Shawn Vestal

{{Short description|American writer}}

Shawn Vestal is an American author based in the state of Washington. He is best known for his collection of short stories, Godforsaken Idaho,{{cite web|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/inside-the-gray-bubble-of-those-days-shawn-vestals-godforsaken-idaho/|title="Inside the Gray Bubble of Those Days": Shawn Vestal's "Godforsaken Idaho" - Los Angeles Review of Books|date=21 August 2013 |publisher=}} which earned him the PEN Robert W. Bingham Prize in 2014. He currently lives in Spokane where he served as a columnist for The Spokesman-Review.{{Cite web |title=Shawn Vestal |url=https://www.investigatewest.org/author/shawn-vestal |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=InvestigateWest |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=kanopi_admin |date=2016-06-28 |title=The PEN Ten with Shawn Vestal |url=https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-with-shawn-vestal/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=PEN America |language=en-US}} He retired from the newspaper in March 2024.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-15 |title=Shawn Vestal: So long, and thanks for reading |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/mar/15/shawn-vestal-so-long-and-thanks-for-reading/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Spokesman.com |language=en}} He and his wife Amy Cabe have a son, Cole Vestal.