They're top Kansas page turners

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jun 22, 2008 by Jan Biles

By Jan Biles

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

LAWRENCE - Sometimes, luck is on our side. We drop a knife and its sharp blade misses our bare foot by a half-inch. A bicyclist darts in front of our car and we swerve just in time to avoid impact.

But what would have come about if that knife had landed differently, or if our reflexes were too slow to turn the car's steering wheel?

The aftermath of an accident sets the scene for Laura Moriarty's second novel, "The Rest of Her Life," one of 15 books selected by the Kansas Center for the Book for its 2008 Kansas Notable Book List.

"I am flattered," Moriarty, 37, of Lawrence, said of her selection.

The list comprised the best fiction, nonfiction and children's books published by Kansas authors or about Kansas in 2007. The authors will be honored this summer at book festivals in the state.

Moriarty, whose father was a Marine and lived in seven states during her childhood, came to Kansas in 1988 to attend The University of Kansas. She considered a career in medicine but decided to hook her graduation gown on social work.

While at KU, she entered a creative writing contest for students. Her interest in writing was encouraged when she received an honorable mention ranking.

"I always had stories in my head," she said, describing how she stayed up all night to write the story she submitted to the contest.

After graduation she took a job as a social worker and continued to write as a hobby. She applied for a one-year creative writing fellowship in New Hampshire for unpublished authors. She was named first runner-up. The recognition was enough to push her to enter graduate school to study creative writing.

In 2000, she applied for the fellowship again and was named the winner. She wrote her first novel, "The Center of Everything," during her fellowship year. The novel, set in Kansas, is a coming- of-age story about a girl growing up in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was president.

Moriarty returned to Kansas in 2003 as a full-time writer. "The Rest of Her Life," also set in Kansas, was published in 2007. The story is told through the eyes of a mother, whose young, idealistic daughter is involved in an accident that changes the lives of her family and the victim's family.

Moriarty, who will teach creative writing and a freshman honors class on historical literary heroines this fall at KU, said she concentrates on character and plot development in her novels. She also must be focused because her writing time is "dictated by external factors," such as taking care of her 4-year-old daughter.

"I write to get paid," she said. "So I'm pretty disciplined." In addition to "The Rest of Her Life," other books on the list are:

n "American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China," by Matthew Polly, who grew up in Topeka and now lives in New York.

n "The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians," by Brad Sneed, an illustrator who grew up in Kansas, attended KU and lives in Prairie Village.

n "Can I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond," by Paul Shirley, who played basketball at Jefferson West High School and lives in Barcelona, Spain.

n "The Curse of Catunkhamun," by Tim Raglin, an author and illustrator who was born and still lives in Independence, Kan.

n "The Farther Shore," by Matthew Eck, who served in the military in Haiti and Somalia, attended Wichita State University and now lives in Kansas City, Mo.

n "From Emporia: The Story of William Allen White," by Beverley O. Buller, who grew up in Winfield and is a teacher and librarian in Newton.

n "Hellfire Canyon," by Max McCoy, of Emporia, a Baxter Springs native who teaches English at Emporia State University.

n "Hunger for the Wild: America's Obsession with the Untamed West," by Michael L. Johnson, a Lawrence resident and English professor at KU.

n "The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972-2007," by Albert Goldbarth, of Wichita, a distinguished professor who teaches in the humanities department at Wichita State University.

n "A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution," by David A. Nichols, of Winfield, an authority on Eisenhower and former academic dean at Southwestern College in Winfield.

n "The Middle of Somewhere," by J.B. Cheaney, who was born in Dallas and lives in Bolivar, Mo. Her book is set in Kansas.

n "Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep," by Michael J. Everhart, of Derby, curator of paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University.

n "Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey," by Jim Reed, who is on the road a lot but is based in Wichita.

n "Writing in an Age of Silence," by Sara Paretsky, who grew up near Lawrence and lives in Chicago.

Jan Biles can be reached at (785) 295-1292 or jan.biles@cjonline.com.