This post is authored by contributor, Teresa Bergen. Ms. Bergen is the author of the novel Killing The President, and in addition to writing, transcribes and edits oral histories, paints animal portraits, makes costume devil horns, teaches yoga, and plays bass in an indie rock band.
According to Ms. Jance’s website, she wanted to be a writer since the second grade. But during college in the 1960s, the creative writing director said girls should be nurses or teachers. He refused to let her into the program. Nor was her first husband in favor of her writing. So she studied English and library science, then taught school and worked in a library. It wasn’t until she was divorced with two children and a full time job selling life insurance that she began to write. She wrote her first three books between four AM and seven AM, before she got her kids up to go to school. Okay, that’s enough to make a lot of writers feel lazy.
And she has kept up a prolific writing career, with three different mystery series and about forty books out. Even her traveling schedule is prolific. She is currently promoting her new novel, Trial by Fire (Touchstone). This week she has multiple events Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in three different Washington cities. Then Thursday she will be at the Barnes & Noble in Vancouver from 12-1:30, Murder by the Book from 4-5:30, and the Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing from 7 to 8:30.
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Today’s Featured Book Event:
Matthew Simmons and Daniel Bailey (Ampersand, @7:00pm): Tonight marks the first in what we hope to be periodic readings at Ampersand. Fiction writer Matthew Simmons will read from A Jello Horse, which was recently published by Baltimore-based Publishing Genius & got a great review in The Believer. Poet Daniel Bailey will read from his book of poems, The Drunk Sonnets, published by the Magic Helicopter Press. “From forgiveness in a beehive to tiny banquets for retired janitors, Bailey’s fifty-three sonnets combine formal constraint with unfettered caterwauling. This is contemporary poetic sincerity that is not too shy to see the heart, to eat the heart, to carry a heart and hold it when it catches a shake.”
You can find other events on your community Libraries schedule using these links: Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County.
Today’s Featured Book Event:
I Grew Up In Amaltherey Hill Release Party (Opposable Thumbs Gallery, @6:00pm): PATIENT, FOLDED HANDS PUBLISHING is a new Portland-based publisher of dark fiction. We will be celebrating the first book of this brand new company with the release of ‘I Grew Up In Amaltherey Hill‘, a lonely novella by Jaret Ferratusco, Portland author of the short story collection ‘Please Don’t Leave Me’ and creator of Patient, Folded Hands. If you’re into dark fiction, please come and get boozed up and celebrate with us. Check out Reading Local’s interview with Jaret Ferratusco.
Other Book Events Today:
Keep Portland Weird! A Community Festival (Central Library, 12:00-4:00pm): Portland is a place of passionate people pursuing interesting, and sometimes strange, pastimes. Join us for a day of discovery as a wide variety of organizations share what they do and why they do it. See the library website for a full schedule of events.
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Today’s Featured Book Event:
Vox: A Spoken-Word Chorus Presents Portland’s Actors Reading America’s Poetry (The Waterbrook Studio, @7:30pm, $10-15): Portland actors: Gary Brickner-Schulz, Adrienne Flagg, Eric Hull, Theresa Koon, Quigley Provost-Landrum, Kerry Ryan, and John Vergin will read poems from: Allen Ginsberg, Gertrude Stein, Robert Burns, William Shakespeare, Michele Glazer, William Stafford, Li-Young Lee, Jorie Graham, Donald Hall, Jane Kenyon, Marvin Bell, Kamau Daaood, Mary Szybist, Thomas Lux and more..
Poem Arrangements by Eric Hull. Tickets are available at the door on a sliding scale, $10-15. Learn more at the VOX website.
Other Book Events Today:
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This post is authored by contributor, Teresa Bergen. Ms. Bergen is the author of the novel Killing The President, and in addition to writing, transcribes and edits oral histories, paints animal portraits, makes costume devil horns, teaches yoga, and plays bass in an indie rock band.
How do you know if someone who’s been dead a hundred years was gay? Or how about two thousand years? This is what I hoped to learn by attending Keith Stern’s reading at Powell’s on Hawthorne.
A dozen folks gathered to hear about historical queers on a bleak Thursday night. Stern had enlisted two of his friends to assist from the audience. He proceeded to put on a sort of monologue about gays in history. It was kind of charming, and somewhat confusing, as he was playing himself and one other character who I guess was supposed to be a generic naysayer. His two friends contributed occasional lines from the script, mostly challenges to his statements, and additional suggestions of queer historical figures.
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The Children’s Book Bank will hold an Open House Today (11-8) from 1:00pm-4:00pm, featuring Author Readings, Children’s Activities, Tasty Treats, and a Volunteer Appreciation Raffle.
Four local award-winning children’s book authors will be reading and selling books at the event. The authors will donate $2 from the sale of each book to the Children’s Book Bank. Please consider buying books for your family, for gifts for the holiday or to donate to the book bank. Cash or check only, please!
Descriptions of the books follow:
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The Nature of Words, Central Oregon’s Premier Literary Event, officially started their “long-weekend” of events last night with the Rising Star Creative Writing Competition Awards & Reception. It continues tonight with guest author readings and signings with Karen Karbo, Matthew Dickman, and Sherman Alexie at Bend’s Tower Theatre.
Tomorrow’s (11-6) events include Sherman Alexie Unplugged (which I’ve heard is quite an experience), several guest author workshops, and another reading and signing event this time with Valzhyna Mort, Seth Kantner, Kim Stafford, Jane Kirkpatrick. Workshops and other events continue through the weekend, and the event culminates with a reading by Charles Goodrich and an Open Mic for workshop participants and the community at the Bend Public Library.
Check out the website for the full schedule of events, further details, and pricing.
Today’s Featured Book Event:
Emily Doskow presents The Sharing Solution (Broadway Books, 7:00pm): Tonight we are pleased to welcome Emily Doskow to Broadway Books to discuss ways we can live more sustainably by sharing resources of all kinds — sharing a car with a neighbor, sharing yard space for food cultivation, starting a tool lending library, forming cohousing or childcare co-ops, and more. Doskow, with co-author Janelle Orsi, is the author of The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Build Community, recently published by Nolo. Many people would like to share resources but don’t know how — or where — to start. The Sharing Solution is a timely, practical, and legal guide that explains how to create and maintain successful sharing arrangments while addressing common concerns about liability, communication, and more. You can read more about the authors and their ideas at their website. Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature, had this to say about the book: “It’s possible that someone has published a more timely book, but I’ve never seen it. For a planet dealing with economic crisis and ecological limit, sharing is not only the right and moral solution, it’s the necessary (and charming) one as well.” Please join us for this important and informative discussion.
Other Book Events Today:
An Occasion for Poetry: Mary Szybist and Michele Glazer (Lewis & Clark College, Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall, @7:00pm): Poet and professor Mary Szybist, recipient of a 2009 Witter Bynner Award, will offer a poetry reading alongside Michele Glazer.
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