- Heather Sharfeddin
Heather Sharfeddin (born 1966) is a
U.S. novelist . Her novels explore western themes based on her early life inIdaho andMontana . She currently lives inOregon with her husband and teenage son.Life
Sharfeddin was born Heather Mason in remote
Rosebud County, Montana to aforester father and anartist mother. In 1968, the Mason family moved toRiggins, Idaho on the Salmon River and later to nearby Lucile, where they lived in the remodeled Cow Creek pioneer schoolhouse. In those early years Sharfeddin and her two sisters enjoyed the remote Idaho back-country, collecting Indian artifacts and roughing it with local ranch kids. Sharfeddin remembers visiting such legendary places on the Salmon River (also known as "The River of No Return") as the Shepp Ranch and thePolly Bemis home, which were inaccessible by automobile. In 1977 Lynn Mason moved the family toEast Lansing, Michigan where he obtained hismasters degree in forestry. The transition from remote back-country to big city was difficult for Sharfeddin and her sisters, and they were happy to return west toMissoula, Montana in 1979. Sharfeddin attended Hellgate Junior High and Big Sky High School, graduating in 1984. She moved toPortland, Oregon in 1986 where she met her husband, Salem Sharfeddin, and was married in 1991. The family currently raisessheep on aranch inSherwood, Oregon .Works
Sharfeddin's first
novel "Blackbelly", published in 2005 by Bridge Works Publishing, is set in centralIdaho where she grew up. She draws herimagery and characters from those early years and thefolklore of the Salmon River. In 2006 her second novel "Mineral Spirits" was published, also by Bridge Works Publishing, and is set in remoteMineral County, Montana . Sharfeddin has called her work "contemporary western", which she defines as stories about therural west that take place during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. She promotes this genre through talks and seminars.External links
* [http://www.contemporarywestern.com Heather Sharfeddin personal website]
* [http://www.writersontherise.com/newsletternovdec05.html "Writers on the Rise" interview with Heather Sharfeddin]
* [http://www.newsreview.info/article/20050922/ENTERTAIN/50922037/-1/rss01 "Newsreview.info" review of "Blackbelly" with comments from Heather Sharfeddin]
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