Leah Sottile is an American journalist, writer, and podcast host who lives in Portland, Oregon.

Education

Sottile graduated from

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the univ ...

in 2003.

Career

Sottile is the author of the book " When the Moon Turns to Blood," about the disappearances of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and the cases of Lori Vallow and

Chad Daybell Tylee Ashlyn Ryan (September 24, 2002 – September 9, 2019) and Joshua Jaxon "J. J." Vallow (May 25, 2012 – September 23, 2019) were two American children from Chandler, Arizona, who disappeared in September 2019, later being found buried ...

. Sottile covered the Malheur occupation court trials for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' and

Outside Magazine ''Outside'' is an American company and magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue of ''Outside'' was published in September 1977. History Outside founders were Jann Wenner (the first editor in chief), William Randolph Hearst III (its first ...

, and regularly talked about the trials as a guest on

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...

programming. She is the host of the podcasts '' Bundyville'' and '' Bundyville: The Remnant'', produced through

Longreads Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The com ...

, and Two Minutes Past Nine produced by BBC Radio 4. She has written for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', ''Outside'', ''

High Country News ''High Country News'' is a monthly independent magazine based in Paonia, Colorado, that covers environmental, social, and political issues in the Western United States. Syndicated stories from ''High Country News'' have appeared in ''The New York T ...

'' and ''

'' on subjects related to the American West. Sottile was also the music editor of

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

's alt-weekly newspaper, ''The Inlander''. She characterizes bands in Spokane as "willing to take a lot more risks," and also says that: "It's super easy to disregard Spokane. It's seen as a cultural void. But there is a really mobilized youth art movement here that's always anchored in the music scene. I've seen shows in boxing rings, art centers, ndall kinds of alternative spaces. People in Spokane are scrappy about making it work. That's the backbone of the scene: making a party where there wasn't one before." Sottile won first place in a

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

2015 competition for the ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history ''Willame ...

'' article "The Newest Portlanders". Sottile has been a professor of journalism at the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

. While on staff with The Inlander, Sottile won the Washington State 2011–2012 Mental Health Reporting Award for "The People Left Behind," which features "an in-depth exploration of a 13-year-old's death by suicide and the broader issues of mental health and suicide-prevention in Spokane and the Inland Empire". She also won third place in a Society of Professional Journalists 2010 competition for "Blood Sport," an article on

backyard wrestling Backyard wrestling (BYW), also referred to as yarding or backyarding, is an underground hobby and sport involving untrained practices of Professional wrestling, professional-style wrestling, typically in a low-budget environment, such as a backy ...

in Spokane. Sottile was also a guest on

KUOW-FM KUOW-FM (94.9 MHz) is a National Public Radio member station in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest of the three full-fledged NPR member stations in the Seattle and Tacoma media market, with two Tacoma-based stations, KNKX and KVTI being the ...

programming, where she talked about an article she wrote for ''Outside'' about a

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

sighting by Bob Gimlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sottile, Leah Living people American women journalists Journalists from Portland, Oregon Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Gonzaga University alumni