, Mosher passed away at the age of 74, in Vermont.
In “Points North,” completed just weeks before his death, Mosher presents a brilliant, lovingly-evoked collection of stories that center around the Kinneson family, ranging over decades of their history in the Kingdom. From a loquacious itinerant preacher who beguiles the reticent farmers and shopkeepers of a small New England town, to a proposed dam that threatens the river that Kinneson men have fished for generations, the scandalous secret of a romance and its violent consequences, and a young man’s seemingly fruitless search for love — “Points North” is a full-hearted, gently comic, and beautifully written last gift to the readers who treasure Howard Frank Mosher.
In September 2017, Phoenix Books and Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) announced the creation of a new VCFA scholarship that honors Mosher. Called the Phoenix Books Howard Frank Mosher Scholarship, the $10,000 award will be merit-based and given annually to an emerging fiction writer from Vermont in his or her first year of VCFA’s MFA in Writing & Publishing residential program. The first scholarship will be awarded on Feb. 8 for the 2018-2019 school year. Phoenix Books provided the gift and funding for the purpose of this annual MFA in Writing & Publishing scholarship.
The reception is free and open to all. Phoenix Books Rutland is located at 2 Center St., Rutland. For more information, call 802-855-8078 or visit phoenixbooks.biz.
