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Yearly Archives: 2023

May WordFest features stories of women finding their inner strength

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WordFest will feature true stories of women discovering the fortitude to overcome enormous challenges at our next event on Tuesday, May 9, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

Women’s history author Marianne Monson will read from The Opera Sisters, a historical novel based on the true story of the Cook sisters who smuggled valuables out of 1930s Nazi Germany to finance a daring operation to help Jews escape to England. 

British sisters Ida and Louise Cook were enjoying quiet, unassuming lives in south London when Hitler came to power in 1933 and began persecuting German Jews. Jewish members of the opera community approached the sisters for help. The two sisters devised a plan to personally escort Jewish refugees out of Germany, smuggling jewelry and furs beneath the watchful eyes of SS soldiers, before the country’s borders were closed. The Opera Sisters is a riveting and inspiring novel of two unlikely heroines whose courage and compassion helped many to escape Nazi persecution.

Marianne received her MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of twelve books. Her 2016 novel, Frontier Grit, was nominated for an American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Award, and her 2018 Women of the Blue and Gray was awarded a silver medal in the military category by Foreword Reviews. She has taught English and Creative Writing at several community colleges and universities and is founder and President of The Writer’s Guild, a literary nonprofit based in Astoria, Oregon. Find more information  at: www.mariannemonson.com

Award winning author Ashley Bugge knows tragedy and triumph. Her debut memoir, Always Coming Back Home, detailing the 2018 tragic scuba diving accident that claimed her young husband’s life, has won multiple awards. Her new book, The Ocean is Calling, is the story of her life’s greatest love and loss: the death of her spouse followed by giving birth to her child alone. Bugge takes readers through a journey, from a bitter dark night with a bottle of sleeping pills in her hand to an expedition through eight countries with her three young children in tow.

The Ocean is Calling is a journey of heartache, exploration, discovery, travel, and family, with the trust that whatever happens in life, there can be hope and joy ahead. 

Ashley also co-authored with her three young children, A Hui Hou: Until We Meet Again, a book for young boys and girls processing grief after losing a loved one. She is a Master Scuba Diver and polar explorer who enjoys traveling with her all-female expedition team researching how climate change is affecting our world’s oceans. You can learn more about her here: www.ashleybugge.com and on Instagram: @ashley.bugge.

A WordFest favorite, retired judge Ed Putka will be reading a new story about growing up in his Polish neighborhood in Cleveland. This tale is about Mr. Wojcik who kept racing pigeons. When a new renter moves next door, he is taken by the pigeons and an adventure ensues. Ed is enjoying his retirement, serving on the Legal Aid Board and traveling within the country and abroad with his wife, Mary.

An open mic will follow the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, in the fellowship hall of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The events are free and open to the public.

Kelso grad’s memoir describes coming of age with climate change at April WordFest

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Brianna Craft will read from her memoir, Everything That Rises, at WordFest on Tuesday, April 11, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

Brianna graduated valedictorian of her Kelso High School class. Today she lives in London, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development. She started as an intern in 2011 at the UN climate negotiations. Four years later, she witnessed the adoption of the Paris Agreement first hand.

Brianna now works to further equity in the negotiations for the world’s poorest countries, which have done the least to cause the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable to its impacts. Brianna holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Brown University and is an alumna of the University of Washington. 

Douglas Maynard will be reading from his new book, Hero of the Yacolt Burn. A retired high school/middle school history teacher with a bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University, and a master’s degree from Washington State University, Doug has lived nearly all his life in the Lewis River Valley.

“As a child, I often stood looking out my grandparents’ large picture windows and wondered why so many trees looked like they were charred,” he writes. “I was told it was because of the Yacolt Burn.” This became the inspiration for his second book. Doug is also the author of Three Summers, about the relationship between two cousins. He now divides his time between Woodland, Washington, and Indo, California.

Grays Harbor poet Carrie Born will read from her collection, titled Diesel Cats’ Poetry, about the world of heavy construction and other blue-collar work. Carrie graduated from St. Martin’s University with a master’s in counseling psychology and completed a 6,000-hour union heavy equipment apprenticeship. She has two poetry zines in the Timberland Library. 

An open mic will follow the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, in the fellowship hall of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The events are free and open to the public.

WordFest celebrates spring’s advent with mystery, fantasy, and poetry

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Local writers read at WordFest on Tuesday, March 14, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview. Tom Larsen will read from his mystery novel, Cantor’s Gate. Set on the Island of Jersey off the coast of England, the story involves a contested inheritance, a band ofneo-pagansand valuable artwork that was looted by the Nazis and hidden on the island.

Originally from New Jersey, Tom received a degree in Civil Engineering from Rutgers University. He is the author of six novels in the crime genre. His short story, “EL Cuerpo En El Barril” (The Body in the Barrel) was the recipient of the 2020 Black Orchid Novella Award and appears in the anthology, Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2022 from Mysterious Press.  

Caleigh Maffett is working on a mythology-based fantasy, where Kyrie is high-anxiety, borderline agoraphobic, and constantly feels one breakdown away from a mental asylum, when he meets his brother’s three best friends, Chrysaor, Zagreus, and Fenrir, who are monsters.

Caleigh graduated from Washington State University /Vancouver with a BA in English and Communications and a minor in Creative Writing. Her prose and poetry have been featured in LCC’s Salal Review and the WSU magazine.She describes herself as “a nerdy girl with a fascination with mythology and the many stories behind it, and draw my inspiration from stories, video games, and way too many TV shows.”

Poet and author K.A. (Krysten) Ralston will be reading from her debut poetry book, Ink Blots, and from her upcoming collection  to be released this fall. Ink Blots encompasses themes of grief, healing, love lost and found. Ink Blots is available for purchase in Ebook and Paperback form at Amazon, Barnes & Noble.

Krysten is local to Longview, graduating from WSU Vancouver with a degree in English and creative writing. Her writing has been featured in various publications such as the Salal Review, the Salmon Creek Journal, and the Columbia River Reader. You can connect with Krysten at karalston.com or via social media on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. 

An open mic will follow the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, in the fellowship hall of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The events are free and open to the public.

First WordFest of 2023 offers laughter and inspiration for the dark months

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The first WordFest event for 2023 will be on Tuesday, January 10, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

Local comedian Coree Spencer will present her book, I’m Not OK, You’re Not OK, an activity book for when people are feeling down, anxious, or depressed. She created it from her own experience of having to rely on laughter to cope with mental health issues. “This book is like being with a hilarious friend who has no good advice but totally gets what you are going through,” she says.

It offers a bingo board to track signs that things may be off; a list of conversation enders and excuses for staying home when social anxiety creeps in, and a handy punch card that tracks the number of times one has canceled social plans. “The book is brightly illustrated but unafraid of the dark side, she says. “We’ve all been there, and that’s OK.” Coree organized the Cinder Block Comedy Festival in New York City, which received coverage in the New York Times, Huffington Post, and the Village Voice for its empowerment of marginalized groups. 

Shirley Clukey of Woodland will be reading from Dis-Membered: A Mormon Mom’s Memoir. The work-in-progress tells the story of why she joined the church at age nineteen and why she left it four decades later. The story includes how grateful she remains for her years in the church and how she wishes she’d never had anything to do with it.

Shirley spent forty-three years as a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as choir director and holding a number of teaching and leadership positions in the US and overseas. Things changed after her twenty-year-old son came out as gay.

Hans Schaufus from Kalama has been writing an annual Christmas letter since 1996. They are pure fiction and represent different settings, in America, and several European and Latin American countries. He will be reading several of these letters.

After growing up in Baltimore, Hans traveled around the US and Europe for a number of years, earned a BA in History at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico, in 1972, and spent 25 years working at the Longview Public Library where he was instrumental in creating the “Art at the Library” program.

Since his retirement in 2006, he’s been involved in Longview’s Outdoor Gallery, the downtown sculpture project, and is the author /photographer of Am Ende der Strasse Links: Eine Reise Durch die Ehemalige DDR, a photographic essay on the former East German republic.

An open mic will follow the presentations.

Due to Covid, it is recommended that people be vaccinated and boosted if possible, and wear masks when not eating or drinking.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, in the fellowship hall of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Alan Rose at www.alan-rose.com.