(Photo of Rebecca Lawton by Melinda Kelley courtesy of beccalawton.com)

The Waterston Desert Writing Prize and the High Desert Museum invite you to the inaugural award reception and ceremony June 25 celebrating Author Rebecca Lawton, winner of the 2015 Waterston Desert Writing Prize.

Lawton will read an excerpt of her proposed book project, The Oasis This Time. Selected for its quality and meaningful contribution to the body of desert literature, her book will focus on California palm oases and their role as barometers of the effects of falling groundwater levels in communities around the American West.

Lawton of Sonoma, California will receive a $1,000 cash award and a four-week fellowship at PLAYA in Summer Lake, Oregon.
Underscoring the quality of submissions, three applicants were named finalists: Nathaniel Brodie, Oregon, Entangled in the Land; Maya Kapoor, Arizona, The Familiar and Wild and Caroline Treadway, Colorado, Step On This: Desert Ants.

The Waterston Desert Writing Prize was established to honor creative and literary nonfiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy, as well as to position the desert not only as setting, but also as subject. Inspired by author and poet Ellen Waterston’s love of the high desert of Central Oregon, a region that has been her muse for more than 30 years, the Waterston Desert Writing Prize recognizes the vital role deserts play worldwide in the ecosystem and the human narrative.

Thursday, June 25
Schnitzer Hall
High Desert Museum
Hosted wine bar and hors d’oeuvres 6- 6:30pm
Awards ceremony and readings 6:30-7:30pm
Free and open to the public
www.highdesertmuseum.org/rsvp
Ann Arbow at 541-382-4754 ext. 241