Two Central Oregonians finalists for 2018 Oregon Book Awards — Mike Lankford of Bend and Gary Leiser of Sisters were recently announced as finalists for the 2018 Oregon Book Awards, presented by Literary Arts, a Portland nonprofit. Lankford’s book, “Becoming Leonardo: An Exploded View of the Life of Leonardo Da Vinci,” is a finalist for the Sarah Winnemucca Award for Creative Nonfiction. Leiser’s “Prostitution in the Eastern Mediterranean World: The Economics of Sex in the Late Antique and Medieval Middle East” is a finalist for the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction. Winners will be announced in a ceremony at 7:30 p.m. on April 30 at the Gerding Theater at the Armory in Portland. The event is open to the public, with tickets priced from $12 to $65, plus fees. Contact: literary-arts.org.