Circle of Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Western Women Writers

by Kim Barnes (Editor), Mary Clearman Blew (Editor)

A collection of stories, poems, and essays includes works by Tess Gallagher, Marilynne Robinson, Pam Houston, and Terry Tempest Williams

Genres: Fiction, Westerns, Anthologies, Feminism

Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

I was born in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1958, and one week later, I returned with my mother to our small line-shack on Orofino Creek, where my father worked as a gyppo logger. The majority of my childhood was spent with my younger brother, Greg, in the isolated settlements and cedar camps along the North Fork of Idaho’s Clearwater River. I was the first member of my family to attend college. I hold a BA in English from Lewis-Clark State College, an MA in English from Washington State University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana. In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country, my first memoir, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, received a PEN/Jerard Fund Award, and was awarded a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. My second memoir, Hungry for the World, was a Borders Books New Voices Selection. I am the author of three novels: Finding Caruso; A Country Called Home, winner of the 2009 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Fiction and named a Best Book of 2008 by The Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and The Oregonian (Northwest); and In the Kingdom of Men, a story set in 1960s Saudi Arabia, listed among the Best Books of 2012 by San Francisco Chronicle and The Seattle Times.

I have co-edited two anthologies: Circle of Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Western Women Writers (with Mary Clearman Blew), and Kiss Tomorrow Hello: Notes from the Midlife Underground by Twenty-Five Women Over Forty (with Claire Davis). My essays, poems, and stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including The New York Times, WSJ online, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Magazine, MORE Magazine, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. I am a former Idaho-Writer-in-Residence and teach in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Idaho. I have three grown children, one dog, one cat, and live with my singular husband, the poet Robert Wrigley, on Moscow Mountain.

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! 3 1/2 months, 386 pages of story and poems, all by women of the West. I've mostly read this during my quiet morning hot tub soaks, the most recent days with a solar-powered camping lantern to light the pages.
I have dog-eared 12 spots in the collection, poems and stories alike, and could have marked so many more.
These have been intense and thought-provoking, these stories of sisters, aunties, and grandmothers of mine. There are a couples stories that I want to share with some particular people and some poems I will have to revisit.
These are MOSTLY stories grounded in the northwest US and I have wondered about the stories of the nomads, the wanderers. Some are those stories, though I also realize that, at 18 years in Coeur d'Alene, I am more grounded here than I probably think.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the variety of writing in this book. I was quite surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. I do not normally read anthologies, as they often sit on my bookshelf. This became the perfect book to put in my bag and look forward to reading anytime a quiet moment presented itself. After reading this, I decided to read another book of short stories of the west by reading the book Close Range.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful selection of works by some of my favorite authors including Tess Gallagher, Annick Smith, Pam Houston, Gretel Ehrlich, and of course, Terry Tempest Williams.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly good stories, if a bit sad, but then that is the way life is. Writing is very good in all except one story near the end.