Published in the High Desert Advocate February 12th, 2021 Edition.
Salt Lake City author and Westminster College professor Natasha Sajé’s book Terroir: Love, Out of Place has been announced as a finalist for the 2021 PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY, awarded to a seasoned writer whose collection of essays is an expansion on their corpus of work and preserves the distinguished art form of the essay. The winner will receive a $15,000 cash prize. Book provides incisive commentary on nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, and class.(photos credit Trinity University Press-Texas)
Salt Lake City author and Westminster College professor Natasha Sajé’s book Terroir: Love, Out of Place has been announced as a finalist for the 2021 PEN/DIAMONSTEIN- SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY, awarded to a seasoned writer whose collection of essays is an expansion on their corpus of work and preserves the distinguished art form of the essay. “These books reveal to us the world. Read them. Read their stories,” says Jane Merchant, director of the PEN America Awards.
The essays in Terroir combine poetic lyricism with incisive commentary on nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and class. Sajé explores in particular how the immigrant experience has shaped her identity. Sajé’s revisitation of people and literature across her life removes barriers and show us our connected humanity. Natasha Sajé was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States with her Eastern European parents. She is a professor of English at Westminster College in Salt Lake City and is the author of three award-winning poetry collections, most recently Vivarium; the postmodern poetry handbook Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory; and numerous essays, poems, and works of literary criticism.
Eleven categories are chosen by a cohort of judges representing a wide range of disciplines, identities, and aesthetic lineages, the fifty-five Pen American Award Finalists represent a humbling selection of the year’s finest examples of literary excellence. Winners will be announced at the virtual Pen America Literary Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 8, 2021. More information at tupress.org and pen.org.
