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MEDIA RELEASE CONTACT: 11 July 2008 Shari Nault [PHONE REDACTED] [EMAIL REDACTED] ZONTA CLUB OF BILLINGS NOMINATES WOMEN WRITERS FOR BOOK AWARD Zonta Club of Billings is participating in the second annual Parmly Billings Library High Plains Book Awards with the presentation of the Zonta Woman's Writer Award to be given at the Book Awards banquet. The ceremony and banquet is scheduled for Friday, October 17, 2008, in Billings and the public is encouraged to attend. Information is available at www.billings.lib.mt.us The Club has identified three finalist books, written by women, from the nominated books for the High Plains Book Awards: Snow Ashes by Alyson Hagy Alternating between the Wyoming ranch and Korea Alyson Hagy reveals the intricacies of a profound friendship between two very different men. Snow, Ashes is a suspenseful, engaging exploration of survival and failure and of how the most vulnerable among us can have a wisdom beyond measure. Her first novel, "Keeneland," was released in 2000. She also has written three collections of short stories: "Graveyard of the Atlantic" (2000); "Hardware River" (1991); and "Madonna on Her Back" (1986). "Search Bay," one of Hagy's stories in "Graveyard of the Atlantic," was selected by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx for inclusion in "Best American Short Stories 1997." Feast of Longing by Sarah Klassen An intimate collection of stories following ordinary, middle-class Canadians as they long for significance, for meaning, and for release from their guilt. Sarah Klassen is the award-winning author of another short story collection, The Peony Season, as well as five books of poetry. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba Montana, Too by Bonnie Buckley Maldonado The rural people of Montana whom you will meet in these colorful poems refused to leave when they lost homesteads and ranches, suffered through the Great Depression, and endured ruthless cycles of drought and cruel winters with resulting loss of land, crops, and livestock. The poems ---PAGE BREAK--- are spoken in the words of grandfathers, courageous men and women, and resourceful children who persevered in the relentless climate of the east side of the Rocky Mountain Front. Bonnie Buckley Maldonado is a second-generation member of a northern Montana ranching family. She currently resides in New Mexico. This is her second book of poetry, and her work appears in Montana Women Writers: A Geography of the Heart. Zonta finalist judges are Danell Jones, Ph.D; Virginia Tranel and Tami Haaland, MFA. The Parmly Billings High Plains Books Awards have been established to recognize regional authors and/or literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Concurrent with the Parmly Billings Library Book Awards is the 6th annual High Plains BookFest sponsored by the YMCA Writer’s Voice and the Billings Cultural Partners. For information on the BookFest contact Corby Skinner [EMAIL REDACTED] Zonta International is a global organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. -the end-