October WordFest offers humor (and crime)

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Humor and mystery writer Jan Bono returns to WordFest on Tuesday, October 8, 6:00-8:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

Jan will be reading from the newest offering in her Sylvia Avery Mystery series, set on the southwest Washington coast. In Hook, Line and Sinker, the frolicsome geriatric belly-dancing widows of the North Beach Peninsula are looking for love again, and Sylvia Avery is recruited to help them navigate the hoops, hurdles, and hustles of online dating. Love is in the air, online and elsewhere, but Sheriff Donaldson’s background checks reveal that a few of these internet fellows are up to no good. Can they be stopped before someone gets killed?

Jan has lived in Long Beach, Washington, since 1977, where she began writing a humorous, personal experience newspaper column that continued for 10 years, garnering 11 state awards from the WNPA. The column’s popularity led her to write for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, publishing 36 stories during the past 8 years. In 2012, Jan became the Grand Prize winner of the Coast Weekend serial mystery chapter contest, which inspired her to begin writing her lighthearted cozy mystery series, which she describes as “like Murder She Wrote, but with a lot more humor.”

Retired judge and storyteller Ed Putka will be reading a short story in the second hour. A WordFest favorite, Ed has been compared to Garrison Keillor for his popular Cleveland stories, set in the Polish neighborhood of his youth. His latest story takes place in a setting different from his Cleveland roots, about a small-town sheriff in the Pacific Northwest and his dealings with some notorious fish bandits

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. 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.

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

September WordFest

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WordFest begins its 2019 fall season on Tuesday, September 10, 6:00-8:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

Portland author and editor Jill Kelly will be speaking on what makes a strong first chapter. “First chapters are often the most reworked chapters of a book, and for good reason,” she says. “They’re like job interviews. We want to come across as accessible and intriguing.”

Jill will be reading and discussing first chapters, including from her novel, When the Past Comes Calling, which explores the unforeseen consequences of choices we make in the moment:  In 1972, six fraternity brothers meet a girl at a tavern, take her to a nearby apartment, where each has sex with her. In 1999, 27 years later, the child conceived that night comes looking for his father and justice for his mother. The six men, who have since moved on building their lives with wives, families and careers, have repressed or forgotten that night in the apartment.

Jill has written ten books of fiction and nonfiction, and assisted numerous authors in editing their novels for publication. Possessing a PhD in French literature, she has been a professor of French and an editor of technical writing.

YA author Jennifer Nightingale from Astoria will read from her debut coming-of-age novel, Alberta & the Spark: Living in a Pacific Northwest oyster town in the 1970s, 13-year-old Alberta struggles with adolescence, finding courage and a kindred spirit with 15-year-old Felix. He approaches the natural world as a scientist, while she reveres nature with a magical wonder. Through their friendship, they confront bullies, racism, and family disruptions, and manage to bring their fractured coastal community together.

Matt Love, author/editor of 21 books about Oregon and 2009 winner of the Oregon Literary Arts Legacy Award, calls Alberta & the Spark “the best Pacific Northwest coming-of-age novel since Jim Lynch’s The Highest Tide.”

 Jennifer lives with her husband Holt in Astoria, where her writing is “informed by wind, weather, tides, migratory birds and pinnipeds.

WordFest regular Linda Eddleston will be reading an essay titled, “What have you been reading?” about books she has read recently, looking at their different styles, and reflecting on what one can learn about writing through the process of reading.

Linda is a retired elementary and special education teacher living in Longview. Her work has been published in The Children’s Ministry magazine, That Holiday Feeling anthology, and the Longview Daily News. Her memoir of friendship and growing up in the Fifties, My Three Friends, was published in 2015.

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. 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.

WordFest on summer break

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In August, WordFest takes a summer break–more time for you to read a good book, or write one!

WordFest’s 2019 fall season begins Tuesday, September 10, 6:00-8:00 pm, at Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway, in Longview.

Local businessman Leroy Nelson explores “Where do we go from here?” at next WordFest

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Local businessman and former high school coach Leroy Nelson will be discussing his book, Where Do We Go From Here? at the next WordFest on Tuesday, July 9, beginning at 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

The book is subtitled “How to Prepare in This Life for the Next.” In his late seventies, Leroy began a serious study of the end-of-life.  An uncanny experience accompanying the death of a dear friend prompted him to explore the literature and accounts of death and the possibility of personal consciousness surviving the physical demise of the body.

Now 84, he has produced a book of his research and thoughts. The result is not a religious book, he says, nor is it anti-religious. It reflects different spiritual traditions, East and West, as well as findings from the psychological and sociological disciplines.

Through his studies, he hopes that others will benefit from what he has learned. “It’s all about calming unsettled souls and dealing with unhealthy fears,” says Leroy. At WordFest, he will read and discuss his personal explorations that resulted in the book and take questions from the audience.

Steve Anderson will be reading from the third book of his trilogy, Book of Hours, which centers on the modern restoration of a fourteenth-century prayer book that has been mysteriously hidden away since its creation. 

In this final volume, the Book of Hours is complete and sent for binding and presentation to Pope Gregory, but Brother Alphaios is summarily locked out of the scriptorium where he has done his master work.  He finds himself exiled to the cold, colorless monastery that lies at the center of the cacophonous, irrepressible city he has come to love. 

Steve “wages his battles with sentence construction and sequence” in Longview.

Tania Spaulding, a teacher and writer who has worked in public education and law enforcement, will be reading a selection of her poetry and memoirs, recounting her spiritual journey and struggles. She enjoys art, music, gardening, cooking, and water sports.

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. 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.

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

Portland before “Portlandia” at June WordFest

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The next WordFest explores Portland’s lesser known history on Tuesday, June 11, beginning at 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

Portland historian and novelist JD Chandler has written four books of local history, published by the History Press, with a new one, JD Chandler’s Portland Rogues Gallery, due in 2020.

Long before it was the funky, liberal, layback “Portlandia” we know, the city had a much darker reputation as being the most racist city outside of the South, where corruption was so common, it was considered just part of city government’s operation, and where, during Prohibition and the distribution of illegal liquor, organized crime and the Portland Police Bureau were often indistinguishable.

JD will be telling some of these stories from the city’s past as captured in two of his books, Murder & Scandal in Prohibition Portland and Hidden History of Portland.

More information is available at http://www.patreon.com/jdchandler

Novelist Jeff Stookey has written a trilogy, titled Medicine for the Blues, set in Portland of the 1920s.  The story centers on Dr. Carl Holman, a veteran of the Great War, who is establishing his medical practice as well as a romantic friendship with a young jazz musician named Jimmy Harper. Both, his professional practice and his relationship, are threatened by the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and their virulent anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic influence.

Jeff read from the first book of his trilogy, Acquaintance, at WordFest in 2018. He returns on June 11 to complete the series with the second and third volumes, Chicago Blues and Dangerous Medicine.

Growing up in a small town in rural Washington State, Jeff studied literature, history, and cinema at Occidental College and later earned a BFA in Theater from Fort Wright College. Trained in the medical field, he worked for many years with pathologists, trauma surgeons, and emergency room staff, experience that gives his trilogy added authenticity.

In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, he will be facilitating a panel discussion about Portland’s history of LGBTQ activism on June 24, 2019, Monday, from 7-9 p.m. The panel is part of McMenamins History Pub series at their Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

More information is available at medicinefortheblues.com.

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. 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.

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