USU Press author receives 2007 Utah Book award
The Utah State University Press was recognized recently when a book, “The Arc and the Sediment,” that was published through the company, received the 2007 Utah Book award for fiction.
The novel, written by Christine Allen-Yazzie, was awarded by the Utah Center for the Book on the basis of creativity and depth.
Allen-Yazzie did her undergraduate work at the University of Idaho, received her master’s of fine arts from the University of Utah and is now pursuing her doctorate at the University of Utah where she is a teaching fellow. For years she has owned an editing and writing business called Sandstone Editing. Before she started her doctorate work, she said she enjoyed taking community ceramics and photography classes, but now says she is too busy to do so. She is married to David Yazzie, has two daughters and resides in Utah.
She said the inspiration behind her novel was mainly derived from questions and obstacles that emerge from her own life.
“Everything I write begins with questions and obsessions related to my life,” Allen-Yazzie said.
The novel is about one woman’s journey, overcoming alcoholism, self-discovery and putting her family back together, Allen-Yazzie said.
“The story is an exploration of personal identity, but it’s also about cultural interfaces in this region – between the religious and non-religious, between whites and non-whites, between the haves and have-nots, between insiders and outsiders,” she said.
Allen-Yazzie said her book has a deep message relating to a variety of people across a spectrum of cultures and backgrounds. However, she said she feels the book isn’t read by a wide audience.
“I could likely take all ‘Arc’ readers out to lunch and still have money to buy them flowers and chocolate,” she said.
However large her audience may be, she is very conscientious of showing her gratitude. She said she is very grateful for the Utah Book Award among other honors she has received.
This is not the author’s first time being published, however “The Arc and the Sediment” is her first published book and took her 11 years to write, she said.
“I rewrote it several times, and it became a different book each time. I’m hoping I’ve become a more efficient writer for the next one,” she said.
Allen-Yazzie said she was a lonely child and therefore read a lot. She connects this to her desire to write, to tell her story. Her past and the questions it poses in her novel help to bring it to a conclusion and help the reader to critically think about those questions, she said. Life isn’t necessarily what people expect, she said, not always picturesque with the rise and fall of a story that so many expect life to be.
“I don’t think our lives really operate like that. The daily details, distractions, interruptions and relationships that make up our lives often can’t be traced to a beginning, and they don’t always come to a climax or resolution,” she said.
–beck.turner@aggiemail.usu.edu