Today’s Featured Book Event:
Kevin Sampsell (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): From writer and Future Tense publisher Kevin Sampsell comes A Common Pornography (Harper Perennial), a searing memoir, told in vignettes, that captures the history of an American family. Intertwining recollections of small-town youth with darker threads of family history, Sampsell reveals how incest, madness, betrayal, and death can seem positively normal. “Embarrassing and honest, heartbreaking and hilarious,” hails Willy Vlautin, author of Northline and The Motel Life. “A great memoir from one of the Northwest’s best writers.”
Other Book Events Today:
Title Raves-Book Blogs (Central Library, @12:00pm): Explore the online book scene with local literary bloggers Laini Taylor, Alison Hallett, Gabe Barber and Emily-Jane Dawson.
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Willamette Writers just sent out word that their Kay Snow Writing Contest is still open for submissions until April 23rd, 2010. You can send an
Entry in the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Short Story, Novel excerpt or Article – Fiction or Non-Fiction, Screenwriting, and Student Writing categories.
This annual writing contest awards one first prize of $300, one second place prize of $150, and a third place prize of $50 per winning entry in each of the six categories; fiction, nonfiction, juvenile, poetry, student writer and screenwriting. Student writers are awarded $50 for first place in three grade divisions, $20 for second place, and $10 for third place.
Find out more by reading the Kay Snow Contest Guidelines. A printer-friendly registration form link is available at the end of the guidelines. The deadline for the next contest is April 23rd, 2010.
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Today’s Featured Book Event:
Willamette Writers hosts the Writer’s Faire (The Old Church, @6:30pm): The Writer’s Faire is an opportunity for local authors to promote their work, sell books and “sound off” on upcoming releases and/or events in the writing community. The event will feature table space where authors may sign/sell their books as well as an “open mic.” Doors open at 6:30 pm. Writers Faire is free to members of Willamette Writers and the public. Refreshments are served. Check out Teresa Bergen’s preview of the Writers Faire.
Other Book Events Today:
Helen Deutsch Lecture: “The Scaffold in the Marketplace” (Lewis & Clark College, Miller Center for the Humanities, room 105, @3:30pm): Helen Deutsch is a Professor of English at ULCA. Her talk is titled, “The Scaffold in the Marketplace: Johnson, Hawthorne and the Romance of Authorship.” She will discuss Samuel Johnson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and each author’s relation to (and anxieties about) the literary marketplace.
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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.
Tuesday December 1st offers Portlanders a great holiday shopping opportunity. Forty-five authors will be selling their books at a Writer’s Faire at The Old Church in downtown Portland. What better way to spend your holiday shopping dollars than to buy books directly from local authors? They will probably sign them for you, too.
The Writer’s Faire is put on by Willamette Writers. According to event organizer Randal Houle, an open mic will “feature readings, ramblings and pitches. Some of the featured authors will read a short blurb and then invite people to come to their booth.”
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I had a tough time picking an event to highlight today. I chose the Arty Words reading at Disjecta with Curtis White and David Biespiel, but could just have easily gone with the Tapestry of Tales Tellabration and Finale at The First Unitarian Church, or tonight’s benefit show of “Holidazed” at the Artists Repertory Theatre:
Willamette Writers has bought out the house for tonight’s showing of the play “Holidazed” as a benefit for Books for Kids and Young Willamette Writers. This twisted and heart-warming holiday show, written by C.S. Whitcomb and Marc Acito, played to sold- out houses in 2008 and is back at Artists Repertory Theatre this year with a few new sparks. Benefit tickets are $36 for adults, $26 seniors (over 60 years old), and $22 for any students. This Saturday night performance seats normally sell for $47, so it’s also a deal!
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Bill Johnson, Willamette Writers Office Manager, has done those of us who were unable to attend Wordstock and those looking to relive some of the highlights a favor by posting video footage from the Festival on his Oregon Writers Speak YouTube Channel. Included is video of representatives from Oregon Writers Colony, Write Around Portland, The Northwest Association of Book Publishers, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, and Ooligan Press at PSU.
Do any of you have photos or videos from this years Wordstock you would like to share on Reading Local? If so, either provide the link in the comments below or email the files to portland@readinglocal.com.
Today’s Featured Book Event:
Book Group Spectacular (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:00pm): On Tuesday, October 6, Annie Bloom’s will be throwing a double-whammy of a book group event! First, at 7:00, we’ll meet with everyone who wants to join a book group and tell you all about how Annie Bloom’s book groups work. If you haven’t already filled out one of our Book Group Interest forms, contact us and get on the list … or just show up on October 6 and dive right in!
Next, at 7:30, enjoy complimentary refreshments, while our reps from Random House and Simon & Schuster share their favorite book group picks. We’ll be offering big discounts (plus a few free giveaways!) on Katie and Amy’s favorite books that night, so it’ll be a perfect time for your book group — new or long-standing — to choose your next read (or two, or three!).
Please join us for either or both parts of our Book Group Spectacular. Whether you’re in a book group, looking to join one, or just love hearing about books, it will be a fun gathering and a great way to discover your next good read.
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