Ellie Alexander is the author of the Bakeshop Mystery series, set in Ashland, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and featuring artisan pastry chef, Juliet Montague Capshaw, who runs her family bakeshop, Torte, and solves murder cases on the side.

Ellie’s “cozy mysteries” bring a light-hearted humor to the otherwise grim business of murder, reflected in her whimsical titles: Meet Your Baker, A Batter of Life and Death, and A Crime of Passion Fruit. All her books include recipes.

Ellie will discuss and read from her newest titles in the 15-book (and counting) series, Mocha, She Wrote and Chilled to the Cone.

Astoria Poet Florence Sage lives and writes where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. Her new poetry collection, The Man Who Whistled, The Woman Who Wished, tells the story of her mother and father, children of Polish immigrants to Canada, during World War II.

“My first-generation Polish-Canadian parents were the inspiration for these anecdotes and stories.  As I reflected and wrote, I came to love the two of them even more and to appreciate fully the lucky life they gave me in the 21 years I lived with them,” says Florence.

Michael Perry‘s excellent series on the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06 that first ran in the Columbia River Reader has now been published in one volume, Dispatches from the Discovery Trail: A Layman’s Lewis and Clark.

Mike will read from the book and discuss his multi-year research, following in the tracks of the Corps of Discovery. Beautifully illustrated by the Pacific Northwest woodcut artist Debby Neely and edited by Hal Calbom, the book is available at the Columbia River Reader office or at www.crreader.com/crrpress.

During the Open Mic period, Caleigh Maffett will read two poems, including one that will appear in this year’s Salal Review.

Caleigh recently 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.

Join us for a “virtual book club” to discuss Alan’s haunting novel about the AIDS epidemic, As If Death Summoned. The story explores how ongoing grief can erode a life, and also how finding one’s way through grief can rebuild, renew, and deepen life.

The Zoom event on Friday, February 12, at 1:00 pm. is free and open to the public. People on the WordFest newsletter email list will receive an invitation link Friday morning. People do not need a Zoom account to participate.

People not on the WordFest email list can subscribe here. (The monthly newsletter is free and one can unsubscribe at any time.)

Global pandemics are no fun. Along with destroying lives and livelihoods, COVID-19 has also disrupted our local literary community.