Gailmarie Pahmeier, Willy Vlautin

Gailmarie Pahmeier and Willy Vlautin have been named to the 2016 class of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

Pahmeier, considered a “domestic” poet, has earned several honors including a Witter Bynner Poetry Fellowship, the Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame (1999), and two Artist Fellowships from the Nevada Arts Council.

In 2007, Pahmeier received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. She was recently selected as Reno’s first poet laureate.

She teaches creative writing and contemporary literature courses at the University of Nevada, Reno where she has been honored with the Alan Bible Teaching Excellence Award and the University Distinguished Teacher Award.

Vlautin, born and raised in Reno, has published four novels: “The Motel Life” (2007), “Northline” (2008), “Lean on Pete” (2010 -- Winner of the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction) and “The Free” (2014 -- Winner of the Oregon People’s Choice Award). His novel “The Motel Life” was made into a movie in 2012 starring Dakota Fanning and Emile Hirsch. “Lean on Pete” is currently being made into a movie starring Steve Buscemi.

In 2007, Vlautin was awarded the Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. Vlautin also remains close to his music. He founded the band Richmond Fontaine in 1994, and in 2014, he started the band, The Delines.