Pie & Whiskey is the tent revival of literary events where writers such as Anthony Doerr, Steve Almond, and Elissa Washuta present original works based on prompts that include the words pie and whiskey. This anthology collects the best of that writing along with new pieces to bring this spirited gathering to the printed page.
Pie & Whiskey, the book, is a literary collection of readings presented over the past six years in Spokane, WA, and Missoula, MT, at Pie & Whiskey, the event, run by Kate Lebo and Samuel Ligon. Writers like Jess Walter, J Robert Lennon, Kim Barnes, and ML Smoker were invited to generate new work based on prompts that involve pie or whiskey or both. Sam and Kate figured that good writing served with a slice of pie and a shot of whiskey would create an energized atmosphere uncommon at literary events. The contributors, drawn mainly from the west, but not exclusively, responded with surprising, funny, heartbreaking, fantastically written stories and poems. The book will include a smattering of pie recipes and whiskey-centric cocktails. Look here for tasty literary servings.
"This project began as a reading series organized by [Kate] Lebo and [Sam] Ligon, in which they sent 12 writers a pie and whiskey prompt to inspire new work. Six years later, they have created an anthology that’s just as eclectic, drunk and delicious."
—The New York Times
"In vino, veritas; in whiskey, wit; in pie pleasure. With that Latin-inspired preamble, we are called west to an all-American literary event held annually in Spokane and Missoula named Pie & Whiskey. And yes, pie and whiskey are served while seriously talented writers read their new works loosely based on, yes again, pie and whiskey."
—Foreword Reviews
"Wonderful relatable storytelling, executed brilliantly."
—San Francisco Book Review
"This book is small enough to fit in somebody's Christmas stocking, and it also contains a lot of swearing. Of course, those are both selling points for the right person."
—Wired.com
“[Part of] the 2017 author lineup for Wordstock.”
—Artlandia
“the best of the booze- and sugar-fueled essays, poetry and fiction and nonfiction stories.”
—The Inlander
“[Pie & Whiskey] is a breezy, sharp slice of largely Northwest writers like Christopher Howell, Elizabeth J. Colen, and Laura Read—one that examines Americana, domestic bliss (and strife), and debauchery.”
—Seattle Met Magazine
“A ridiculously good time.”
—Missoula Independent
"ever-popular"
—Missoulian
“This book brings writers together with food and booze and lets the words flow as freely as the drink.”
—Seattle Refined
"The anthology features an all-star cast of the best of the Northwest and beyond — Jess Walter, Kim Barnes, Steve Almond — and runs the range of profane to profound, and both. Just my style."
—The Register-Guard
"I have no memory of eating pie and drinking whiskey at the same time. But the idea of pie and then whiskey appeals, or whiskey and then pie and then whiskey again, especially if those pies are made by Lebo, the best pie-maker there is."
—The Stranger
"...'pie and whiskey' falls right into the Goldilocks zone of themes."
—Seattle Review of Books
