(Click Poster Images to Enlarge) .

Endi Bogue Hartigan October 2017
Listening: Silence, Language, and Noise
How is listening an act of writing? How can poets employ listening in the writing practice?
Endi Hartigan talked with us about how her book– Pool [5 choruses]– came from both the realization she was writing amid a profusion of public noise, and the challenge to write within it. She discussed how listening to language, silence, and noise can lead to poems that weave those three elements together. We explored the practices of listening to sound, music, pauses, gaps, and breath, and utilize these in our writing.
Her book, Pool [5 choruses] won the Omnidawn Open Poetry Book Prize and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her first book One Sun Storm won the Colorado Prize for Poetry and was also a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. In addition, she has published one chapbook, and her poems have appeared in numerous journals including VOLT, New American Writing, Denver Quarterly, and Ostrich Review.
Listening: Silence, Language, and Noise
How is listening an act of writing? How can poets employ listening in the writing practice?
Endi Hartigan talked with us about how her book– Pool [5 choruses]– came from both the realization she was writing amid a profusion of public noise, and the challenge to write within it. She discussed how listening to language, silence, and noise can lead to poems that weave those three elements together. We explored the practices of listening to sound, music, pauses, gaps, and breath, and utilize these in our writing.
Her book, Pool [5 choruses] won the Omnidawn Open Poetry Book Prize and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her first book One Sun Storm won the Colorado Prize for Poetry and was also a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. In addition, she has published one chapbook, and her poems have appeared in numerous journals including VOLT, New American Writing, Denver Quarterly, and Ostrich Review.

Suzanne Sigafoos September 2017
Chair, Desk, Lamp, Window, World: A Poet's Progress
Suzanne Sigafoos is the author of Held in the Weave, a poetry chapbook published by Finishing Line Press in 2011. Most recently, her poems have appeared in The Oregonian, in Windfall – A Journal of Poetry of Place, and the anthology The Knotted Bond: Oregon Poets Speak of Their Sisters. Sigafoos is an editor at VoiceCather, and is co-founder of River Rock, a Portland poetry critique group. “Green” is Suzanne’s first foray into non-fiction essay, and was published in the Bellingham Review.
Her conversation with us looked at her early influences – and also the absence of influence – that shaped her writing life.
Chair, Desk, Lamp, Window, World: A Poet's Progress
Suzanne Sigafoos is the author of Held in the Weave, a poetry chapbook published by Finishing Line Press in 2011. Most recently, her poems have appeared in The Oregonian, in Windfall – A Journal of Poetry of Place, and the anthology The Knotted Bond: Oregon Poets Speak of Their Sisters. Sigafoos is an editor at VoiceCather, and is co-founder of River Rock, a Portland poetry critique group. “Green” is Suzanne’s first foray into non-fiction essay, and was published in the Bellingham Review.
Her conversation with us looked at her early influences – and also the absence of influence – that shaped her writing life.

Taylor Stannard August 2017
Libel in Fiction: Why It’s Important & How to Avoid It
Taylor Stannard has taught Creative Writing and her short fiction has been published in several literary journals. Her The Stonepile Possum Queen, the first book of a trilogy-in-progress, was given favorable reviews by Kirkus.
Taylor discussed the legal intricacies of writing fiction whose plot, places or characters might pose a resemblance to actual circumstances, either current or recent.
Libel in Fiction: Why It’s Important & How to Avoid It
Taylor Stannard has taught Creative Writing and her short fiction has been published in several literary journals. Her The Stonepile Possum Queen, the first book of a trilogy-in-progress, was given favorable reviews by Kirkus.
Taylor discussed the legal intricacies of writing fiction whose plot, places or characters might pose a resemblance to actual circumstances, either current or recent.

David Oates July 2017
On Writing in a Dark Time: Getting Past the Rant
Since 1989, David Oates has published several books, including City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary, Earth Rising: Ecological Belief in an Age of Science, Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature, and Peace in Exile: Poems. His The Heron Place won the Swan Scythe Press Award for 2015. In addition, his work has been published in anthologies and numerous journals.
He led a discussion on Writing in a Dark Time. As he states it, “We find ourselves at a moment of historical darkness, as forces of reaction and hatred take over our politics and national identity. How will we face the question of darkness together; how will we forge a creative bond; and most important, find our true, loving, creative voice under these conditions?
On Writing in a Dark Time: Getting Past the Rant
Since 1989, David Oates has published several books, including City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary, Earth Rising: Ecological Belief in an Age of Science, Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature, and Peace in Exile: Poems. His The Heron Place won the Swan Scythe Press Award for 2015. In addition, his work has been published in anthologies and numerous journals.
He led a discussion on Writing in a Dark Time. As he states it, “We find ourselves at a moment of historical darkness, as forces of reaction and hatred take over our politics and national identity. How will we face the question of darkness together; how will we forge a creative bond; and most important, find our true, loving, creative voice under these conditions?

Caroline Allen June 2017
The Art of Storytelling: What is your Personal Mythology?
How to excavate the pivotal stories of our lives to write memoir and novels.
Caroline Allen worked as a newsroom journalist in Tokyo and London and a travel writer throughout S.E. Asia for more than a decade. She is now an award-winning novelist - her first two novels, Earth and Air, won the Indepen-dent Publishers' award. The novels are part of The Elemental Journey series: One protagonist comes of age over five books in a world rocked by climate change and increasing instability. Read more at www.carolineallen.com. Caroline is also a book coach, helping clients all over the world write memoir, novels, short stories and screenplays. www.artofstorytellingonline.com.
Her presentation included interactive storytelling activities.
The Art of Storytelling: What is your Personal Mythology?
How to excavate the pivotal stories of our lives to write memoir and novels.
Caroline Allen worked as a newsroom journalist in Tokyo and London and a travel writer throughout S.E. Asia for more than a decade. She is now an award-winning novelist - her first two novels, Earth and Air, won the Indepen-dent Publishers' award. The novels are part of The Elemental Journey series: One protagonist comes of age over five books in a world rocked by climate change and increasing instability. Read more at www.carolineallen.com. Caroline is also a book coach, helping clients all over the world write memoir, novels, short stories and screenplays. www.artofstorytellingonline.com.
Her presentation included interactive storytelling activities.

Tim Whitsel May 2017
Nobody Ever Likes My Poems The First Time Through
Tim, who lives near Springfield, Oregon, is a man of many interests. For six years he directed Windfall, a monthly reading series at the Eugene Public Library. He won first prize at the 2013 Northwest Poets’ Concord. In 2014, he was honored with an artist’s residency at PLAYA. Tim has worked as a landscaper, commercial clam-digger, microfilm technician, furniture and appliance salesman, ESL teacher, repo-man, bill collector, equity trader, and stay-at-home dad. Tim’s first collection, We Say Ourselves, was published in 2012. Wish Meal, published last year by Arlie Press, charts one man’s evolution from El Dorado pilgrim and prodigal son to a stay-at-home father, moving from his Indiana boyhood to the family he makes in the Pacific Northwest.
Tim talked extensively about his 18-year involvement with a workshop group that seriously critiques each member's work, helping authors to refine their writing and make them all better writers.
Nobody Ever Likes My Poems The First Time Through
Tim, who lives near Springfield, Oregon, is a man of many interests. For six years he directed Windfall, a monthly reading series at the Eugene Public Library. He won first prize at the 2013 Northwest Poets’ Concord. In 2014, he was honored with an artist’s residency at PLAYA. Tim has worked as a landscaper, commercial clam-digger, microfilm technician, furniture and appliance salesman, ESL teacher, repo-man, bill collector, equity trader, and stay-at-home dad. Tim’s first collection, We Say Ourselves, was published in 2012. Wish Meal, published last year by Arlie Press, charts one man’s evolution from El Dorado pilgrim and prodigal son to a stay-at-home father, moving from his Indiana boyhood to the family he makes in the Pacific Northwest.
Tim talked extensively about his 18-year involvement with a workshop group that seriously critiques each member's work, helping authors to refine their writing and make them all better writers.

Deborah Akers April 2017
Political Poems Past and Present
Are political poems an effective voice during times of upheaval? And if so, how do they serve as voices of change? Deborah Akers will explore political poetry of the last hundred years. We will discuss what makes the difference between successful ones and those that fall flat.
Deborah Akers is the author of Backward Pilgrim, and the more recently published, Partly Fallen. Deborah’s poems have also appeared in many journals, including The Beloit Poetry Review, Chicago Review, Yellow Silk, Hubbub, Voicecatcher, and Writers Almanac. She makes her living as an educational editor and writer.
Political Poems Past and Present
Are political poems an effective voice during times of upheaval? And if so, how do they serve as voices of change? Deborah Akers will explore political poetry of the last hundred years. We will discuss what makes the difference between successful ones and those that fall flat.
Deborah Akers is the author of Backward Pilgrim, and the more recently published, Partly Fallen. Deborah’s poems have also appeared in many journals, including The Beloit Poetry Review, Chicago Review, Yellow Silk, Hubbub, Voicecatcher, and Writers Almanac. She makes her living as an educational editor and writer.

Maggie Lynch March 2017
How Indie Authors Can Survive & Thrive in the Fast-Changing World Of Publishing
Big publishers focus on expensive books tied to celebrity platforms. This inadvertently helps indie presses and self-published authors by forcing them to rely on their strengths: Originality, creativity, and the flexibility small size allows. Maggie Lynch comprehensively covered how independent authors and publishers can be competitive in this environment, including a focus on the effective use of networks. Indie does not have to mean alone. In fact, working together toward common goals can help authors thrive.
Maggie Lynch is the author of 20+ published books, as well as numerous short stories and non-fiction articles. Maggie’s fiction tells stories of men and women making heroic choices one messy moment at a time. Her genres include romance, suspense, SciFi, as well as non-fiction.
Maggie is well-versed in the area of publishing and marketing in this era when increasing numbers of readers access books through tablets and cell phones; and when potential readers discover interesting titles (and reviews) through social media.
How Indie Authors Can Survive & Thrive in the Fast-Changing World Of Publishing
Big publishers focus on expensive books tied to celebrity platforms. This inadvertently helps indie presses and self-published authors by forcing them to rely on their strengths: Originality, creativity, and the flexibility small size allows. Maggie Lynch comprehensively covered how independent authors and publishers can be competitive in this environment, including a focus on the effective use of networks. Indie does not have to mean alone. In fact, working together toward common goals can help authors thrive.
Maggie Lynch is the author of 20+ published books, as well as numerous short stories and non-fiction articles. Maggie’s fiction tells stories of men and women making heroic choices one messy moment at a time. Her genres include romance, suspense, SciFi, as well as non-fiction.
Maggie is well-versed in the area of publishing and marketing in this era when increasing numbers of readers access books through tablets and cell phones; and when potential readers discover interesting titles (and reviews) through social media.

Cindy Brown February 2017
Dialogue can drive conflict. It can indicate intimacy. It can tell a reader volumes about a character. Why not use this writers’ tool for all its worth?
Former actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter Cindy Brown studied dialogue for much of her theatre career. She used those lessons when writing her Agatha-Award nominated mystery novels, and will talk about them in an interactive session full of exercises and prompts. Attendees, please bring your notebooks and a pen/pencil. Extra credit if you bring along a favorite bit of dialogue – it can be from a book, TV show, movie, or real-life incident.
When asked which talent she’d most like to have, her response was:
“Typing! I am the world’s worst typist. I do it all day andn somehow nev e het any better.”
Dialogue can drive conflict. It can indicate intimacy. It can tell a reader volumes about a character. Why not use this writers’ tool for all its worth?
Former actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter Cindy Brown studied dialogue for much of her theatre career. She used those lessons when writing her Agatha-Award nominated mystery novels, and will talk about them in an interactive session full of exercises and prompts. Attendees, please bring your notebooks and a pen/pencil. Extra credit if you bring along a favorite bit of dialogue – it can be from a book, TV show, movie, or real-life incident.
When asked which talent she’d most like to have, her response was:
“Typing! I am the world’s worst typist. I do it all day andn somehow nev e het any better.”

Steve Williams January 2017
13: A Poem
Steve Williams works and lives in Portland, Oregon. His work has appeared in Stirring, The Rose and Thorn, Amaze, Rattlesnake Review, Verseweavers and others. His poems have placed or won in the last four Oregon State Poetry contests. He has a chapbook called "Skin Stretched Around the Hollow" published in 2007 by Rattlesnake Press. He lives with a Constance Hall who edits and writes much better than he but refuses to admit it.
Steve has produced an extraordinary chapbook. Thirteen: A Poem is a large-format full-color chapbook-length poem in 13 parts with 13 accompanying full-color illustrations, also created by the author. Follow the narrator as he navigates his 13th year through upheaval, tragedy and beauty. The original art pieces were exhibited at Stonehenge and other studios and accompanied his presentation. He explained the origin of this unique idea, plus the biographical background of each poem and its matching art piece.
All proceeds from the sale of 13: A poem have gone to the Meals On Wheels foundation.
13: A Poem
Steve Williams works and lives in Portland, Oregon. His work has appeared in Stirring, The Rose and Thorn, Amaze, Rattlesnake Review, Verseweavers and others. His poems have placed or won in the last four Oregon State Poetry contests. He has a chapbook called "Skin Stretched Around the Hollow" published in 2007 by Rattlesnake Press. He lives with a Constance Hall who edits and writes much better than he but refuses to admit it.
Steve has produced an extraordinary chapbook. Thirteen: A Poem is a large-format full-color chapbook-length poem in 13 parts with 13 accompanying full-color illustrations, also created by the author. Follow the narrator as he navigates his 13th year through upheaval, tragedy and beauty. The original art pieces were exhibited at Stonehenge and other studios and accompanied his presentation. He explained the origin of this unique idea, plus the biographical background of each poem and its matching art piece.
All proceeds from the sale of 13: A poem have gone to the Meals On Wheels foundation.

Scot Siegel November 2016
Goals For A Life Of Writing In Obscurity, With Glory As An Afterthought
How does an author set goals for his or her writing – knowing that few authors, particularly poets, will ever be known beyond their local area or region? Scot Siegal discussed with how to approach this question and set goals for a life of writing that is fulfilling.
Oregon poet Scot Siegel has authored five books of poetry, including The Constellation of Extinct Stars and Other Poems, and Thousands Flee California Wildflowers. He has received awards and commendations from the Oregon Poetry Association, Nimrod International, Aesthetica (UK), Poetry Northwest, and the Oregon State Library. Late US Poet Laureate Philip Levine judged Siegel’s long poem, Pages Torn From a Schoolmarm’s Diary, a Finalist with Honorable Mention in Nimrod International’s 2012 Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize Competition. Siegel’s poems have been featured in Terrain, The Oregonian, High Desert Journal, Open Spaces, and Verse Daily, among others. Siegel has served as Artist-in-Residence with Playa at Summer Lake, and with Oregon State University’s College of Liberal Art's Spring Creek Project.
Goals For A Life Of Writing In Obscurity, With Glory As An Afterthought
How does an author set goals for his or her writing – knowing that few authors, particularly poets, will ever be known beyond their local area or region? Scot Siegal discussed with how to approach this question and set goals for a life of writing that is fulfilling.
Oregon poet Scot Siegel has authored five books of poetry, including The Constellation of Extinct Stars and Other Poems, and Thousands Flee California Wildflowers. He has received awards and commendations from the Oregon Poetry Association, Nimrod International, Aesthetica (UK), Poetry Northwest, and the Oregon State Library. Late US Poet Laureate Philip Levine judged Siegel’s long poem, Pages Torn From a Schoolmarm’s Diary, a Finalist with Honorable Mention in Nimrod International’s 2012 Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize Competition. Siegel’s poems have been featured in Terrain, The Oregonian, High Desert Journal, Open Spaces, and Verse Daily, among others. Siegel has served as Artist-in-Residence with Playa at Summer Lake, and with Oregon State University’s College of Liberal Art's Spring Creek Project.

Quinton Hallett October 2016
Unifying with Fragments - Writing as a Mosaic Work of Art
Quinton Hallett led a conversation on the Integrity of the Fragment to explore effective ways writers can emphasize and energize individual parts of a poem or manuscript to make a vibrant whole. With examples from her recent collection, Mrs. Schrödinger’s Breast, Quinton detailed some of her process, and also illustrated though other writers' examples how the fragment and the whole inform each other.
In a previous incarnation, Quinton organized exhibitions for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and the Armand Hammer Foundation, Los Angeles. She is the author of three chapbooks, founder of Fern Rock Falls Press, and her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including: Windfall, Ayris, Tiger's Eye, Paper Nautilus, Cirque, The Knotted Bond, Till the Tide, and December. She has coordinated a reading series and high school poet visits for the Oregon Poetry Association, and received residencies from Caldera and Soapstone.
Unifying with Fragments - Writing as a Mosaic Work of Art
Quinton Hallett led a conversation on the Integrity of the Fragment to explore effective ways writers can emphasize and energize individual parts of a poem or manuscript to make a vibrant whole. With examples from her recent collection, Mrs. Schrödinger’s Breast, Quinton detailed some of her process, and also illustrated though other writers' examples how the fragment and the whole inform each other.
In a previous incarnation, Quinton organized exhibitions for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and the Armand Hammer Foundation, Los Angeles. She is the author of three chapbooks, founder of Fern Rock Falls Press, and her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including: Windfall, Ayris, Tiger's Eye, Paper Nautilus, Cirque, The Knotted Bond, Till the Tide, and December. She has coordinated a reading series and high school poet visits for the Oregon Poetry Association, and received residencies from Caldera and Soapstone.

Mollie Hunt September 2016
Changing the World Through Fiction: Introducing altruism without using soapbox rhetoric
(or putting reader to sleep.)
Cat lover Mollie Hunt is the author of the Crazy Cat Lady mystery series, including Cat's Eyes, Copy Cats, and Cat's Paw. The series features an alter ego retiree and cat shelter volunteer who aids the police in solving mysteries. Her book, Placid River Runs Deep is a non-cat mystery delving into murder, obsession and the challenge of chronic illness in the Northwest. Mollie lives in Portland with her husband and a varying number of cats.
"As an animal rescue advocate, I raise awareness of our companion animals and the ways we can help them; as a fiction writer, I create an engaging and entertaining story. By introducing characters and situations involving animal welfare into my cat mysteries, my readers come away with something beyond a pleasant read."
Changing the World Through Fiction: Introducing altruism without using soapbox rhetoric
(or putting reader to sleep.)
Cat lover Mollie Hunt is the author of the Crazy Cat Lady mystery series, including Cat's Eyes, Copy Cats, and Cat's Paw. The series features an alter ego retiree and cat shelter volunteer who aids the police in solving mysteries. Her book, Placid River Runs Deep is a non-cat mystery delving into murder, obsession and the challenge of chronic illness in the Northwest. Mollie lives in Portland with her husband and a varying number of cats.
"As an animal rescue advocate, I raise awareness of our companion animals and the ways we can help them; as a fiction writer, I create an engaging and entertaining story. By introducing characters and situations involving animal welfare into my cat mysteries, my readers come away with something beyond a pleasant read."

Leanne Grabel August 2016
What Should (and What Can) We Hide From Our Young?
Leanne Grabel is a poet, memoirist, illustrator and teacher of special-ed and language arts. She has written and produced numerous spoken-word shows, including The Lighter Side of Chronic Depression, Anger: The Musical; Badgirls; and The Little Poet. Her books include Brontosaurus, Lonesome & Very Quarrelsome Heroes, Short Poems by a Short Poet and most recently, Assisted Living, a collection of rectangular illustrated prose poems.
Leanne presented an excerpted version of her play, Badgirls, based on her experience as a teacher of troubled teen girls, and the encouragement they got from learning to express themselves by composing their own poetry.
What Should (and What Can) We Hide From Our Young?
Leanne Grabel is a poet, memoirist, illustrator and teacher of special-ed and language arts. She has written and produced numerous spoken-word shows, including The Lighter Side of Chronic Depression, Anger: The Musical; Badgirls; and The Little Poet. Her books include Brontosaurus, Lonesome & Very Quarrelsome Heroes, Short Poems by a Short Poet and most recently, Assisted Living, a collection of rectangular illustrated prose poems.
Leanne presented an excerpted version of her play, Badgirls, based on her experience as a teacher of troubled teen girls, and the encouragement they got from learning to express themselves by composing their own poetry.
Wayne Lee and Alice Lee July 2016
Collaboration In Poetry – How It Works, And How To Do It
Wayne and Alice Lee are collaborators as well as spouses. They write poetry, often together. They share drafts with one another, and assist with honest feedback. They help each other prepare poems for submission. Their chapbook, Twenty Poems from the Blue House, was a joint creative project. They believe their years of artistic collaboration, together with their complementary backgrounds and sensibilities, have helped each of them grow as writers, teachers, parents and human beings.
In her memoir Necklace of Stones, Alice Lee retraces her life in Alaska, China, Italy and elsewhere. She shows how she reinvented herself, refusing to be defined by her genetic inheritance. Canadian-born, Wayne Lee’s poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies; received the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize and the SICA Poems for Peace Award; have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and three Best Of The Net Awards; and was a finalist for the New Mexico/Arizona Book Award in Poetry.
Collaboration In Poetry – How It Works, And How To Do It
Wayne and Alice Lee are collaborators as well as spouses. They write poetry, often together. They share drafts with one another, and assist with honest feedback. They help each other prepare poems for submission. Their chapbook, Twenty Poems from the Blue House, was a joint creative project. They believe their years of artistic collaboration, together with their complementary backgrounds and sensibilities, have helped each of them grow as writers, teachers, parents and human beings.
In her memoir Necklace of Stones, Alice Lee retraces her life in Alaska, China, Italy and elsewhere. She shows how she reinvented herself, refusing to be defined by her genetic inheritance. Canadian-born, Wayne Lee’s poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies; received the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize and the SICA Poems for Peace Award; have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and three Best Of The Net Awards; and was a finalist for the New Mexico/Arizona Book Award in Poetry.

Colette Tennant June 2016
Linking Disparate Elements in Your Writing
“Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.” Colette showed us how this old adage applies not just to weddings, but to the art of good writing as well.
She has been an English professor at Corban College in Salem for 15 years, and is also a songwriter. She is author of the comparative lit textbook, Reading the Gothic in Margaret Atwood's Novels, as well as the poetry books Commotion of Wings (nominated for the 2014 Pushcart Prize) and Eden and After.
Linking Disparate Elements in Your Writing
“Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.” Colette showed us how this old adage applies not just to weddings, but to the art of good writing as well.
She has been an English professor at Corban College in Salem for 15 years, and is also a songwriter. She is author of the comparative lit textbook, Reading the Gothic in Margaret Atwood's Novels, as well as the poetry books Commotion of Wings (nominated for the 2014 Pushcart Prize) and Eden and After.

Marilyn Stablein May 2016
Living and Recording the Creative Life in Memoirs, Travelogues & Illustrated Journals
Marilyn Stablein is an award-winning poet, essayist, artist and author of 13 books. Splitting Hard Ground won the New Mexico Book Award. Her memoirs include Climate of Extremes: Landscape and Imagination, eco-essays set in the northwest and Sleeping in Caves: A Sixties Himalayan Memoir about a six year residency in the Himalayas.
She shared insights on how to record personal experience in written narratives and visual ones (books as art objects) using techniques taught in her workshop “The Joy of Memoir: Your Legacy, Your Way”. In addition, she shared her personal explorations through travels, her dreams, her life, and her writing.
Living and Recording the Creative Life in Memoirs, Travelogues & Illustrated Journals
Marilyn Stablein is an award-winning poet, essayist, artist and author of 13 books. Splitting Hard Ground won the New Mexico Book Award. Her memoirs include Climate of Extremes: Landscape and Imagination, eco-essays set in the northwest and Sleeping in Caves: A Sixties Himalayan Memoir about a six year residency in the Himalayas.
She shared insights on how to record personal experience in written narratives and visual ones (books as art objects) using techniques taught in her workshop “The Joy of Memoir: Your Legacy, Your Way”. In addition, she shared her personal explorations through travels, her dreams, her life, and her writing.

Ceiridwen Terrill and Rosemary Lombard April 2016
Hanford: Writing To Influence The Public through Fiction, Memoir, And Poetry
Ceidirwen Terrill has authored two memoirs, including Part Wild, finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and Unnatural Landscapes: Tracking Invasive Species. Her essays have appeared in several publications, and her work appeared in the anthology What Wildness is This: Women Write about the Southwest. Terrill is professor of English at Portland’s Concordia U., where she teaches environmental journalism, science writing, and memoir. She is currently working on a book about growing up during the Cold War and her family’s connection to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. She is currently writing a book about growing up during the Cold War and her family’s connection to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Rosemary Lombard has been a university teacher, biomedical librarian, naturalist, and is currently an animal behaviorist exploring turtle cognition. She is also co-director of Conversations With Writers.
Sharon Appleman, who passed away last year, wrote Coyote Willows, a novel about the Hanford nuclear reactor, based on its actual operation, conditions and impact on the area. Coyote Willows will be available at this event.
Hanford: Writing To Influence The Public through Fiction, Memoir, And Poetry
Ceidirwen Terrill has authored two memoirs, including Part Wild, finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and Unnatural Landscapes: Tracking Invasive Species. Her essays have appeared in several publications, and her work appeared in the anthology What Wildness is This: Women Write about the Southwest. Terrill is professor of English at Portland’s Concordia U., where she teaches environmental journalism, science writing, and memoir. She is currently working on a book about growing up during the Cold War and her family’s connection to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. She is currently writing a book about growing up during the Cold War and her family’s connection to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Rosemary Lombard has been a university teacher, biomedical librarian, naturalist, and is currently an animal behaviorist exploring turtle cognition. She is also co-director of Conversations With Writers.
Sharon Appleman, who passed away last year, wrote Coyote Willows, a novel about the Hanford nuclear reactor, based on its actual operation, conditions and impact on the area. Coyote Willows will be available at this event.

Marilyn Sewell March 2016
Writing As A Spiritual Calling
The Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell is a Unitarian Universalist minister and an Adjunct Fellow at the Attic Institute in Portland. She holds three masters degrees and a PhD. Her own life journey is rendered in the documentary film, Raw Faith, which won the Human Spirit Award at the Nashville Film Festival. Judges said the documentary "gives us a stunning and candid portrait of the power and value of exploring just who we are and where we're going."
Marilyn’s view is that what and how we write cannot be separated from who we are. We will discuss writing as a calling, a response to a human necessity – to be ignored only at our spiritual and emotional peril. She will reveal her own experiences and development as a writer and its relationship with her spiritual life.
Writing As A Spiritual Calling
The Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell is a Unitarian Universalist minister and an Adjunct Fellow at the Attic Institute in Portland. She holds three masters degrees and a PhD. Her own life journey is rendered in the documentary film, Raw Faith, which won the Human Spirit Award at the Nashville Film Festival. Judges said the documentary "gives us a stunning and candid portrait of the power and value of exploring just who we are and where we're going."
Marilyn’s view is that what and how we write cannot be separated from who we are. We will discuss writing as a calling, a response to a human necessity – to be ignored only at our spiritual and emotional peril. She will reveal her own experiences and development as a writer and its relationship with her spiritual life.

Nancy Linnon February 2016
The "I" That Is Me And Not Me – Creating A Persona Through Writing
Nancy Linnon believes in using writing as a means of figuring out what you have to say. This approach makes writing a tool for thinking and discovering, resulting in a clear, authentic expression and a deeper connection to self and others. It is useful to everyone – those who believe they can write, those who struggle with writing, and those who want a life practice that will ease stress and promote growth.
Nancy started her career as a journalist for U.S. News & World Report before obtaining a a master’s in teaching at Brown University, and later an MFA in creative nonfiction from Antioch University. In addition to teaching she has worked as both writer and editor. Her work has appeared in magazines and literary journals, including Creative Nonfiction, Los Angeles Review, Yoga International and several anthologies.
The "I" That Is Me And Not Me – Creating A Persona Through Writing
Nancy Linnon believes in using writing as a means of figuring out what you have to say. This approach makes writing a tool for thinking and discovering, resulting in a clear, authentic expression and a deeper connection to self and others. It is useful to everyone – those who believe they can write, those who struggle with writing, and those who want a life practice that will ease stress and promote growth.
Nancy started her career as a journalist for U.S. News & World Report before obtaining a a master’s in teaching at Brown University, and later an MFA in creative nonfiction from Antioch University. In addition to teaching she has worked as both writer and editor. Her work has appeared in magazines and literary journals, including Creative Nonfiction, Los Angeles Review, Yoga International and several anthologies.

Don Weston January 2016
Writing for Fun and Profit… Strike That, You Can't Make Money Self-Publishing!
Our first meeting of 2016 was led by Don Weston, author of the Billie Bly, P.I. series about a hard boiled female Portland private eye. His books include Bleeding Blue, Death Fits Like A Glove, Facebook Killer and the upcoming The Hollywood Detectives. His stories combine mystery and suspense with a judicious seasoning of humor.
Don discussed the types of writing we create, why we write, and how many of us are writers without realizing it. He also talked about why we should write in this Amazon age, knowing we probably can’t expect to make any money at it.
Writing for Fun and Profit… Strike That, You Can't Make Money Self-Publishing!
Our first meeting of 2016 was led by Don Weston, author of the Billie Bly, P.I. series about a hard boiled female Portland private eye. His books include Bleeding Blue, Death Fits Like A Glove, Facebook Killer and the upcoming The Hollywood Detectives. His stories combine mystery and suspense with a judicious seasoning of humor.
Don discussed the types of writing we create, why we write, and how many of us are writers without realizing it. He also talked about why we should write in this Amazon age, knowing we probably can’t expect to make any money at it.

Pauls Toutonghi November 2015
What Matters: The Writing Life in an Age of Distraction
Pauls Toutonghi’s work has appeared in several periodicals; his short story, Regeneration, won the Pushcart Prize when he was 23. In addition, his first novel, Red Weather, well received, has been translated into German and Latvian. The classes he teaches at Lewis & Clark College emphasize the eclectic, such as The Rock ‘N’ Roll Novel, which explored the relationship between today’s music and literature of previous eras.
Our discussion on November 30 will feature an interactive discussion about a writer's life –in an era that emphasizes distraction. How can writing – an activity of concentration and solitude – thrive in the modern world?
What Matters: The Writing Life in an Age of Distraction
Pauls Toutonghi’s work has appeared in several periodicals; his short story, Regeneration, won the Pushcart Prize when he was 23. In addition, his first novel, Red Weather, well received, has been translated into German and Latvian. The classes he teaches at Lewis & Clark College emphasize the eclectic, such as The Rock ‘N’ Roll Novel, which explored the relationship between today’s music and literature of previous eras.
Our discussion on November 30 will feature an interactive discussion about a writer's life –in an era that emphasizes distraction. How can writing – an activity of concentration and solitude – thrive in the modern world?

Steve Theme October 2015
Marketing Books In The Modern Era. Steve Theme recently completed Asphalt Asylum, Hitchhiking the Pathways of Change, published by Halyard Press. It’s a memoir of his life-changing journey as a youth.
Steve has made his living as a writer for the past 25 years. His work has appeared in several magazines and newspapers, including Personnel Journal, The Seattle Review and a number of metro papers, including The Seattle Times, The Spokesman Review, and WORK Literary Magazine. He won 1st place in the 2010 Oregon Writers Colony Short Story Contest.
As George B. Wright, our August presenter put it, once you’ve completed the writing, your job is half done. Steve will explain his experiences completing the other half. In addition, he will read an excerpt from his book, and answer your questions about the creative process.
Marketing Books In The Modern Era. Steve Theme recently completed Asphalt Asylum, Hitchhiking the Pathways of Change, published by Halyard Press. It’s a memoir of his life-changing journey as a youth.
Steve has made his living as a writer for the past 25 years. His work has appeared in several magazines and newspapers, including Personnel Journal, The Seattle Review and a number of metro papers, including The Seattle Times, The Spokesman Review, and WORK Literary Magazine. He won 1st place in the 2010 Oregon Writers Colony Short Story Contest.
As George B. Wright, our August presenter put it, once you’ve completed the writing, your job is half done. Steve will explain his experiences completing the other half. In addition, he will read an excerpt from his book, and answer your questions about the creative process.

Judith Barrington Sept 2015
The Use and Joy of Poetic Forms. Judith Barrington’s poetry and memoir writing have both won prestigious awards; and her textbook on memoir writing is used in Australia, Europe and America. In addition to teaching creative writing at various universities, she was for several years a faculty member of the MFA program at the U. of Alaska at Anchorage.
Judith – who has published four collections of poetry in both free verse and poetic forms – talked about what she has learned from practicing the traditional, received forms, such as villanelles, sestinas, and so on, as well as by creating new forms that suit the subject matter at hand.
The Use and Joy of Poetic Forms. Judith Barrington’s poetry and memoir writing have both won prestigious awards; and her textbook on memoir writing is used in Australia, Europe and America. In addition to teaching creative writing at various universities, she was for several years a faculty member of the MFA program at the U. of Alaska at Anchorage.
Judith – who has published four collections of poetry in both free verse and poetic forms – talked about what she has learned from practicing the traditional, received forms, such as villanelles, sestinas, and so on, as well as by creating new forms that suit the subject matter at hand.

George Byron Wright Aug 2015
Constructing A Story: A Writer's Method. On retiring, native Oregonian George Byron Wright began fulfilling his boyhood desire to write. His novels are set in the towns of his youth: Baker City 1948, his first novel, was followed by Tillamook 1952, and Roseburg 1959. George then moved on to contemporary fiction with the novels, Driving to Vernonia and Newport Blues, A Salesman’s Lament.
Wright’s sixth novel has just been published: “In the Wake of Our Misdeed”. He will use his new book to describe how he goes about creating a work of fiction. Dissecting the seemingly mysterious creative process seems illusory, and maybe it is, but Wright will tell how arriving at that floating island of creativity requires him to first deal in a host absolutes, and how these free him to swim with the figures of his imagination.
Constructing A Story: A Writer's Method. On retiring, native Oregonian George Byron Wright began fulfilling his boyhood desire to write. His novels are set in the towns of his youth: Baker City 1948, his first novel, was followed by Tillamook 1952, and Roseburg 1959. George then moved on to contemporary fiction with the novels, Driving to Vernonia and Newport Blues, A Salesman’s Lament.
Wright’s sixth novel has just been published: “In the Wake of Our Misdeed”. He will use his new book to describe how he goes about creating a work of fiction. Dissecting the seemingly mysterious creative process seems illusory, and maybe it is, but Wright will tell how arriving at that floating island of creativity requires him to first deal in a host absolutes, and how these free him to swim with the figures of his imagination.

Nancy Feldman July 2015
Family Medical History: Unknown / Adopted. Being perfectly happy with the loving family she had, Nancy Feldman never took an interest in finding her biological parents until diagnosed with a disease she had passed on to her son. Suddenly, Nancy’s lack of family history was affecting someone else. Nancy wrote a letter to the Nebraska Children’s Home Society for help, and the adoption agency assigned her case to Rebecca Crofoot. This began a 17-year journey between the two women who were determined to find information about a family that might not know, or want to know, Nancy existed.
Nancy conversed with us about her personal journey and her relationship with Ms. Crofoot, as well as the experience of developing the whole into a book.
Family Medical History: Unknown / Adopted. Being perfectly happy with the loving family she had, Nancy Feldman never took an interest in finding her biological parents until diagnosed with a disease she had passed on to her son. Suddenly, Nancy’s lack of family history was affecting someone else. Nancy wrote a letter to the Nebraska Children’s Home Society for help, and the adoption agency assigned her case to Rebecca Crofoot. This began a 17-year journey between the two women who were determined to find information about a family that might not know, or want to know, Nancy existed.
Nancy conversed with us about her personal journey and her relationship with Ms. Crofoot, as well as the experience of developing the whole into a book.

Maggie Chula June 2015
Living In The Moment: A Haiku Life. Haiku poet Matsuo Basho wrote “when writing about the bamboo, become the bamboo. When writing about the pine become the pine.”
For twelve years, Maggie Chula lived the life of a poet in a ramshackle Japanese house, wandering around mountain temples and gardens writing haiku. She also taught English and creative writing at Kyoto universities and studied the arts of flower arrangement and woodblock printing. Her seven collections of haiku, haibun, and tanka include Grinding my ink, which received a Haiku Society of America Book Award. Maggie currently serves as president of the Tanka Society of America and will talk about this little-known form as well as haiku, haibun, and how living in Kyoto inspired her writing.
Living In The Moment: A Haiku Life. Haiku poet Matsuo Basho wrote “when writing about the bamboo, become the bamboo. When writing about the pine become the pine.”
For twelve years, Maggie Chula lived the life of a poet in a ramshackle Japanese house, wandering around mountain temples and gardens writing haiku. She also taught English and creative writing at Kyoto universities and studied the arts of flower arrangement and woodblock printing. Her seven collections of haiku, haibun, and tanka include Grinding my ink, which received a Haiku Society of America Book Award. Maggie currently serves as president of the Tanka Society of America and will talk about this little-known form as well as haiku, haibun, and how living in Kyoto inspired her writing.

Cindy Brown May 2015
How to Be Funny On the Page (even if you're not in real life). Cindy Brown has been a theater geek – musician, actor, director, producer, and playwright – since her first professional gig at age 14. Now a full-time writer, she’s lucky enough to have garnered several awards and a three-book deal for her madcap mysteries. Macdeath, the first in her Ivy Meadows series was released in January and The Sound of Murder follows in October 2015. Cindy discussed with the audience the idea that a writer doesn’t need a quick wit, just a sense of humor. We all explored different types of comedy, identified our varied brands of humor, and learned the basic tenets of comedy in her interactive workshop.
How to Be Funny On the Page (even if you're not in real life). Cindy Brown has been a theater geek – musician, actor, director, producer, and playwright – since her first professional gig at age 14. Now a full-time writer, she’s lucky enough to have garnered several awards and a three-book deal for her madcap mysteries. Macdeath, the first in her Ivy Meadows series was released in January and The Sound of Murder follows in October 2015. Cindy discussed with the audience the idea that a writer doesn’t need a quick wit, just a sense of humor. We all explored different types of comedy, identified our varied brands of humor, and learned the basic tenets of comedy in her interactive workshop.

Tim Barnes April 2015
For April, our Conversations With Writers meeting was led by Tim Barnes. In addition to his five books of poetry, Tim's poems and essays have been published in several journals and magazines. He taught composition, literature, and creative writing at PCC for 25 years, seven as chair of the creative writing department.
Tim’s interests include poetry, mythology, the Bible as literature, environmental ethics, and endangered languages. At this moment, he believes that literature – poetry in particular – is a saving grace that can bring the world together, writer by reader and reader by writer, as an aesthetically driven survival technique for the heart and what it imagines it holds—the flesh and all its failings, feelings, and flights.
He talked about the ‘inside story’ of his own of writing life: The influences of parents, teachers and specific writers, the problem of making a living, and the rewards of the act of creating.
For April, our Conversations With Writers meeting was led by Tim Barnes. In addition to his five books of poetry, Tim's poems and essays have been published in several journals and magazines. He taught composition, literature, and creative writing at PCC for 25 years, seven as chair of the creative writing department.
Tim’s interests include poetry, mythology, the Bible as literature, environmental ethics, and endangered languages. At this moment, he believes that literature – poetry in particular – is a saving grace that can bring the world together, writer by reader and reader by writer, as an aesthetically driven survival technique for the heart and what it imagines it holds—the flesh and all its failings, feelings, and flights.
He talked about the ‘inside story’ of his own of writing life: The influences of parents, teachers and specific writers, the problem of making a living, and the rewards of the act of creating.

Turiya Autry March 2015
For nearly two-decades Turiya has been educating and motivating others. She has opened presentations for renowned leaders like Nikki Giovanni, Angela Davis and Hillary Clinton. Through assemblies, workshops & residencies, and several university courses, Turiya has illuminated the linked issues of American culture, personal identity, power and privilege, violence, and hip-hop culture. Her recently released collection of poetry, Roots, Reality & Rhyme is a poetic journey that bridges the personal & political, the mythic & the real.
The March conversation discussed 'Writing Yourself Out Of The Margins & Taking Center Stage' and 'Social Intersections And Their Modifications By Art'.
For nearly two-decades Turiya has been educating and motivating others. She has opened presentations for renowned leaders like Nikki Giovanni, Angela Davis and Hillary Clinton. Through assemblies, workshops & residencies, and several university courses, Turiya has illuminated the linked issues of American culture, personal identity, power and privilege, violence, and hip-hop culture. Her recently released collection of poetry, Roots, Reality & Rhyme is a poetic journey that bridges the personal & political, the mythic & the real.
The March conversation discussed 'Writing Yourself Out Of The Margins & Taking Center Stage' and 'Social Intersections And Their Modifications By Art'.

Angela Sanders February 2015
Angela Sanders worked more than a decade as a congressional investigator before becoming a freelance writer and vintage clothing aficionado in Portland. Angela’s articles on Pacific Northwest history, personalities, culture, and food have appeared in a variety of publications, and she is a weekly columnist for the popular perfume blog, Now Smell This. In June 2014, The Lanvin Murders, debuted as the first in her Vintage Clothing Mystery series. In fall 2014, the second in the series, Dior or Die, will be released.
For February Angela had a special treat for us. She conducted an interactive presentation on “how to build a mystery.” Between us all, we assembled a suitably gruesome murder, an intriguing cast, and a solid plot in under two hours.
Angela Sanders worked more than a decade as a congressional investigator before becoming a freelance writer and vintage clothing aficionado in Portland. Angela’s articles on Pacific Northwest history, personalities, culture, and food have appeared in a variety of publications, and she is a weekly columnist for the popular perfume blog, Now Smell This. In June 2014, The Lanvin Murders, debuted as the first in her Vintage Clothing Mystery series. In fall 2014, the second in the series, Dior or Die, will be released.
For February Angela had a special treat for us. She conducted an interactive presentation on “how to build a mystery.” Between us all, we assembled a suitably gruesome murder, an intriguing cast, and a solid plot in under two hours.

Carl Adamshick January 2015
Carl Adamshick is 2010 winner of the Walt Whitman Award and the William Stafford poet-in-residence at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. His Curses and Wishes won the 2010 Walt Whitman Award, and his work has been published in Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, The Missouri Review and Narrative. In addition, he is co-founder of Tavern Books Publishing.
Curses and Wishes is an effort to connect to world around us, rather than explain how we feel. That goes beyond being admirable, that is an example to all of us.
Poet Matthew Dickman explains Carl’s work: “He is a poet rarely found these days. He comes not from the land of MFA and writing programs, but from the outsider country of a self-made artist.”
Carl is both an author and a publisher of others’ poetry. As such, he was able to tell us about both parts of today’s poetry scene.
Carl Adamshick is 2010 winner of the Walt Whitman Award and the William Stafford poet-in-residence at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. His Curses and Wishes won the 2010 Walt Whitman Award, and his work has been published in Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, The Missouri Review and Narrative. In addition, he is co-founder of Tavern Books Publishing.
Curses and Wishes is an effort to connect to world around us, rather than explain how we feel. That goes beyond being admirable, that is an example to all of us.
Poet Matthew Dickman explains Carl’s work: “He is a poet rarely found these days. He comes not from the land of MFA and writing programs, but from the outsider country of a self-made artist.”
Carl is both an author and a publisher of others’ poetry. As such, he was able to tell us about both parts of today’s poetry scene.

Susan DeFreitas November 2014
Susan DeFreitas is a writer, editor, and spoken word artist. Her work has appeared in The Utne Reader, The Nervous Breakdown, Southwestern American Literature, Fourth River, Weber—The Contemporary West, and Bayou Magazine, among other publications. She holds an MFA from Pacific University and lives in Portland, Oregon, where she serves as an associate editor with Indigo Editing & Publications and a reader for Tin House Magazine.
Susan called the event, “Having It by Heart: Memorizing Poetry in the Digital Age”.
She discussed "the radical act of committing poetry to heart--both our own and that of other people--and the many pleasures and benefits this old-fashioned practice offers in the digital age."

Penelope Scambly Schott October 2014
Penelope’s verse biography A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth received the 2008 Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Her collection Crow Mercies (2010) got the Sarah Lantz Memorial Award from Calyx Press. New in 2013 were Lovesong for Dufur, poems about a small town in central Oregon, and Lillie Was a Goddess, Lillie Was a Whore, a verse history of prostitution.
Just published is a collection called How I Became an Historian. Penelope lives in Portland where she and her husband and their dog run the White Dog Poetry Salon and part-time in Dufur where she teaches an annual poetry workshop.
Penelope led the conversation about choosing the subjects for poems.
Penelope’s verse biography A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth received the 2008 Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Her collection Crow Mercies (2010) got the Sarah Lantz Memorial Award from Calyx Press. New in 2013 were Lovesong for Dufur, poems about a small town in central Oregon, and Lillie Was a Goddess, Lillie Was a Whore, a verse history of prostitution.
Just published is a collection called How I Became an Historian. Penelope lives in Portland where she and her husband and their dog run the White Dog Poetry Salon and part-time in Dufur where she teaches an annual poetry workshop.
Penelope led the conversation about choosing the subjects for poems.

Paulann Petersen September 2014
Crafty: William Stafford And The Art Of Artlessness
Was William Stafford “crafty?” Was he “skilled in underhandedness, deviousness, or deception?” Yes, but only in the sense that he was able to make his art seem artless. Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, has six full-length books of poetry, most recently Understory, from Lost Horse Press in 2013. Published in many journals and anthologies, she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts.
Paulann led an interactive exploration of a few aspects of William Stafford’s art. We looked at a number of Stafford poems and discussed them in terms of the craft that might have gone into their making - a way to alert us to the ways we might apply such craft to our own work, ways we might become “craftier” too.
Crafty: William Stafford And The Art Of Artlessness
Was William Stafford “crafty?” Was he “skilled in underhandedness, deviousness, or deception?” Yes, but only in the sense that he was able to make his art seem artless. Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, has six full-length books of poetry, most recently Understory, from Lost Horse Press in 2013. Published in many journals and anthologies, she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts.
Paulann led an interactive exploration of a few aspects of William Stafford’s art. We looked at a number of Stafford poems and discussed them in terms of the craft that might have gone into their making - a way to alert us to the ways we might apply such craft to our own work, ways we might become “craftier” too.

Leanne Grabel August 2014
Leanne Grabel is a poet, a teacher, and co-founder of Cafe Lena, site of Portland's longest running poetry open mike venue. Known for her poetry-based theatrical performances and illustrated poetry chapbooks, including Anne Sexton Was A Sexpot and The Last Weekend of Sylvia Plath, Grabel is currently a special education and language arts teacher working with underserved youth in treatment as part of Portland Public Schools’ Special Programs. Her multi-media performance “badgirls,” based on her prose poem of the same name, was staged in late 2011. Grabel has written and performed numerous spoken-word-based performance pieces, including One Woman Shoe, The Lighter Side of Chronic Depression, and Anger: The Musical. Among her poetry books are Lonesome and Very Quarrelsome Heroes, Flirtations and Short Poems by a Short Person. Grabel's stretched memoir brontosaurus was published in late 2011. Grabel is currently working on a book of prose poems called Assisted Living.
For her Conversations With Writers event, Grabel combined keyboard and voice to showcase work from all her various phases and collaborations, including her most recent attempt at an illustrated young adult graphic poem called The Little Poet.
Leanne Grabel is a poet, a teacher, and co-founder of Cafe Lena, site of Portland's longest running poetry open mike venue. Known for her poetry-based theatrical performances and illustrated poetry chapbooks, including Anne Sexton Was A Sexpot and The Last Weekend of Sylvia Plath, Grabel is currently a special education and language arts teacher working with underserved youth in treatment as part of Portland Public Schools’ Special Programs. Her multi-media performance “badgirls,” based on her prose poem of the same name, was staged in late 2011. Grabel has written and performed numerous spoken-word-based performance pieces, including One Woman Shoe, The Lighter Side of Chronic Depression, and Anger: The Musical. Among her poetry books are Lonesome and Very Quarrelsome Heroes, Flirtations and Short Poems by a Short Person. Grabel's stretched memoir brontosaurus was published in late 2011. Grabel is currently working on a book of prose poems called Assisted Living.
For her Conversations With Writers event, Grabel combined keyboard and voice to showcase work from all her various phases and collaborations, including her most recent attempt at an illustrated young adult graphic poem called The Little Poet.

Jill Kelly July 2014
Jill Kelly, PhD, is a Portland writer, freelance editor, and writing coach. Her memoir, Sober Truths: The Making of an Honest Woman, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She published two books in 2013: a novel, The Color of Longing, and a how-to book, Sober Play, about creativity for those in 12-Step programs. Her thriller novel, Fog of Dead Souls, was published this year by Skyhorse Publishing (New York), who will also be publishing her next novel, When Your Mother Doesn’t, in 2015. Jill has been editing fiction and non-fiction writers for traditional and self-publication for 18 years. She is also a writing and creativity coach and workshop leader. Her website is: www.jillkellyauthor.com
The theme of the discussion was: Keeping the Writing Going: Practices, Projects, and Support Groups. Her presentation included a 10-minute writing prompt.
Jill Kelly, PhD, is a Portland writer, freelance editor, and writing coach. Her memoir, Sober Truths: The Making of an Honest Woman, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She published two books in 2013: a novel, The Color of Longing, and a how-to book, Sober Play, about creativity for those in 12-Step programs. Her thriller novel, Fog of Dead Souls, was published this year by Skyhorse Publishing (New York), who will also be publishing her next novel, When Your Mother Doesn’t, in 2015. Jill has been editing fiction and non-fiction writers for traditional and self-publication for 18 years. She is also a writing and creativity coach and workshop leader. Her website is: www.jillkellyauthor.com
The theme of the discussion was: Keeping the Writing Going: Practices, Projects, and Support Groups. Her presentation included a 10-minute writing prompt.

Tim Applegate June 2014
Tim Applegate is a poet and freelance writer in western Oregon. His poetry, rich in revealing the life of workers and the art of their vocations, has been published in The Florida Review, The South Dakota Review, Rhino, Talking River Review, Fireweed, Lake Effect, and The Briar Cliff Review, among others. His film retrospectives appear in the online journals Kamera, 24 Frames Per Second, and The Film Journal. He is the author of At the End of Day and Drydock.
Tim also discussed work poems by poets Clemens Starck, Ginger Andrews, and Philip Levine.
Tim Applegate is a poet and freelance writer in western Oregon. His poetry, rich in revealing the life of workers and the art of their vocations, has been published in The Florida Review, The South Dakota Review, Rhino, Talking River Review, Fireweed, Lake Effect, and The Briar Cliff Review, among others. His film retrospectives appear in the online journals Kamera, 24 Frames Per Second, and The Film Journal. He is the author of At the End of Day and Drydock.
Tim also discussed work poems by poets Clemens Starck, Ginger Andrews, and Philip Levine.
Michelle Winter May 2014
When Michelle Winter moves through life, she leaves little bits of paper covered with word-paintings in her wake. Poem-notes travel in the margins of her planner, scribbled on handouts and fliers, on napkins and the backs of receipts. A poet, artist, educator and art director, Michelle seeks to encourage other artists and writers to find their voices. She lives in the Oregon Coast Range with her husband and three children. For May 2014, she discussed: "Poetry for the Rest of Us: Finding Your Voice in All Those Words" and illustrated some of her poems with corresponding quilts, also of her own creation. |
VoiceCatcher Anthology:
Carolyn Martin, Annie Lighthart, and Darlene Pagán April 2014 VoiceCatcher is a nonprofit community that connects, inspires and empowers women writers and artists in the greater Portland / Vancouver area. As a member of the Oregon Cultural Trust, they have published 6 anthologies of poetry, prose and visual art. They can be found online at http://voicecatcherjournal.org/. We take great pleasure in presenting not one, but three noted poets: Carolyn Martin, Annie Lighthart, and Darlene Pagán. All are well-published poets, and two have taught at institutions of higher education. In addition to reading and discussing their personal stories, they will also talk about the new world of online publishing, its advantages and disadvantages, and the need to adapt to it. Carolyn Martin, Ph.D., is blissfully retired in Clackamas, OR, where she gardens, writes and plays with creative colleagues. Currently, she is president of the board of VoiceCatcher, a nonprofit community that connects, inspires and empowers women writers and artists in greater Portland/Vancouver. An award-winning poet, she has appeared in publications such as Stirring, Persimmon Tree, Ekphrastia Gone Wild, and Becoming: What Makes A Woman. Her first collection of poems, Finding Compass, was published by Queen of Wands Press, Portland, OR in 2011. Annie Lighthart began writing poetry after her first visit to an Oregon old-growth forest. Iron String, her first book of poetry, was published in 2013 by Airlie Press. Her poems have appeared in The Greensboro Review, Hunger Mountain, Cimarron Review, and other journals. She has taught at Boston College, as a poet in the schools, and for community groups of all ages. She holds an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts and now writes from a small green corner of Portland, Oregon. Darlene Pagán, Ph.D., teaches writing and literature at Pacific University in Oregon. She has a chapbook, Blue Ghosts (Finishing Line Press), and a full-length collection forthcoming from Airlie Press called Setting the Fire. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Field, CALYX, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Poet Lore, Hiram Poetry Review, Lake Effect, and Hawaii Pacific Review. Her essays have earned national awards and appeared in venues such as Memoir(and), Brevity, The Nebraska Review, and Literal Latté. She is a member of the writer’s group Broads on the Side, and enjoys hiking, biking, the beach, the rain, and carnival rides now that her sons are just tall enough to ride. |
Diana Kay Lubarsky March 2014
Diana moved from New York to Oregon in 2005, after 46-years as a physical therapist. In addition, she began sculpting in the 1970s, & became the creator of more than 50 pieces, many of which are now in the permanent collection of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. Her sculptures can be viewed online along with commentary at www.Holocaustimages.com. We asked her to talk about these as well as her writing because we felt both are kinds of Stories Within Her – stories she needs to tell. Since retirement, Diana has turned her attention to writing, an activity she began at age 13 and continued in one form or another her whole life. She has written poetry, prose, newsletter articles, and even a sci-fi novel. Her current project is a book-length collection of short stories under the working title Dante’s Angels. It is about five old Jewish ladies who meet in Oregon and become each others’ support system while facing the challenges of life in their senior years. As we all heard, they are full of life and humor. |
Barbara Drake February 2014
Barbara Drake taught creative writing at Linfield College for 24 years, and has also taught a number of interdisciplinary courses. Her poetry books include Driving One Hundred, Love at the Egyptian Theatre, Space Before A, What We Say to Strangers, Life in a Gothic Novel, Bees in Wet Weather, and Small Favors. Her memoir, Peace at Heart: an Oregon Country Life was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and her Writing Poetry is a widely-used college textbook. Her new collection of essays, Morning Light, will appear in the fall of 2014. Barbara discussed the Role of Inspiration in Creative Writing - What it is, how you can find it, and how to make it work for you. We discussed and experimented with a variety of ways for tapping into our creative spirit and working with the unconscious. |
Brent Johnson January 2014
Brent is a member of the English department faculty at Pacific University in Forest Grove. He has published creative nonfiction essays and poetry in journals ranging from Ascent and RiverTeeth to Gray’s Sporting Journal and North American Review. He is currently working on a memoir based on his travels in an RV with his family through Montana as well as a chapbook of fly fishing poems. He and his wife, with their two sons, live in Hillsboro. His presentation enlightened us on the subject of personal travel writing. His project began in one direction, fell terribly apart, and turned toward another, better, direction. He told us about that and what he has learned along the way regarding process and craft. |
Tiah Lindner Ralphael November 2013
Tiah is a writer, editor, and teacher living in Portland. As a practicing poet, she relishes the energy of writing groups, workshop, and critique. When she isn’t playing with words, Tiah can be found fighting the travel bug or indulging her other creative interests, including photography, urban gardening, and (mostly successful) culinary experimentation. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Film Studies from the University of Oregon and an M.S. in Writing and Book Publishing from Portland State University. Her work is forthcoming in CutBank Literary Magazine and in an anthology of Oregon poets edited by Peter Sears. |
Wendy Chin-Tanner October 2013
http://wearekin.org/about.html Wendy Chin-Tanner is a founding editor at Kin Poetry Journal, a poetry editor at both Stealing Time Magazine and The Nervous Breakdown, and a staff interviewer at Lantern Review. Wendy is the author of Turn, published by Sibling Rivalry Press in March, 2014. She has been nominated for the 2012 Best of the Net Award and her poems, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous journals including The Mays Anthology of Oxford and Cambridge, The Saint Ann’s Review, The Raintown Review, Praxilla, Melusine, Mascara Literary Review, Umbrella, Softblow, Angle, and Lantern Review. She is a founding editor at Kin Poetry Journal, poetry editor at Stealing Time Magazine and The Nervous Breakdown, staff interviewer at Lantern Review, co-founder of publisher A Wave Blue World. Additionally, she is an online sociology instructor at Cambridge University, UK. |
Wendy Thompson Sept 2013
Wendy Thompson is a poet, educator, arts administrator, hiker, kayaker, singer, and theatre fan. She has been an arts educator for over two decades, helped open the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics in Washington State, and worked as a facilitator for The Right Brain Initiative. Her award winning poetry has been published in Arnazella, Poet’s Ink, Synapse, Song of Ourselves, VoiceCatcher, and Spoleto 2000. She was selected to attend Flight of the Mind Writers’ workshop and Spoleto Writers’ Symposium in Spoleto, Italy. With an MFA in dance, Ms. Thompson published professional articles in, Teaching Tolerance, Science & Children, and Impulse Journal. Wendy was our first presenter at the Hillsboro Library (Main Branch). |
Steve Theme August 2013
stevetheme.com Steve wrote for the corporate world for a 25 years, then decided to leave to write full time. His writing has appeared in Alaska magazine, The Seattle Review, The Seattle Times, Personnel Journal, Weird Reports.com, The Spokesman Review, Work Literary Magazine, and others. He won 1st place in the 2010 Oregon Writers Colony Short Story Contest. Recently he finished a book-length manuscript, Asphalt Asylum, A 6,000 Mile Portrait of America. He discussed various approaches to help surround an audience with a story, including: Creating the listener as the poem; becoming someone else; song and dance, music integral to a story, and summed up with a snippet from a classic. He lives in Beaverton with his wife of more than 20 years. |
Barbara LaMorticella July 2013
Barbara has edited three collections of poetry including Portland Lights in 2000. In 1997, her second collection of poems, Rain on Waterless Mountain, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She received the first Oregon Literary Fellowship for women writers (2000), and was awarded the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award in 2005. Her work has been featured in many anthologies, including Poverty and Poetry, Not a Muse and Eating the Pure Light. She's been featured at Bumbershoot, Seattle's Music and Arts Festival, where she won a Bumbershoot Big Book Award. She hosts a regular poetry program, The Talking Earth, on KBOO-FM in Portland |
Andrea Hollander June 2013
andreahollander.net/AHB_website/About_Andrea.html Andrea is the author of three chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections: Woman in the Painting, The Other Life, and House Without a Dreamer, which won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. She is the editor of a women's anthology, When She Named Fire. Other honors include the D. H. Lawrence Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize for prose memoir, the Runes Poetry Award, two poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two from the Arkansas Arts Council. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous anthologies, college textbooks, and literary journals. Since 1991 she has been the Writer-in-Residence at Lyon College, where she was awarded the Lamar Williamson Prize for Excellence in Teaching. |
Sue Parman May, 2013
sueparman.com Our very own Hillsboro author, Sue is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist, and fiction writer. Her books include: Scottish Crofters; Europe in the Anthropological Imagination; Dream and Culture; and the Making of Anthropology. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications. Her chapbook The Thin Monster House was published by Finishing Line Press last year. Her presentation concerned her “effort to define poetry and look at its evolutionary significance", tying together Jack Handey, poetry, and epilepsy. William Stafford said that poetry was a serious joke. Should we take him seriously? |
Phil Meehan April, 2013
A native Oregonian, Phil Meehan has worked as a chef for 40 years. His light verse deals with the love of food, music and the women in his life, and has appeared in Willamette Bridge and Open Spaces. In addition, he has published a chapbook "Dance Lessons" celebrating his love of Irish music and dance as a way to reconnect with his ancestry. He is currently working on a manuscript entitled "My New Blue Flame" which uses his experience as a chef for content and inspire the imagination. Raised on Robert Service and schooled by Jesuits, he writes narrative and formal poetry that attempts to elevate the familiar. |
Judith Arcana March, 2013
juditharcana.com Judith Arcana's writing has been published in a diverse, range of magazines, journals and anthologies. Her books include 4th Period English, What If Your Mother, Grace Paley’s Life Stories, Every Mother’s Son, and Our Mothers’ Daughters. New in 2012 is the poetry collection The Parachute Jump Effect. She has received awards and grants from founda- tions across the country. She has taught literature, writing and interdisciplinary topics in Women's Studies in high schools, colleges, libraries, living rooms, a state prison and a county jail. She holds a PhD in Literature from Loyola University, an MA in Women's Studies, an Urban Preceptorship in Preventive Medicine and a BA in English from Northwestern. |
Dennis McBride February, 2013
Dennis McBride is a Portland-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Oregonian, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and various other publications, including Rain City Review, Talus and Scree, Broken Word Anthology (Vols. 1 & 2), in the Canadian magazine, Open Minds, as well as in the California magazine, Journal. He is the author of two books of poetry and satire, Looking for Peoria and Killing the Mockingbird, both from Quiet Lion Press. His work has also been featured on NBC radio (L.A.). He was the 1996 recipient of the Andreas Berger Award for Poetry, and his work has received positive notice from two Pulitzer Prize winners, the late author William Styron and playwright Edward Albee. |
Karen Hessen January, 2013
karenrhessen.com Karen Hessen is a freelance author of inspirational non-fiction and humor. She denies being a poet but does admit to writing very poetic prose. Her monthly column, “Out of the Ark” can be found in the Lincoln City News Guard and the Seaside Signal. Her work has been published in Guideposts, four editions of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, The Mother’s Heart Magazine, Apple Hill Cider Press, Vista, Seeds of…, God makes Lemonade, The Secret Place, and others. She is a member of Writers in the Grove and the Christian Writers Guild, where she completed both the apprentice and journeyman writing programs. |
Brittney Corrigan November, 2012
brittneycorrigan.com Brittney Corrigan's books have been published by Finishing Line Press and Habit of Rainy Night's Press. Additionally, her work has been published in over two-dozen journals and anthologies, including Cider Press Review, Voicecatcher, and The Prose Poem Project. She has also received an Honorable Mention from the Academy of American Poets. She lives in Portland. |
Jana Zvibleman and Robert A. Davies October, 2012
October’s presentation was a second act for the Fault Lines anthology. Jana Zvibleman lives in Corvallis, and is both a writer and painter. Her writing has been featured at several literary events and published in numerous journals; and her visual arts have appeared in art galleries. She has been an active board member for Willamette Valley events. She refers to herself as the 'Poet-Laureate of her backyard'. Robert A. Davies lives in Portland and was formerly a professor of English at Pacific University. His work is hard-edged, and passionate. He has been published widely, including the online journals PoetryMagazine.com, and CounterPunch.com, as well as print journal Windfall. His works include Timber, Sometimes Subversive, and Melons and Mendelssohn. |
Ingrid Wendt and Ralph Salisbury September, 2012
ingridwendt.com and ralphsalisbury.com They are spouses and remarkable poets. She is the author of five full-length books of poetry, one chapbook, two anthologies, a guidance book for poetry teachers that is used in the United States and Germany, and more than 200 individual poems featured in a variety of publications. She has taught literature and poetry for more than 30 years at all educational levels, and including overseas. He is the author of 10 poetry books and three fiction books. He has received many awards, including three Fulbright professorships and a lectureship to India. He has worked as writer, editor, translator, as well as a teacher of literature and writing for over a half century. His writing as been published continuously throughout the world, including the United States, India, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway and France. They reside in Eugene, and came to Hillsboro specifically for their appearance at CWW. |
Alan Roth August, 2012
Alan, a writer for 20 years, grows bamboos, grasses, trees and other perennials. With this nature background, his poetry style is surprising: It displays both satire and mysticism, and add levels of creativity to the experiences and/or dreams that inspired them. His works invite – perhaps require – rereading to plum their depths of their concepts. Each return becomes a discovery of additional facets. His chapbook, The Light Through The Hole In The Map, was a gift to all attendees. He discussed where each poem came from, and how his work had evolved. |
Steve Dieffenbacher July, 2012
Like the best Western poets, Dieffenbacher finds the expansiveness of deserts, mountains, land and sky expressive of internal states. He has lived in Oregon's Rogue Valley since 1989. His poem Emptiness won the 2010 poetry prize spon- sored by Cloudbank magazine of Corvallis. He has been published in numerous regional journals, including Fireweed, Manzanita Quarterly, Mountains and Rivers, and West Wind Review. Besides his many awards for poetry, he has been a journalist for 35 years, and is currently a newspaper editor and columnist. His latest book, recently published, is The Sky Is A Bird Of Sorrow. |
Carolyn Martin and Tiel Aisha Ansari June, 2012
knockingfrominside.blogspot.com (Tiel's) Carolyn is president of the board of directors of VoiceCatcher, a nonprofit publisher connecting women writers and artists in greater Portland. Her first collection of poems, Finding Compass, was published in July 2011. Tiel appeared before our members two years earlier, and is the author of Knocking from the Inside, Ideas in Abundance, Killing Time, 47 Haiku, and Illuminations From Inside. Her poetry has won numerous awards. She is a member of the executive board of the Oregon Poetry Association In addition, the editor and father of the Fault Lines anthology, Tony Pfannenstiel, was there to answer questions concerning the book, the task of publication, and novel approaches to disseminating poetry. |
Jane Elder Wulff, Cornetta Smith and Belva Jean Griffen May, 2012
www.linkedin.com/pub/jane-elder-wulff/18/354/490 Jane has been a freelance editor and writer since 1988, contracting independently for individuals, families and corporations. Additionally, she has written for Senior Messenger, Washington Magazine, Vancouver Business Journal, and The Peninsula Magazine. Cornetta, with a background in non-profit management, resource development, and program administration has, for the past 30 years, led teams through program development, including fund raising. She is currently Program Director for the Multnomah County Healthy Birth Initiatives Program. Belva was born in 1927, moved with her family first to Vanport, Oregon in 1944 and to Vancouver, Washington in 1948. She is author of Pass It On, an autobiographical account of her journey from a small Oklahoma town to Vancouver. |
Joseph A. Soldati April, 2012
josephsoldati.com/index.html Joe has published three books of poems, including Apocalypse Clam and On Account of Darkness. Additionally, his poems have been published in numerous journals. He is a member of the Friends of William Stafford and former Chair of its Board of Trustees. |
Jon Seaman March, 2012
www.jonEseaman.com and www.jonEseaman.blogspot.com Jon is a Beaverton poet, healthcare activist, and grateful kidney transplant recipient. His poetry has won awards from the Oregon Poetry Association (Poet's Choice), Portland Pen Award and The Naugatuck River Review Narrative Contest. His work has also appeared in numerous journals. |
Don Colburn February, 2012
doncolburn.net Don is a writer and semi-retired journalist. His poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies as well as in his own books, and won several Awards. During his career, he was a reporter for The Washington Post and The Oregonian, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. |
Paul Merchant January, 2012
Paul is the William Stafford Archivist at Lewis & Clark College. His long and distinguished career includes editorship and translator of Modern Poetry In Translation 4 (1968), as well as translator of several other poetry books. His own collection of poems Bone from a Stag’s Heart was a 1988 British Poetry Book Society Recommendation. His fourth collection of poems, Some Business of Affinity (2006), was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award. |
Christopher Luna and Toni Partington November, 2011
christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com and printedmattervancouver.com/ Christopher is a poet, artist, editor, and teacher. His recent, "To Be Named and Other Poetic Delights," is an art book and 200+ page poem created in collaboration with Toni and David Madgalene. Toni is a poet, editor, collage artist, career coach, and grant writer. She is author of Wind Wing, and her work has appeared in several journals. She is associate editor Voice-Catcher, an annual Pacific Northwest anthology of women writers. In addition Toni and Christopher are co-hosts of the Ghost Town open mic poetry series at Cover to Cover Books in Vancouver; and founders of Printed Matter Vancouver, a small press that also provides editing & coaching services to writers. |
Leah Stenson October, 2011
leahstenson.com Leah brings together years living in Japan, the practice of Buddhism, intimacy in writing, and poetry activism as host and facilitator of reading events. These combine to produce a someone who understands the importance of the “we”. I highly recommend her Studio Series at Stonehenge Studios. |
Dave Jarecki September, 2011
davejarecki.com Dave owns Breakerboy Communications, a writing firm that helps businesses, individuals and non-profit organizations communicate through story. In addition, he facilitates writing workshops for youth and adult writers throughout the Greater Portland area, and is an adjunct faculty member at the Attic Institute. His fiction, non-fiction and poetry have appeared in several journals and publications. |
Susan Munger August, 2011
Susan’s experience is unusually varied: She has written fiction, short stories and songs since childhood; and radio commentary, ad copy, and articles for business magazines as an adult. She has also written two handbooks and taught a community college course on personal money management. While recuperating from cancer she wrote stories for and about her children, as well as one about – as she describes it – “a very satisfying murder of a bad politician”. Finally, she has been active in the administrative area of adult education. |
Constance Hall and Steve Williams July, 2011
figuresofspeechpdx.wordpress.com/bios-of-steve-and-constance/ Constance is an Associate Poetry Editor for Stirring: A Literary Collection since 1999. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of journals. She is also managing Editor for VoiceCatcher. Steve is a graduate from PSU with a degree in Psychology. His work also has been published in several journals. Additionally, they are co-chairs for the Portland unit of the OSPA, the Figures of Speech Reading Series, and a monthly critique group that meets at Stonehenge Studios and is open to the public. |
Emily Pittman Newberry June, 2011
butterflyarose.com and wizense.com Emily Pittman Newberry is a writer and performance poet, who traveled a long spiritual journey of inner truth-seeking to learn to accept herself as a transgendered woman. She has a degree in sociology and is active in resolving misunderstanding and mistrust toward the LGBT community. |
Aron Bernstein May, 2011
Aron is part of the teaching staff at Westside Music School in Beaverton. He also gives private music lessons in piano, music theory, and ear training. He believes in an intuitive approach to writing, with each piece revealing its unique meter and sense of form during the writing process. In 2010, his short story, Tunnel Vision, received 3rd prize in the Fiction Category from the Oregon Writers Colony. |
David Cooke April, 2011
theguttery.com David Cooke lives and writes in Portland. His debut poem Edges won the Ruth Stone Poetry Prize and was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize. His work has appeared in several publications and been featured in several performances in the Portland/Vancouver area. His guiding principle in poetry is the use of ambiguity to create depth, breadth and variety. He is one of the founders of the poetry group, The Guttery. |
John Sibley Williams March, 2011
jswilliamspoetry.blogspot.com/ and inflectionism.com John is the author of six chapbooks, winner of the HEART Poetry Award, and finalist for the Pushcart and Rumi Poetry Prizes. He has served as Acquisitions Manager of Ooligan Press and Publicist for Three Muses Press and holds an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Book Publishing. He is also one of the founding members of Inflectionism, a poetic movement grown out of discussions among three poets. |
Barbara Ford and Roberta Plummer February, 2011
Barbara and Roberta are Vancouver Washington poets. Neither has attempted to get published, yet between them they have an immense collection of poetry accumulated over decades of writing. In addition, Barbara brought a recording of a band singing a song whose lyrics she wrote. Finally, Barbara was a storyteller at the presentation, interspersing her poems with tales of her grandparent's travails in Russia. In short, she constructed a unified and moving presentation. |
David Rutiezer January, 2011
web.mac.com/creativedavid/CreativeDavid/Home.html David has multiple talents: He writes poetry and articles, is a trained actor, sings and plays keyboard, performs a one-man musical variety show, teaches singing and folk dancing, and is available for writing, editing, and educational projects. |
Tola (A. Molotkov) November, 2010
amolotkov.com , theguttery.com and inflectionism.com A. Molotkov is a writer, composer, filmmaker and visual artist, and winner of distinguished awards and nominations. He blends art forms to build a varied body of work in which individual components contribute to a greater whole. He is also one of the founding members of Inflectionism, a poetic movement grown out of discussions among three poets. |
Sue Parman October, 2010
sueparman.com Sue has received numerous writing awards, including four first-place awards from the Oregon Poetry Association and Oregon Writers Colony, two Kay Snow Awards from Willamette Writers, and Honorable Mentions from Best Travel Writing Annual Solas Awards and Oregon Humanities. Her short stories, plays, and essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. Her presentation was on the subject of line-breaking, and included an exercise for the audience members. |
Diane Cammer September, 2010
Diane is a photographer, graphic designer, award-winning poet, and sci-fi writer. She has taught poetry workshops through the Fort Vancouver Library, and conducted two critique groups, one for novels and another focusing on poetry. She has represented Vancouver area writers at the Tacoma Poetry Showdown. Her work has appeared in two anthologies, and has won an award from the Kay Snow Writing Contest. |
Mary McIntosh August, 2010
Mary is a poet and freelance editor in Vancouver, WA. She has published her poetry in small literary magazines and most recently, in VoiceCatcher 5, an anthology of Portland-area women writers. Her poem, “Salvation,” also won Honorable Mention in the Oregon State Poetry Association contest spring 2007.She has given creative writing workshops for groups in Northern California and Washington. |
Mary Slocum July, 2010
maryslocum.com Both an attender and a guest presenter at Last Monday Poetry, she has been active on the poetry scene for over two decades. In addition, she has promoted other poets, and especially, social and political causes. Her collected poems were published in Sixty Years of Lookin’ in March, 2012. |
Mark Thalman May, 2010
markthalman.com/home and poetry.us.com Mark is one of our own West-Siders, living in Forest Grove and teaching in Hillsboro. His poetry has been published in many journals, and he now promotes the poetry community through his poetry.us.com website, which features the work of many renowned Oregon writers. His Catching The Limit was published in 2009. |
Leslea Smith April, 2010
Leslea spoke to our group about Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) programs – what’s involved in attaining them, and how they can benefit writers. A member of the our poetry group since its inception, she has been published in Verseweavers and Cirque, and her review of Patricia Hampl's I Could Tell You Stories was published in Story Circle Book Reviews. |
Shawn Sorensen March, 2010
store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2679 Shawn has won a first-prize from the Oregon Poetry Association, and is the organizer and host of the monthly Last Tuesday poetry event at Barnes & Noble in Vancouver, where he is Community Relations Manager. He also is a regular columnist on Sage Cohen's blog, "Writing the Life Poetic". |
Brad Wolthers December, 2009
mountainsandriverspress.org/Authors.aspx Brad is a woodworker, poet, and photographer living in Hillsboro, Oregon. He published haiku and poetry consistently in the 1980s and '90s and is a student of the haiku form of the late Lorraine Ellis Harr. He coauthored two books (1994 and 2009), and authored Sand, Stone, and Other Living Things in 2011. |