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Final WordFest of 2024 offers humor, mystery, and poetry on November 12

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The final WordFest event of the year will take place on Tuesday, November 12, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

Retired judge and WordFest favorite Ed Putka will be reading the latest addition from his Cleveland stories, humorous tales about growing up in his Polish neighborhood in Ohio. In “The Redemption of Sister Mary Motts,” Ed offers his take on how nun’s get their nun names.

Craig Allen Heath will be reading the first chapter from his new Eden Ridge mystery series, Killing Buddhas. When the famous guru Branden Frank dies while visiting Eden Ridge, the great man’s legend begins to unravel. He helped millions find happiness and inspired Alan Wright’s ministry, but his private life holds secrets that will shake Alan’s admiration and complicate the truth of how Frank died. Did his aging and troubled heart give out, or was he killed? One man had threatened to kill him in front of a hundred witnesses. Another confesses to the murder, but police question his claim. A local woman is suspected, but her story throws the investigation into a tailspin. Alan and The Little Red Hens race to untangle the many knotted threads and find the truth. 

Craig decided he wanted to be a novelist at age fourteen. He achieved that goal fifty years later, in 2022, by publishing Where You Will Die. He is now working on the third in the series, Reason Not the Need. 

Elisa Carlsen grew up in Humboldt County, Nevada. A queer, outsider poet and artist, her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Trumpeter, Cirque, Argentum, Brushfire, Nevada Arts Council, Anti-Heroin Chic, and elsewhere. Elisa is a Poetry Editor at New American Press and the author of Cormorant (Unsolicited Press 2023). Her poems have won awards from the Writer’s Guild of Astoria and the Oregon Poetry Association and she has been nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize. 

Elisa will read from Cormorant, a collection of short poems with a brief essay about her experience helping the Army Corps of Engineers develop the Double-Crested Cormorant Wildlife Management Plan. Prepared under the umbrella of federal salmon recovery efforts on the Columbia River, the plan resulted in a large culling of the birds with zero benefits to threatened salmon. Elisa dedicated her book to Sharnelle Fee, Founder of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, who passed away from what many believed to be heartbreak over the killing of the birds. Proceeds from the book’s sale will be donated to the Wildlife Center. 

Eric Fair-Layman, aka Papasquatch, (presumably the one on the left) is a Portland poet and spoken-word artist.  The styles of his poems vary from humorous and edgy to mournful laments, often with biting social commentary in the subtext.  By day, he is a bookkeeper and licensed massage therapist, and has two teenagers that he raises, full time.  By night, he puts his significant science and math education to work by writing poems. You can find him on Instagram at Papa_Squatch2229.

  

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.

Serial Killers & Serial Storytellers at October’s WordFest

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A variety of Northwest writers spin their magic at WordFest on Tuesday, October 8, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

WordFest regular and true-crime fan Sharon Cope-Jeffries will read from personal letters exchanged between Sam Wilson and Ted Bundy, offering a look into the mind of the high-profile serial killer. These letters were written between March 4-October 5, 1987. Now deceased, Sam was the younger brother of Penny Lightfoot, writer, WordFest member, and close friend of Sharon’s. Sharon will also read from Sam’s correspondence with true crime writer Ann Rule. 

Sharon is a Longview native, growing up in the Coal Creek area, and graduated from Mark Morris in 1981. A retired hairdresser, she loves creating all kinds of art, supports local, live theater, reads mostly non-fiction and poetry, and obsessively watches true crime programs.         

Tom Larsen will be reading an excerpt from Getting Legal, Book Two in The Wilson Salinas Ecuador Mysteries. In this book, Wilson is hired by the Attorney Arturo Moreno to negotiate the release of the attorney’s grandson who has been kidnapped. Wilson enters the unfamiliar world of wealth, lies, adultery, extortion and murder, where nothing is as it seems.

Tom was born and raised in New Jersey and was awarded a degree in Civil Engineering from Rutgers University. He is the author of six novels in the crime genre. His short fiction has been published in “Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,” “Mystery Tribune,” “Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine,” and “Black Cat Mystery Magazine.” Tom’s short story, “Pobre Maria” (Poor Maria) appeared in the anthology Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023 from Mysterious Press.  

Cheryl Landes’ latest book, The Best I Can Do, is about her experiences as a caregiver for her late husband, who had an undiagnosed mental illness that resulted in their marriage falling apart and forcing them into homelessness. The memoir, taking place in Seattle, New York City, and New England, received the Gold Book Award for Nonfiction from Literary Titan and the Silver Book Award for Nonfiction from the Nonfiction Authors Association.

Cheryl is a full-time technical communications consultant, travel writer, and also the author of Rainbows in the Snow, Beautiful America’s Seattle, Beautiful America’s Idaho, and Those Wild Northwest Days. She lives in Vancouver, WA, where she enjoys hiking, photography, listening to music, and reading.

Columbia
Storytellers

Debz Briske and Leslie Slape head the Columbia Storytellers, a group committed to the tradition of sharing personal tales that connect to us all. Debz, a storyteller and writer of psychological & paranormal horror and personal monologues, will perform her story, “Dancing with Myself: How dancing taught me to walk.”  Leslie, local playwright and author of The Harder Courage and Zorro’s Grape Adventure, will perform, “The Toy Piano: How I learned about the performer’s trance at the age 6.” 

Also, Craig Werner, co-founder of a band of independent filmmakers, will show a short film about local storytelling groups in Portland. (Technical glitches prevented the film being shown at the September WordFest.)

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.

September WordFest meets on third Tuesday

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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.

A YA novel about climate change heads July WordFest

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** Cancelled Due to Extreme Heat **

Three Northwest writers will read from their works at WordFest on Tuesday, July 9, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

Last year at WordFest, Kelso native Brianna Craft read from Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir. A researcher for the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, Brianna works to further equity in the United Nations’ climate negotiations for the worldʼs poorest countries, which have done the least to cause the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable to its impacts. At the July WordFest, Brianna will read from her first novel, We Don’t Have Time For This, where Lemonade Mouth meets climate change activism in an enemies-to-lovers young adult (YA) romance.

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. Isa Brown wishes her life would slow down, but with wildfires ravaging her community and a new natural gas pipeline threatening her dad’s job, the last thing she can do is relax. The school’s environmental justice club seems like a promising way to make real change. If only her annoying co-president would stop being such a control freak. Darius Freeman can’t stop hustling. If he does, how will he beat the other honors kids to be valedictorian? How will he get into the top schools in the country? How will he launch his political career?

No. Darius can’t stop, and the next step in his plan is leading the environmental justice club. But then Isa joins the club and becomes co-president. As Isa and Darius clash over the best way to lead the environmental justice club, deeper feelings emerge. What’s more romantic than saving the earth?

Brianna holds 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

Shamus Award Finalist Tom Larsen will be reading an excerpt from Getting Legal, part of his Wilson Salinas Mystery of Ecuador series. Having had some success as a private investigator, Wilson decides it’s time to “get legal”—get his P.I. license—even though, as his attorney tells him “in Ecuador, there is really no such thing as an Investigador Privado. The concept doesn’t exist.”  Still, the attorney hires Wilson to investigate the disappearance of his spoiled grandson, heir apparent to his lucrative legal practice, which throws Wilson into an unfamiliar world of wealth, lies, adultery, extortion and murder. His newly-won sobriety is in danger, and ultimately, so is his life.

Tom is the author of four novels in the crime genre. His short fiction has been published in “Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,” “Mystery Tribune,” “Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine,” and “Black Cat Mystery Magazine.” His non-fiction work has appeared in four volumes of the anthology series, “Best New True Crime Stories.” You can find more information  at http://www.amazon.com/TOM-LARSEN/e/B00N00JLZM  

Marc Imlay will be reading from Reflections on Heron’s Haven Pond, his forthcoming second book of poetry and sequel to Pilgrimages to a Bullfrog Buddha (2020.)  In both books, the saviors, saints, and sages of all religions, times, and places reside in an unspoiled natural park as various indigenous creatures interact with the narrator and one another. Marc is a retired chiropractor and acupuncturist.  Meditation has been a major interest which he has practiced daily for 52 years and taught for 50 years. Marc and his wife moved to Longview 10 years ago and are avid dancers and musicians.

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.

June WordFest tells a variety of tales

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Three writers and a film-maker will present their works at WordFest on Tuesday, June 11, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.

Lenore Weiss will read from her environmental novel, Pulp into Paper. In the close-knit community of Hentsbury, Arkansas, racism and the local paper mill’s oppressive control over the town collide in this tale set in the 1990s. Rae-Ann, owner of a convenience store and unofficial mayor of the town, and Vernon, the plant’s Environmental Officer, find their budding romance hitting an unexpected roadblock when chemicals from the mill’s runoff claim the life of Rincon, a young black boy battling acute asthma. In a harrowing failed rescue attempt, Vernon relives the trauma of holding the dying boy in his arms.

Lenore’s passion for environmental issues comes from a lifetime of working for women’s rights and health and environmental organizations. She has received the Clark-Gross Award for best novel-in-progress from San Francisco State, and the Distinguished Chapter Service Award from the Society for Technical Communication. Her publishing credits include Cutting Down the Last Tree on Easter Island (West End Press), The Golem (Hakodesh Word Press), and a poetry collection, Video Game Pointers from WordTech Editions. She serves as the Associate Creative Nonfiction editor for the Mud Season Review, and lives in Oakland, California.

Ellen Jacobson will read from Poisoned by the Pier, the third book in her Mollie McGhie cozy mystery series featuring quirky characters, an adorable cat, and way too many dead bodies. In this book, Mollie is thrust into another murder investigation when someone is poisoned during a cake baking competition. While she tries to identify the killer, Coconut Cove’s annual boating festival is in full swing. In between getting ready for her first sailing race and cheating on her diet, Mollie uncovers clues, interviews suspects, and does her best to avoid rutabagas.

Ellen is the author of more than a dozen books in three series: the Mollie McGhie Sailing Mysteries, the North Dakota Library Mysteries, and the Smitten with Travel Romantic Comedies. She has held corporate human resources roles in the United States, Scotland, and New Zealand, and currently lives in St. Helens, Oregon. You can learn more about her books at ellenjacobsonbooks.com.

And now for something very different: Did you ever wish you could share that amazing travel experience with family and friends other than through postcards?

Writer Linda Eddleston and film producer/ musician Ron Walker will share their experiences from a recent adventure on the Princess Discovery Riviera Mexican Cruise Ship. Linda will offer ideas and examples of how to record and document vacation trips by creating travel journals, and Ron will show a short film of their cruise experience.

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.