Up from Scappoose, Oregon is novelist/musician Willy Vlautin. Occasioning the visit most officially is the release of his third novel, Lean on Pete (HarperPerennial). Early praise has come from Hannah Tinti, Barry Gifford, Sarah Hall, and others. ""Vlautin has created a convincing tragic hero, a dreamer and a survivor. Charley says more than Holden Caulfield ever did. This is a rare book because of its raw truth, its candour. It is a telling odyssey that stabs you in the heartland, makes you consider every casual crime of neglect or cruelty ever committed against a child or animal ... As one boy's journey Lean on Pete is as real as blood; as a novel it is remarkable. Willy Vlautin, romantic and realist, has written something special that will make you shudder, weep, rage and wonder at how such things happen and do, and how some individuals can suffer them, absorb the grief, and somehow survive. How good is contemporary US fiction? This good: catch your breath good." – Eileen Battersby, Irish Times. Willy Vlautin has been to Elliott Bay with his previous novels, Northline and The Motel Life. And to note: the 'musician' aspect of Willy Vlautin is as songwriter and frontman for Richmond Fontane, a group that's made nine studio albums, including its most recent We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River.