Beth Alvarado, a faculty author in the Oregon State University – Cascades Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program has received the 2020 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction for her book of essays, “Anxious Attachments.”
The award was announced during a special episode of The Archive Project, hosted by Literary Arts and Oregon Public Broadcasting, during which Alvarado reads from her work.
“Anxious Attachments” is Alvarado’s first-person exploration of her life over five decades. Told through 14 essays, the story takes readers on a personal journey into life in the southwestern U.S. Southwest and evokes themes of class, family, grief and gender.
The book was also longlisted for a PEN America Literary Award for the Art of the Essay.
Alvarado is also the author of “Anthropologies: A Family Memoir” and “Not a Matter of Love,” a collection of short stories. Her new story collection, “Jillian in the Borderlands” will be published in October.
In 2020, she won an Oregon Literary Career Fellowship.
Alvarado has taught creative nonfiction in the OSU-Cascades MFA program since 2015. Prior to that, she taught writing at the University of Arizona. She earned an MFA in fiction from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree in English literature from Stanford University.
About OSU-Cascades: Oregon State University’s campus in Bend, Ore. features outstanding faculty in degree programs that reflect Central Oregon’s vibrant economy and abundant natural resources. Nearly 20 undergraduate majors, 35 minors and options, and three graduate programs include computer science, energy systems engineering, kinesiology, hospitality management, and tourism, recreation and adventure leadership. OSU-Cascades expanded to a four-year university in 2015; its new campus opened in 2016.