Blue Mountain Community College English instructor Shaindel Beers was recently notified she is a finalist for a 2020 Oregon Book Award for her 2018 book of poetry, Secure Your Own Mask.
The book, which has won several accolades since its publication, is up against four others for the Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry. The winner will be announced April 27 at the 33rd annual Oregon Book Awards Ceremony in Portland.
The Oregon Book Awards honor the state’s finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in the genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction (creative and general), and literature for young readers. Finalists for Oregon Book Awards were selected by a panel of out-of-state writers in the seven genre categories.
Beers’ Secure Your Own Mask, published in 2018 by White Pine Press, was honored with the Woodrow Hall Top Shelf Award from Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf in October 2019, and the White Pine Poetry Prize for 2017, prior to the book’s release.
“Being a finalist for the Oregon Book Award is a dream come true,” Beers said. “It’s an honor to be listed alongside so many fine authors. I’ve published three books since I started working at BMCC, and I’m grateful for all of the support I’ve received.”
Secure Your Own Mask is Beers’ third published book, following A Brief History of Time (2009) and The Children’s War and Other Poems (2013), both from Salt Publishing. She also serves as poetry editor of Contrary Magazine. Her books are available for purchase through Amazon, the BMCC Bookstore or through Beers’ website, www.shaindelbeers.com. It is also available at many public libraries. Beers has been an English and writing instructor at BMCC for more than 13 years.
