USU grand honored by Barnes and Noble
USU graduate Brandon Schrand’s new book “The Enders Hotel,” a personal memoir, is getting attention across the country, winning the River Teeth Prize for nonfiction and the Barnes & Noble Great New Writers Award selection for summer 2008.
Schrand said there were no real feelings of excitement or hope of winning the award. He said he didn’t believe a book about a hotel in Idaho could ever win such a prestigious award.
“I didn’t think I had a shot in hell to get it,” he said.
But when the phone call came, he said he was stunned his book had won. Margie Rine, his publisher and marketing director of the University of Nebraska Press, told him he had won the Barnes & Noble New Writers award. He said the whole experience of her calling him was really moving, as Rine, almost in tears, told him over the phone the good news about his book. She told him to go buy some champagne and celebrate with his wife.
“And that’s exactly what we did,” he said.
His book will be coming out around this May, and Barnes & Noble will be extensively advertising the book during the upcoming summer, he said.
“The Enders Hotel” is based on a hotel Schrand’s family owned, which is now a museum in Soda Springs, Idaho. The hotel, built in 1917, is the oldest building in Soda Springs, and Schrand said it is a very auspicious and ornate hotel of its time. He said the hotel remains dear to him, as he spent most of his life, 20 years, living in the hotel. The hotel was very much a family operation, he said, with his grandparents renting rooms out for only $19 per night.
Schrand said the book is not only about his life, but also the people who stayed in the hotel.
“What was so compelling about the hotel were the people. Some were very destitute, and much of the book was written about them,” Schrand said.
Schrand earned a master’s degree in American studies at USU and went on later to earn a master’s of fine art at the University of Idaho. Currently, Schrand said he runs the creative writing program at the same university.
He also remains a candidate for the National Barnes & Noble Discover overall award. Two writers in the United States will be selected for best book and also awarded $10,000 later on this year.
Schrand said he remains very dedicated to his writing, waking up around 5 a.m. to write and going to bed around 10 p.m.
“I have to have lots of coffee and lots of quiet,” he said.
He said he writes early in the morning so he can play with his 7-year-old son Mason and 2-year-old daughter Madeline later in the day. Schrand said he is hard at work writing another memoir about fatherhood and the absence of fathers in his life.
He said his advice to fellow USU writers is to “just read, read, read, and read. Spread the romantic notions of the writing profession. Read the literary journals, and never think your work is too good to submit for the smaller journals.”
Schrand will be doing a reading of his writings this fall on Oct. 8 at USU.
-james.buie@aggiemail.usu.edu