The WordFest gathering on Tuesday, July 7, features a strong line-up of accomplished writers.

Oregon author Ellen Urbani will be reading from her newly published novel, Landfall (Forest Avenue Press, 2015), a work of historical fiction set in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

 

Originally from the South, Ellen is also author of the memoir When I Was Elena (The Permanent Press, 2006), a Book Sense Notable selection documenting her life in Guatemala during the final years of that country’s civil war. Her work has drawn praise from the likes of Pat Conroy (Prince of Tides, The Great Santini) and Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café,) and her autobiographical essays and short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies as well as The New York Times.

 

 

Former Lower Columbia College instructor Joe Green will be reading from his most recent collection of poetry, titled What Water Does at a Time Like This (MoonPath Press, 2015). Joe retired from LCC after 25 years of teaching to concentrate on writing, playing music, and producing letterpress-printed poetry broadsides through The Peasandcues Press.

His previous collections include That Thread Still Connecting Us (MoonPath, 2012), The End of Forgiveness (Floating Bridge, 2001), Greatest Hits: 1975—2000, (Pudding House, 2001), Deluxe Motel (The Signpost Press, 1991), and His Inadequate Vocabulary (Signpost, 1986).

Joe’s poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The Bellingham Review, Nimrod, Pearl, Pontoon, Slipstream, Hubbub, Litspeak Dresden (Germany), The Stony Thursday Book (Ireland), The Threepenny Review, and Wilderness, among others.

 

 

 

 

 

Retired physician Dan Roberts will read from his novel in progress, The VRSA Syndrome, a medical thriller that was a finalist at the PNWA Conference two years ago. The story is about Rick Caldwell, a family doctor and single dad. His rocky relationship with his pre-teen daughter becomes complicated by a family friend’s mysterious and deadly illness, and by Rick’s partial ownership of a company that conducts clinical trials.

 

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meet the first Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. The events are free and open to the public.

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

 

 

 

 

The June 2 WordFest will feature a group of poets who produced a book of their own poems, titled Poetry from the Circle.

 

Two years ago, former LCC English instructor Deborah Brink Woehrmann joined a group of Portland poets who had been meeting for three years.

This last November the four of them decided to compile a selection of their poems, written over the past year. Each would contribute ten poems. They used the book creating “Espresso Machine” at Powell’s City of Books. Deborah’s husband, Ludger, helped with the layout and designed the book’s cover.

“Not hard at all when you have someone technical to help with details of layout!” said Deborah. “It wasn’t any more expensive than it would have been to copy the pages at a copy shop, and the product was more rewarding.”

They are now thinking of producing a book of their poetry each year, and are also considering adding poems from outside their group. “I know some very powerful voices that aren’t necessarily picked up by the mainstream presses,” said Deborah.

The four will be reading selections from their poetry and discuss their group.
 

Edee Lemonier will be reading an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Magnolia. Set in the Deep South, it is the story about what it takes to survive abuse and insurmountable odds, and the psychological toll it takes on everyone.

Edee’s work has appeared in Clark College Foundation’s Partners Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Nailed Magazine.

 

 

WordFest regular Ed Putka will depart from the humorous tales about his Cleveland childhood and read a short story set in the Pacific Northwest. Titled A Fish Story, it involves the high jinks of a couple of fictional fish bandits.

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 
This monthly gathering of readers and writers meet the first Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. The events are free and open to the public.

 

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

Dan Berne will be the featured writer at the next WordFest gathering on Tuesday, May 5.

A marketing consultant, Dan’s debut novel, The Gods of Second Chances, was published last year by Forest Avenue Press—who also published the works of earlier WordFest readers, Stevan Allred (A Simplified Map of the Real World) and Kate Gray (Carry the Sky.)

 

Dan’s novel was one of the top Staff Picks at Powell’s City of Books in 2014. It concerns a widowed Alaskan fisherman, Ray Bancroft, who is raising his granddaughter with the help from a multitude of gods and goddesses, along with native rituals offered by his half-Tlingit friend. Ray’s quiet life is threatened when his estranged daughter returns from prison, bringing with her painful memories of their unhappy past, and threatening everything Ray holds dear.

 

 

 

 

Kelley Jacquez will read excerpts from an “autobiography in progress” she is writing with Mark Reynolds, who spent 30 years in state and federal prisons, as well as juvenile facilities since the age of 15. Currently titled A Guide to Surviving Prison 101, it depicts what prisons are really like.

 

Kelley is the author of Holding Woman and Other Stories of Acceptable Madness, a collection of interwoven short stories that was chosen as a Southwest Book of the Year for 2014.

 

Rozanna Landavazo will be reading her poetry, written in different poetic forms including Haiku and Shadorma. Living in Longview for the past 21 years, Rozanna worked 12 years as a hospice social worker, which she has also written about.
She worked on a college newspaper, wrote feature newspaper articles, and received the Emily Dickinson poetry award from a Minnesota college.

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 

This monthly gathering of readers and writers meet the first Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. The events are free and open to the public.

 

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

 

 

 

 

Carolyn Caines will host the next WordFest gathering on Tuesday, April 7, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

Carolyn has written several books of poetry, including My Substitute Life, drawn from her five years as a substitute teacher in the Kelso School District, In the Noiseless Night, A String of Perils, and Sunshine in My Suitcase, as well as a Young Adult novel, Passage To Love, An Ellis Island Love Story.

 

 

 

Pamela Stanek, who writes under the name Pamela Deane, will be reading from her book, The Byers Avenue Bunny Club, a fictional story about growing up in post-World War II Ricochet, a snug little community nestled in the rolling, sage-brush hills along the Columbia River.

Pamela was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest.  She began teaching high school when she was fifty, retired at sixty-five, and today enjoys spending her time writing. She read previously from her novel, The Translation of Max.

 

 

 

 

Lorraine Merrin will be reading a selection of her often witty and whimsical, occasionally dark poems.

Lorri’s poetry has appeared in number of publications including The Salal Review, Quercus Review, Tar Wolf, The Great American Poetry Show anthology (Vol. 2) and the Wordfest anthology, That Holiday Feeling.

 

 

 

Carlin Lohrey, author of the historical novel, The Caves of Lavar, will read from her Young Adult novel, Spy Secrets, about two boys in the seventh grade who become inspired by a book about spies and their techniques. They start to develop suspicions about a neighbor, convinced that the strange contraption he’s working on in his basement is a bomb.

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 

Cassava, located at 1333 Broadway in Longview, Washington, offers local wines and brews as well as a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal and beverage with the readings.

 

 

The next WordFest gathering will be on Tuesday, March 3, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

 

Cam Parvitee will be launching her recently published novel Black Dragons: The Gang. It concerns a tai chi group of senior citizens who form their own street gang to address the rising teenage gang problem in their community, and in the process assume the task of mentoring a group of middle school kids.

A graduate of Cal State University, Cam is a retired public school teacher. A memoir piece of hers was included in the WordFest anthology, That Holiday Feeling.

 

 

 

 

Susan Taylor will read from the novel she is currently writing, titled The Death Index, based on her experience as a federal whistle blower. Susan served as an expert witness for several civil and criminal cases while she was a computer systems analyst and researcher for Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Washington, and other agencies and institutions.

 

Alan Rose will read his short story, “The Conquest of Mt. St. Helens: A somewhat true account of the harrowing 1999 assault on the treacherous peak.”

Coordinator of the monthly WordFest gatherings, Alan is the author of two novels, The Legacy of Emily Hargraves (2007), a paranormal mystery, and Tales of Tokyo (2010), a modern quest novel set in contemporary Japan, and of a novella, The Unforgiven, published by Bold Strokes Books in 2012. Alan also hosts and produces the KLTV program, Book Chat, and is the book reviewer for The Columbia River Reader.

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meet the first Tuesday of each month. The events are free and open to the public.

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.