2019 LaSalle Storyteller Award Awarded to Johanna Stoberock

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December 2, 2019 – Artist Trust is proud to announce author Johanna Stoberock as the award recipient of the 2019 LaSalle Storyteller Award, an unrestricted grant of $10,000 recognizing a Washington State artist engaged in storytelling through their artistic discipline. The 2019 Award is recognizing an outstanding literary artist working in fiction.

Johanna Stoberock is the author of the novels Pigs (Red Hen Press) and City of Ghosts (W.W. Norton). Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Better: Culture & Lit, The Wilson Quarterly, Copper Nickel, Front Porch, and the 2014 Best of the Net Anthology. A 2016 runner up for the Italo Calvino Prize, 2012 Jack Straw Fellow, and 2013 Artist Trust GAP awardee, Johanna has received residencies from the Corporation of Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Millay Colony. She lives in Walla Walla, Washington, with her husband and two children.

“I am deeply honored to be the recipient of the 2019 Gar LaSalle Storyteller award and am forever grateful for the work that Artist Trust does. I cannot overstate the impact the award will have on my work—both through the time made available through the generosity of the funding and through the encouragement it gives to keep on going. I wouldn’t trade writing fiction for anything, but it’s a lonely process. When you write, it often feels like you are beginning what you hope will be a conversation. It takes a very long time to find out if there’s someone listening. Sometimes it seems impossible that a listener will ever be found. Receiving the LaSalle Storyteller Award feels like someone saying that they’ve heard what I’ve said, that they want to join me in conversation, and that they have faith in the value of what will be said next.”

“I created this award to honor and celebrate our master storytellers, the provocateurs who in their art, help us find color and context, connect our diverse, personal experiences, and in the swirling milieu, give us islands upon which to rest as we try to make sense of it all,” says Gar LaSalle, the funder of the award. Past recipients of the LaSalle Storyteller Award in Fiction are Anca L.Szilágyi (2015), Peter Mountford (2016), E. Lily Yu (2017), and Juan Carlos Reyes (2018).

Now in its fifth year, Gar LaSalle has endowed the LaSalle Storyteller Award with a legacy gift, ensuring this vital support for storytellers continues for generations to come. Artist Trust is honored to be the recipient of this generous donation, one of the most substantial endowment gifts pledged to the organization in its history.

2019 LaSalle Storyteller Award Selection Panelists

Juan Carlos Reyes, writer, King County
Ana Maria Spagna, writer, Chelan County
Nance Van Winckel, writer, Spokane County

 About Gar LaSalle

A physician, sculptor, award-winning filmmaker, and author, Gar LaSalle has been honored widely in both the medical and fine arts communities for his leadership and creativity. He has earned acclaim for his historical fiction novels, including Widow Walk, and its sequels, Isthmus and The Fairness of Beasts. His first feature-length film, Diary of a Moonlighter, the first-ever documentary about the new specialty of Emergency Medicine, was produced in 1976 and aired on the PBS series P.O.V. LaSalle writes from his home in Seattle and sculpts in his studio on Maury Island.

 About Artist Trust

Artist Trust is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support and encourage artists working in all disciplines to enrich community life throughout Washington State. Since its founding in 1986, Artist Trust has invested over $10 million in individual artists through grant programs and provides a comprehensive suite of professional development training and resources to help artists achieve their career goals. Learn more at artisttrust.org.

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