The Best Local Writers

For Boise’s size, we have an impressive community of writers. That’s partially thanks to Boise State’s MFA in creative writing program, which is ranked in the top five in the country. It’s also thanks to the work of hundreds of artists who make our creative community thrive.

Earlier this week, I asked y’all who your favorite Boise writers are. We got submissions from across mediums, so today we’re focusing on novelists.

Predictably, several people shouted out Anthony Doerr, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a proud Boisean and library lover, and most recently the author of “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”

Multiple people also love Alan Heathcock, whose novel “40” came out this August.

Jan said that she was blown away recently by “Love and Fury,” the second novel by Samantha Silva, who lives in Boise. “Love and Fury” tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft giving birth to her daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and her subsequent death.

Wollstonecraft was an 18th-century feminist and philosopher, and Shelley wrote “Frankenstein.”“That sounds like it might be a depressing read, but it's far from that — it's lyrical, life-affirming, and illuminating,” Jan said. “This is a book that local book clubs should be snapping up!”

Cher recommended the works of Nicole Sharp, and particularly “Big Trouble in Little Italy,” Sharp’s debut romantic comedy infused with Italian vistas — I’m sold.