Peter Bacho Reading
Join Seattle author Peter Bacho for a virtual reading.
About Peter Bacho
Peter Bacho is the author of seven books: Cebu, Dark Blue Suit, Boxing in Black and White, Nelson’s Run, Entrys, Leaving Yesler, and Uncle Rico’s Encore. His books have received several awards, including the 1992 American Book Award. He is an adjunct professor at The Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus. Bacho was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Seattle’s Central District
Education and Past Work Experience
Bacho graduated summa cum laude from Seattle University in 1971. He earned two law degrees from the University of Washington in 1974 and 1981, respectively. He was later a staff attorney for the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. During this time, he was also an editorial contributor to the Christian Science Monitor, where he specialized on Philippine politics and covered issues ranging from politics to war. He has written for major foreign policy journals including SAIS and the Journal of International Affairs (Columbia).
Awards and Achievements
In addition to the American Book Award (Cebu), his short story “The Wedding” received a “distinguished” cite, Best American Short Stories of 1993. His second book, Dark Blue Suit, won the Murray Morgan Prize and a Washington State Governor’s Writers Award, in 1998. His nonfiction work, Boxing in Black and White, was listed in the top 100 books of 1999 by the Center for Children’s Books (University of Illinois). Seattle University named Bacho the Distinguished Northwest Writer in Residence for 2005. In 2006, the University of Washington listed Cebu as one of the top 100 books written by a UW writer over the past century (1906-2006). In 2008, the Northwest Asian Weekly honored him as a literary “pioneer.” His YA novel Leaving Yesler was shortlisted in 2011 by Seattle Picks, Seattle Public Library.
His first script A Christmas for Dancer was a finalist in the Beverly Hills Film Festival (2010) and the PNWA Screenwriting Contest (2011). His second script The Academy was a Beverly Hills finalist (2011), as well as a finalist in the 79th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. His third script CEBU was also a finalist at Beverly Hills in 2014
Further Background
As a child Bacho lived with his immigrant parents in migrant worker camps, traveling from harvest to harvest. Much of his youth was spent in Seattle’s blue collar and multiethnic Central District, a place of hard lives and tough times. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school, then college and finally law school. These experiences continue to inform his writing.
