Portland is full of amazing readers, writers, publishers, and other literary folk. One of our goals at Reading Local Portland is to track down and interview every single one of them…well, okay, not every single one. But we are shooting to publish more interviews with local literati here on RLP.
Sara Guest, who kindly gave us today’s interview, is a poet and novelist who works with Write Around Portland. She is currently one of two William Stafford Writing Fellows (Jeff Coleman is the other), and she will be one of the hosts of this Sunday’s William Stafford Birthday Event at the Writers’ Dojo. Sara has recently taught at PNCA and will lead a Literary Arts Delve seminar in March and April.
Click through to read the interview and an excerpt of Sara’s work.
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Portland based Mercy Corps has recently partnered with Nicholas Kristoff (NYT Columnist and Yamhill native) and Sheryl WuDunn to encourage people to read their new book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Knopf), and take action to fight global hunger. As part of this effort they have launched a contest for book clubs, with the winner receiving a “personal visit and discussion session” with the two authors.
In order to win, the book club must compile the “most impressive record of activism” by June 15, 2010. The “activism” Mercy Corps will be judging includes: money raised, number of donors, events held, advocacy efforts, publicity garnered, and creativity and impact in their activities. Participating book clubs also get exclusive discussion questions from Nick and Sheryl, handmade bookmarks from India, and updates on Half the Sky news and events. Read the full contest rules here.
The contest is part of Mercy Corps’ broader campaign, dubbed One Table, that seeks to raise $3 million over the next year in order to fight global hunger through directly empowering women.
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Next Wednesday (8/12) the Reading Local Book Club will be meeting to discuss G. Xavier Robillard’s debut novel Captain Freedom: A Superhero’s Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves (Harper). I’m currently about 3/4 of the way through the book, and can easily say that it’s one of the funniest I have ever read. I am starting to wonder what part of Western society Robillard doesn’t attack with his special brand of satirical wit. I plan to offer a full review upon completing the book.
One of the great things about having a book group that only reads books from local authors, is that often times the authors are able to make it to our meetings. And this is the case with our upcoming meeting, as Robillard will be joining our group to discuss Captain Freedom. It’s a fantastic way to expand the discussion of the book to not only what we as readers came away thinking, but also to hear what went into the creation of the book as well. I’m especially excited for this meetup after seeing Robillard read at last weeks True Stories.
I invite any and all of you to attend, whether you have read the book or not. Here are the details:
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I have a few announcements regarding the site I would like to share, so here goes:
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Broadway Books invites you to join them next Tuesday (6/16) at 7:00pm for their Second Book Club Mixer.
They will be discussing ways to spruce up your book club, offering ideas for books to read, and inviting questions and feedback from you on books you’ve enjoyed lately. Learn more about the event on their website.
On a side note, it looks like their most recent event was a resounding success.
At the end of last months meetup, the Reading Local Book Group chose Ben Parzybok’s debut novel Couch to read for our March 4th get together. And since one of the added benefits of choosing books from local authors is that they are, well…local, I decided to message Mr. Parzybok through Twitter (@sparkwatson) to see if he would be interested in attending our group discussion about his book. And lucky for us he was gracious enough to agree to be there.
So it’s not too late, Couch is a wonderful read, and you still have plenty of time to pick up a copy and have it read prior to the meeting. Or even if you don’t have a chance to read it, that is fine too, we would still love to have you join us at our meetup, and you get a chance to visit and ask questions with one of our most talented Portland authors.
The group meets at Goose Hollow Inn, March 4th at 7:00pm. Look forward to seeing you there.
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