Soapstone Literary Announcements (9/6/14)

These announcements of events and opportunities of interest to the writing community have been sent to you by Soapstone. Feel free to send them on to your friends and colleagues or to invite them to join the list by emailing us at retreats@soapstone.org. (We need first and last name, city, and email address.)

For more information about receiving the announcements or sending your own announcement to this list, go to www.soapstone.org/about_us_pages/community_announcements.html

We never lend or sell our mailing list. If you no longer wish to be on this list, send us an email with “remove” in the subject line.

ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE ON AN EVERY OTHER WEEK SCHEDULE.

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The New Soapstone: Celebrating Women Writers 


We are pleased to announce that we are now offering two new opportunities for readers and writers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Small Grants to an Individual Woman or an Ad Hoc Group of Women

These funds are to support readings, memorial gatherings, or other similar events and study groups celebrating a woman writer's work. The application process is simple and the time between applying and notification short. For the first year, Soapstone board members will serve as the grant review committee.

All events and study groups will be open to the public and offered at no charge.

Go to our website for more details: www. Soapstone.org

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Writing Classes:

Kickstart Your Writing Dates: Sept. 24- Dec. 3, 2014. No class Nov. 26. Cost: $200/10 weeks Limited to 5 students

Whether you’re working on a novel or interested in short stories, memoir, essays, articles or other forms of fiction or nonfiction, Kickstart Your Writing offers a supportive environment in which you can work on specific writing projects.

To register: Mail payment to Nancy Woods, P.O. Box 18032, Portland, OR 97218. To pay by credit card call (503) 288-2469. For more information: wordpics@aracnet.com or (503) 288-2469.

(Online) Kickstart Your Writing Dates: Sept. 26- Dec. 5, 2014. No class Nov. 28. Cost: $200/10 weeks Limited to 5 students

This online version of the Kickstart Your Writing class can be taken from the comfort of your home and worked on when your schedule allows. All you need is e-mail (no Skype or chat rooms). Students will set weekly goals, post their writing online at designated times, and receive feedback from the instructor and other students.

Whether you’re working on a novel or interested in short stories, memoir, essays, articles or other forms of fiction or nonfiction, Kickstart Your Writing offers a supportive environment in which you can work on specific writing projects.

To register: Mail payment to Nancy Woods, P.O. Box 18032, Portland, OR 97218. To pay by credit card call (503) 288-2469. For more information: wordpics@aracnet.com or (503) 288-2469.

Journalism for Freelance Writers Dates: Saturdays, Sept. 27-Dec. 6, 2014. No class Nov. 29. Time: 2-4 p.m. Cost: $200/10 weeks Limited to 5 students

Location: Hollywood district of Northeast Portland, Oregon. Exact location provided upon registration.

Learn the skills professional reporters use to write features, human-interest articles and small-business profiles. Become the freelance writer every editor wants to work with. Learn the dos and don'ts of the publishing world. By the end of the class you'll have completed one feature article that is 650-800 words in length. Along the way, you'll learn how to:

--Find article ideas --Carry out research --Prepare for and conduct interviews --Write leads --Organize, draft, revise and polish articles --Handle quotes and attributions --Meet deadlines and word counts --Copyedit and fact check --Write headlines, captions and photo credits --Apply AP and Chicago style --Take photos --Work with editors --Follow journalist ethics and values --Fulfill journalistic responsibilities

To register: Mail payment to Nancy Woods, P.O. Box 18032, Portland, OR 97218. To pay by credit card call (503) 288-2469.For more information: wordpics@aracnet.com or (503) 288-2469

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Last Tuesdays Poetry presents Toni Partington, Lori Loranger and Daedra Pfeiffer with photographer Raymond J. Klein:

September 30, 7pm, Barnes & Noble, Vancouver, WA

They will present work from Visions of Light, a poetry and photography book on which they collaborated.

Our events run from 7pm to 8.30pm at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at 7700 NE Fourth Plain Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98662.

Toni Partington is a Vancouver-based poet, editor, visual artist, and writing coach, author of the collections Jesus Is A Gas and Wind Wing, and co-founder of the small press Printed Matter Vancouver.

Lori Loranger, a native Washingtonian and 30-year Skamania County resident, practices mediation, meditation, tai chi, permaculture and foraging, as well as being a writer. She will read not only her own poems from the book but also those by her daughter, Zoe Loranger, who has been attending open mics since age 7 and has volunteered at KBOO radio.

Daedra Pfeiffer, born in Portland, is a longtime student of theater arts, psychology and healing through creativity, and has been active in an online survivors poetry group.

As they read their poems at the event, Raymond J. Klein will display his images that accompany them in the book. A retired commercial photographer whose professional career behind the lens started in 1956, he has long been interested in trick lighting effects, and has exhibited his creative photography in several local galleries.

The book will be available at the store on the night. For the first few people who buy it there, Klein will provide a complimentary original print of one of the images – Moods of a Saxophone – together with an endorsement by jazz master Lou Donaldson, whose 1966 album At His Best featured the image on its cover.

As usual, there will be open mic slots that can be claimed on the night. If you want to do one, please rehearse a 2-3 minute presentation.

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A long-standing Portland critique group, The Guttery (www.theguttery.com), seeks one or two new voices. We're a good mix of committed writers working on fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and spoken word. Several works critiqued by the group have gone on to successful and prestigious publication. We meet each Wednesday for in-depth review of two members' submissions. Reviewers prepare written notes in advance. Those unable to attend a meeting submit their feedback in writing.

Please contact tracy.manaster@gmail.com with any questions about the group or our (fairly informal but, we've found, very necessary) application process.

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Lindsay Hill will read from his book Sea of Hooks at the Pine Grove Community House at 7pm on Saturday, September 20, 2014.

Part of the Manzanita Writers’ Series, the event is being moved to the Pine Grove Community House in Manzanita because the Hoffman Center is being renovated.

Sea of Hooks was named best book of 2013 by the Oregonian, and in the top ten books of 2013 by New York Magazine. Gabe Habash, for Publishers Weekly, declared it the most underrated book of 2013. “It’s one of the best books I’ve read in years,” he writes. “That’s it, I’m out of superlatives. Read Sea of Hooks.” The magazine named it one of the top five books of 2013.

Lindsay Hill was born in San Francisco and graduated from Bard College. Since 1974, he has published six books of poetry and his work has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals. Sea of Hooks, his first novel, was published by McPherson & Company in November of 2013. Hill’s other writing and editorial projects include the production of a series of recordings of innovative writing under the Spoken Engine label, and the co-editing, with Paul Naylor, of the literary journal Facture. Since leaving a career in banking, he has worked in the nonprofit sector. Lindsay Hill lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, the painter Nita Hill.

Following Hill’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work.

Admission for the evening is $5.

The Writers’ Series Reading Group will meet the Thursday prior to Hill’s reading, September 18th, 6:30 pm at the Manzanita Library. Everyone is invited to bring a friend to both events.

Further information is available at hoffmanblog.org.

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In honor of the grand reopening of the newly expanded Mother Foucault's Bookshop

a passel of Portland poets will read (from 6:00 - 8:00 pm): Rodney Koeneke Chris Piuma James Yeary Allison Cobb Jen Coleman Sam Lohmann Maryrose Larkin Lisa Radon David Abel Chris Ashby

and, from 4:00 to 6:00, and from 8:00 to whenever, a host of other poets and musical acts will appear,

including

1776, Ghost Alien, Tom Blood, Mic Crenshaw, Walt Curtis Davis Lee Hooker, Richard Meltzer, New Bad Things Young Tom Pancake, Larry Yes, Carl Adamshick

and special guests

Saturday, September 6 4:00 pm to ??

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 521 SE Morrison Street

please be advised that the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices at Mother Foucault's Bookshop is prohibited

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BROADWAY BOOKS

Monday, September 29 at 7 pm.

Ann Hedreen will be here to present her new memoir, Her Beautiful Brain, published by She Writes Press.

This is the story of Ann’s mother Arlene, who was a twice-divorced, once-widowed copper miner’s daughter who raised six children singlehandedly and went back to college at forty so she could support her family. In her late fifties, she started showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease and in the two decades that followed, her children were forced to stand helplessly by as their mother’s once-beautiful brain was slowly choked by plaques and tangles.

Ann Hedreen is a writer, teacher, filmmaker and voice of the radio podcast and blog “The Restless Nest”. With her husband, she has made more than 100 films, including five full-length documentaries. She lives in Seattle.

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The Oregon Poetry Association, in association with the Friends of William Stafford, announce:

Fall 2014 Poetry Conference: “Stafford (and More) by the Sea” Bandon, Oregon, October 3rd – 5th

The venue for this event is the Bandon Community Center, fondly known as “the Barn.” It is located in the Bandon City Park, 1200 11th Street SW, Bandon OR.

Events include open mics Friday October 3rd and Saturday October 4th in the evening; an exciting two-track lineup of workshops, panels, and other presentations; and OPA’s fall contest awards. For a preview of schedules and presenters, please visit http://oregonpoets.org/opa-fall-2014-conference-schedule-registration/

Sample workshop titles include: Drafting with Stafford Intuitive Poetry Writing The Sound of Water Wading into the Swamp

Registration is $55.00, OPA members early registration (postmark deadline September 27th); $65.00 non-members or after September 27th.

Bandon offers a range of accommodations, plenty of places to eat, and the matchless beauty of Oregon’s South Coast. Join us to celebrate Oregon’s poetic heritage!

Inquiries to: Tiel Aisha Ansari OPA President http://oregonpoets.org/contacts/opa-president/

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Blue Skirt Productions presents:

Addictions

featuring Jim Ruland

Saturday, September 20 7:30 - 9:30 pm

Glyph Cafe & Arts Space 804 NW Couch St – corner of NW Park

Blue Skirt Productions presents author Jim Ruland headlining a night of words and music. This multidisciplinary event based on Ruland’s book Forest of Fortune will feature a host of local authors, poets, and musicians, including Trevor Dodge and Gayle Towell.

Contact: Anna Daedalus (503) 267-5835

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Shotpouch work party and free writing workshop with Jeff Fearnside, Saturday, September 20

With the autumn equinox approaching, we're planning to celebrate the change of season with a work party and free writing workshop at Shotpouch Cabin. Everyone is invited to join us for “Working and Writing the Woods,” Saturday, September 20, 10 am to 5 pm, with our special guest instructor, Jeff Fearnside. From 10 am to 1 pm we will work together on tree planting, trail maintenance, riparian habitat restoration, and other soul-satisfying tasks. After lunch, from 2 - 5 pm, we’ll turn to a free writing workshop, exploring ways to write about nature, work, and community. All are welcome, whatever your level of writing experience.

Jeff Fearnside's writing has won several national awards, including a Grand Prize in the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards Program and the Mary Mackey Short Story Prize, and has appeared in dozens of journals and anthologies, most recently Clackamas Literary Review, Potomac Review, The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing), and Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet (Press 53). He lives in Corvallis and teaches at Oregon State University.

We have room for 20 participants. Please reply to this email to reserve a place. We'll send you more information, including directions to the cabin, when we get closer.

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Nye Beach Writers Series Presents...

An Evening with: Suzanne Burns, author of Siblings and The Paris Poems

September 20, 2014 - 7pm at the Newport Visual Arts Center $6 admission, students free

Suzanne Burns is the author of The Paris Poems, of which a reviewer wrote: "Each poem is a story unto itself, and the collection is the poetic equivalent of a novel that should be read multiple times and shared." Her work includes Freaks and Fairy Tales, Blight and The Flesh Procession and a short story collection, Misfits and Other Heroes. Her poetry has appeared in national journals including Pif Magazine, Poetry Motel, The Lucid Stone, CQ, The Manzanita Quarterly, and in Britain in Still Magazine and Poems in the Waiting Room. After focusing on poetry for several years, she now working on fiction. Suzanne lives and works in Bend.

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100 Thousand Poets for Change William Stafford Centenary Reading Featuring George Thomas and local authors from the anthology World of Change: Eileen Elliott, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington

Plus open mic

7pm Saturday, September 27, 2014 Angst Gallery 1015 Main Street Vancouver, WA 98660

100 Thousand Poets for Change is the global movement founded by poets Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion of Guerneville, CA. World of Change, edited by David Madgalene and published by New Way Media, is a 100TPC-inspired anthology that includes poets from around the world as well as local authors Eileen Elliott, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington. William Stafford’s writing will also be honored by Vancouver poet George Thomas. Community members who would like to read one of William Stafford’s poems, or a poem of their own concerning progressive social change, are invited to participate in an open mic.

Eileen Davis Elliott writes her poetry and prose in Vancouver, WA. She is the author of two books of poetry: Prodigal Cowgirl and Miles of Pies. Her work reflects long-held interests in multicultural themes about conflict and tolerance, appreciation and bewilderment. Humankind continues to fascinate and challenge her attempts to represent situations and solutions in written and visual forms. She thinks she asks more questions than she can ever answer.

Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna is the co-founder, with Toni Partington, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press that serves Northwest writers. Together Luna and Partington edited Ghost Town Poetry volumes one and two, featuring poems from the popular open mic poetry reading series that Luna established in 2004. Luna’s books include Brutal Glints of Moonlight, GHOST TOWN, USA and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978. Recent publications include Bombay Gin, Unshod Quills, It’s Animal But Merciful, gape-seed, Take Out, Chiron Review, and Soundings Review.

Toni Partington lives and works as a poet, editor, visual artist, and writing coach in Vancouver, Washington. She is the author of two books of poetry: Jesus Is A Gas and Wind Wing. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals including The Cascade Journal, VoiceCatcher (editions 3 and 4), and Perceptions. She was Co-Editor for the 2011/2012 VoiceCatcher anthology of Pacific Northwest women writers. Toni is co founder and editor of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing and small press imprint.

George Thomas earned an MFA at Eastern Washington University. He has founded and edited two magazines and a microzine. One of those is Eastern's Willow Springs. His books include Tenderfoot and Gray House by Cold Mountain. His work has appeared in publications in England and the U.S., most recently in Ghost Town Poetry Volume Two.

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Pure Surface presents

Grace Hwang (dance) / Stacey Tran (text) / Lena Munday (film)

Sunday, September 7 Doors at 6:00 pm, performance promptly at 7:00

Valentine’s 232 SW Ankeny Street

Free, open to the public, 21+

Pure Surface is a new performance series in which dance/text/film are presented together in the spirit of (improvised) collaboration. No introductions, no waiting, no intermissions. Each event lasts under an hour.

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The Milwaukie Poetry Series: A reading by Paulann Petersen

7 PM, Wednesday, September 10, 2014 
Pond House, 2215 SE Harrison Adjacent to the Ledding Library

Paulann is the Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita and was our first reader in November, 2007. She is a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University whose poems have appeared in many publications including Poetry, The New Republic, Prairie Schooner, and Wilderness Magazine.

Her first full-length collection of poems, The Wild Awake, was published by Confluence Press in 2002. A second, Blood-Silk, poems about Turkey, was published by Quiet Lion Press of Portland in 2004. A Bride of Narrow Escape was published by Cloudbank Books as part of its Northwest Poetry Series in 2006. Kindle was published by Mountains and Rivers Press in 2008. The Voluptuary was published by Lost Horse Press in 2010. Her latest book, Understory, is also from Lost Horse Press, 2013.

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Penelope Scambly Schott has a new book out: How I Became an Historian. She’ll be reading at the following venues in September:

Tuesday September 16 at 7 pm Milepost 5 900 NE 81st Ave, Portland, OR 97213

Monday September 29 from 5 to 7 pm Glyph Café 804 NW Couch Street, Portland, OR 97209

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Peter Sears, Oregon's seventh poet laureate, will be reading and giving a workshop on Sunday, September 7, 2014 in Cave Junction at The Chateau of the Oregon Caves near the site of the Oregon Caves National Monument. The workshop on September 7 is from 2-4 pm, and the reading begins at 7 pm in the lobby of the Chateau. Free and open to the public. For more information on the Oregon Caves National Monument reading and workshop, see https://www.facebook.com/OregonCavesChateau.

From September 11-14th, Peter Sears will be in the Ashland area, where he will give a reading and workshop on "Ways of Revising," sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library. The workshop will be held Saturday, September 13, from 9:30-11:00 am in the Library and the reading will be held on Friday, September 12, 7:30 - 9 pm, at the Ashland Public Library. For more information on workshop preregistration, contact the Ashland Library at 541-774-6996 or visit www.jcls.org., see http://www.ashlandfriends.org/ . The Friday September 12 evening reading is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, September 20 from 2-4 pm, Peter will be holding a poetry workshop at the Lincoln City Driftwood Public Library and will be giving a public reading starting 3 pm Sunday, September 21 in the Distad Reading Room of the Library. For more information on the Oregon coast/Lincoln City workshop and reading, see http://www.driftwoodlib.org/press/aug14/PeterSearsPR2014.pdf

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SAVE THE DATE –Oct. 24--for Oregon's most unique live literary event, THE MAGIC BARREL: A READING TO FIGHT HUNGER. The 21st annual Magic Barrel rolls again on Friday, October 24th at the historic Whiteside Theater in downtown Corvallis at 6:30 p.m., with ALL proceeds given to hunger relief. For a $9 donation at the door, enjoy music, food, drinks, and sizzling literature served up live! This year's lineup includes:

JOHN DANIEL, emee and Oregon Book Award-winning author of many books

AMANDA COPLIN, author of the New York Times bestselling novel, "The Orchardist"

PETER SEARS, current Oregon Poet Laureate

JON RAYMOND, novelist and screenwriter of "Night Moves" and "Meeks Cutoff"

LAWSON FUSAO INADA, former Oregon Poet Laureate

ABBY PHILIPS METZGER, author of "Meander Scars"

BARBARA DRAKE, poet and author of "Driving One Hundred" and "What We Say to Strangers"

NICK DYBECK, author of the novel, "When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man"

DIONISIA MORALES, nonfiction writer

INARA VERZEMNIEKS, award-winning journalist and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

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BROADWAY BOOKS

Wednesday, October 1 at 7 pm.

We are hosting a launch party for Karen Karbo, who will be here to read from her newly reissued novel, The Diamond Lane. This book is published by Hawthorne Books as the newest volume in their Rediscovery Series, which reissues worthy out-of-print gems.

The Diamond Lane is a comic novel about two sisters, their boyfriends, engagements, and trying to break into Hollywood as filmmakers. The New York Times Book Review said, “This kind of novel is a devil to pull off…and Ms. Karbo has done her job brilliantly.” The New York Times wrote, “A wonderfully comic novel about savvy Hollywood outsiders trying to get in…not only is the plot ingenious, but the writing remains deft all the way through.” This new edition features an introduction by Jane Smiley

Karen Karbo is the author of novels, memoirs and books on the lives of famous women and what we can learn from them. Her books have been named New York Times Notable Books and her memoir The Stuff of Life won the Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction. She is most well known for her bestselling Kick Ass Women Series: Julia Child Rules, How Georgia Became O’Keeffe, How to Hepburn, and The Gospel According to Coco Chanel. She grew up in California and lives in Portland, where she continues to kick ass.

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