Contributors

Below you will find brief bios for Reading Local’s wonderfully talented contributors. If you would like to become a Reading Local contributor please contact us, as we’re always looking to add fresh voices to the mix.

Ali- A resident of northeast Portland since 1992, Ali writes the literary blog Worducopia. She founded the “Diversity Rocks” reading challenge in January, 2009, to encourage readers of all ages to read authors from diverse backgrounds, and is also writing a young adult novel. When she’s not reading or writing (and sometimes when she is), she’s homeschooling her two boys, singing with her choir, or heading out into the beautiful Pacific Northwest for a hike or a camping trip. Her husband Chris works at the library and after that one day with the eighty-dollar fine, he renews all of Ali’s books for her on a regular schedule.

Gilion- Gilion Dumas is a “compulsive list reader” with 928 books currently on her groaning TBR shelves. Her book reviews and reading lists can be found on her Rose City Reader blog. When she doesn’t have her nose in a book, Gilion is an attorney practicing at O’Donnell Clark & Crew in Portland, Oregon, where she represents the victims of childhood sexual abuse in cases against individuals and institutions that allowed the abuse. She grew up locally and currently lives in NE Portland with her husband and an insane cat.

Photo Credit: Nancy Hill

Teresa- Teresa Bergen has a BA in journalism and an MFA in fiction writing. Her articles and stories have been published in many periodicals, including River City, Ms. and the South China Morning Post. She recently had two stories included in the anthology The Folklore Muse (Utah State University Press). In 2000, she won a state of Louisiana individual artist fellowship. Teresa works in the oral history field: transcribing, indexing, editing, researching and digitizing interviews. She regularly reviews books for the Oral History Review.

Cara- After a cancer diagnosis three years ago, Cara Holman joined The Women with Cancer Writing Group at OHSU, informally dubbed The Healing Pen. Since then she has had over three dozen personal essays, creative nonfiction stories and short form poetry published both online and in print anthologies. She also belongs to the Cedar Mill based Writers’ Mill critique group. She blogs about books and writing at her blog Prose Posies, and has a special interest in literature with a Northwest connection, and keeping out-of-print books alive. Besides writing, she enjoys gardening, Tai Chi, yoga, working New York Times crossword puzzles, volunteering for the Beaverton School District, Komen for the Cure, and Wordstock, and spending time with her family.

Amy- Amy Baskin reads YA and children’s literature sometimes to escape, sometimes to help interpret reality. She writes for pretty much the same reasons. Like many Portlanders, she hikes, bathes, sleeps and eats with book in hand. Her limited concept of home decorating involves stacks of books- in corners, on tables, where the TV used to be. She blogs about kid lit at Euphoria and posts timed writing challenges at Prompt Writes.