Because of the US Presidential Debate on September 10, this month’s WordFest is moving to Tuesday, September 17, 6:00-8:00 pm, when four Northwest writers will share their works at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.
Last year at WordFest, Kelso native Brianna Craft read from her first book, Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir. Brianna, a researcher for the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, works to further equity in the United Nations’ climate negotiations for the worldʼs poorest countries–which we know have done the least to cause the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable to its impacts.
At the next WordFest, Brianna will read from her first young adult (YA) novel, We Don’t Have Time For This. A tied election throws two rival teen activists together to lead their school’s environmental justice club, and they are taken by surprise when their clashes reveal deeper feelings hidden beneath their antagonism. As Isa and Darius clash over the best way to lead the club, deeper feelings surface. What’s more romantic than saving the planet?
Briannaholds a masterʼs degree in environmental studies from Brown University and is an alumna of the University of Washington. You can find more information at https://briannacraft.com/about/
Robert Michael Pyle will read from his newest poetry collection, The Last Man in Willapa. Within these 75 poems, readers can find people, creatures, places, and stochastic happenings both large and small, that are lyrical, story-based, and beautifully descriptive. Bob writes from the details of the real, physical world, where nothing is beneath notice.
His twenty-five books include Chasing Monarchs, Wintergreen(which received a John Burroughs Medal), Where Bigfoot Walks, Sky Time in Gray’s River, and Tidewater Reach.
Bob grew up and learned his butterflies in Colorado, where he fell in love with the Magdalena Alpine and its high-country habitat, the setting of his novel, Magdalena Mountain. He took his Ph.D. in butterfly ecology at Yale University, and worked as a conservation biologist in Papua New Guinea, Oregon, and Cambridge, England.
Shawn Deal has had a long career in teaching, acting, directing, and producing plays. He is the author of 24 plays and professional monologues that have been produced throughout the United States and Canada and have won 16 awards in competitions.
Shawn will read one of his monologues about a friendship from long ago. He writes: “Before my focus became girls, sports, and school––in that order–– adolescence was a time of innocence, where it was just fun to hang out with friends. It’s been forty-five years, and I still think about Tom Springsteen, the friend I had when I was twelve.”
Craig Werner has been a doctor in chiropractic practice for more than 3 decades, but his first Bachelor’s degree was in film and TV production, and he worked in the film industry before realizing his calling to health care. He’s retained his passion for filmmaking and helped found an independent filmmaking group in Portland, producing a number of films over the last several years, including a film about local storytelling groups that he will show at WordFest.
Craig writes, “As authors, we are nothing, if not story tellers. All literature is the attempt to carry a story from one person to others. The same is true of other mediums–music, stage plays, movies, and TV. I learned about groups in Portland who routinely gather together to tell each other stories and thought someone should tell THEIR story.”
An open mic will follow the presentations.
The monthly gathering of readers and writers usually 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.