Liz Prato BA ’89

10/14/2016

Liz Prato BA ’89, a Portland-based author, editor, and teacher, presented a workshop and reading from her short story collection Baby’s on Fire (Press 53, 2015) at the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon, last fall. Prato is the editor at large for Forest Avenue Press.

Posted 02/02/2023

Liz Prato BA ’89 offers this collection of essays that delves into her upbringing as a member of Gen X in Denver. Her essays deal with the myriad topics affecting her generation–many of which are similar to those affecting today’s youth, although  others are different. Her writing examines the roles of racism, rape culture, and mental illness in a time that predates the marginal progress we’ve made on these issues today. Santa Fe Writer’s Project, 2022, 210 pages.

Posted 01/25/2019

Liz Prato BA ’89 combines lyricism, research, and humor to explore her role as a white tourist in a seemingly paradisiacal land that has been largely formed and destroyed by white outsiders. Hawai‘ian history, pop culture, and contemporary affairs are masterfully woven into her personal narrative of loss and survival in linked essays, offering unique insight into how the touristic ideal of Hawai‘i came to be and what it is at its core. International best-selling author Cheryl Strayed (married to Brian Lindstrom BS ’84, L&C’s 2017 Distinguished Alumnus), calls it “Searching, wise, intimate, and illuminating.” She adds, “Liz Prato’s Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege is a complicated love letter to a place and powerful reckoning of a life. I was moved by this beautiful book and enlightened, riveted, and astonished.” Overcup Press, 2019. 224 pages.