When the Washoe County Library surveyed patrons to see what programming, they wanted more of, the reply was “author events,” according to South Valleys Library librarian Jennifer Cole. In response, Cole and her colleagues have organized the first Local Author Fest at the Downtown Reno Library, on Saturday, Nov. 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The event will showcase more than 30 local nonfiction and fiction writers reading books for adults, children and young adults. An author will read every 20 minutes at three locations in the library. Authors include Terri Farley, an author of children’s fantasy books about wild horses; Zoe Bray, an artist born in the Basque country whose children’s book is in both English and Basque; and Debra Hendrickson, a pediatrician who published a book this year on how climate change impacts children’s health.
Willy Vlautin, the headliner, is a Reno native and a best-selling, award-winning author whose books are often set in Northern Nevada. Whether you haven’t yet read any of Vlautin’s books, or you’re a long-time fan, you’ll want to hear what he said in a recent phone interview about his characters, their brokenness and how, for many of us, just getting up and facing each new day is a triumph.
Vlautin has written seven novels. His most recent, The Horse, takes place throughout Northern Nevada. It tells the story of songwriter Al Ward, who played in casino bands before retreating to a mining claim north of Tonopah. Al has known trauma and loss, is all alone, and yearns for connection and community. I asked Vlautin if someone could spend so much time isolated and still be a part of a community.
“That’s the crux of a lot of my characters—they long for community, but they’re oftentimes too broken to accept it or be a part of it,” he said. “So many people are a little dented or a little beat up and struggle to find comfort in community, although they long for community. They may dream of love, but they can’t quite get there, because they’ve got too many scars. It’s sadly probably a pretty common feeling for most people now. It’s a vicious cycle, because the more you protect and isolate yourself, the harder it is to connect, and then you need the connection to bring you out of it.
“In The Horse, I was interested in that idea of a guy saying, ‘I’ve failed at so many things in life, and my skin’s too thin to live in this world. So, I’m going to just isolate myself.’ But you’re never free that way, because then you’re stuck with yourself, and in Al’s case, he can’t stop thinking about things he doesn’t want to think about; his mind just goes in a free fall.”
Al and Vlautin’s other characters are plagued by alcoholism and regret. Despite their rough lives and questionable choices, Vlautin treats them with dignity. But to him, the dignity of these characters was never a question.
“With a guy like Al, a guy born a little bit broken (who) leaned on music his whole life as an answer to that, the dignity in him is he never (gives up),” he said. “If there’s a link between all my characters, it’d be that none of them ever give up, and none of them have ever fallen into complete bitterness. There’s dignity in getting up every day and trying.”
Vlautin’s characters are people he always thought should be heroes in stories. He said that from an early age, he wanted ordinary people to be heroes.
“I’d get crushes on the checkout lady at Raley’s, and I’d say, ‘Man, why can’t she be a hero?’” he said. “My old boss was this old, grizzled janitor, and I was like, ‘Man, that guy deserves to be a hero in a book!’ I knew I wanted to write about working-class people.”
Vlautin no longer lives in Nevada, but his novels often take place here, both because he’s always been sentimental about Reno and the people who live here, and because it allows him to spend more time in Nevada in his thoughts.
“There’s a certain side of Reno that I grew up with, so many men living in motels around downtown Reno,” he said. “I always thought I would end up living in those. I was interested in the darker, boozy side of Reno, the late-night, old-man bar vibe of Reno nightlife I loved.”
As for the rest of the state, “Nevada itself is just the most beautiful,” Vlautin said. “Driving around Northern Nevada is just heaven. I write about things that I love, because if you’re going to sit in a room by yourself for a few years, I want to write about places I love.”
In The Horse, Vlautin, who is also a musician and songwriter, captures an era in Nevada that has ended, the heroes who lived it, and the victory found in showing up and reaching out.
The Local Author Fest takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Downtown Reno Library, 301 S. Center St. Willy Vlautin’s reading is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The event is free, but registration to hear Vlautin is required. To register, visit washoecountylibrary.us/events/authorfest.php.
Some of the quotes in this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.