Dan Berne's "The Gods of Second Chances" Launch

Portland Author Debuts at Powell’s 

The Gods of Second Chances, Portland author Dan Berne’s debut novel, will launch with a reading at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, at Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside Ave., Portland.

The Gods of Second Chances features Ray Bancroft, a widowed Alaskan fisherman raising his granddaughter with help from a multitude of gods and goddesses—not to mention rituals ad-libbed at sea by his half-Tlingit best friend. But statues and otter bone ceremonies aren’t enough when Ray’s estranged daughter returns from prison, her search for a safe harbor threatening everything he holds sacred.

“Every so often a novel comes along that feels like nothing you’ve read before,” said Karen Karbo, author of Julia Child Rules. “Dan Berne’s The Gods of Second Chances is one of those, soulful and shattering in equal measure. Berne shines a light on rarely visited corners of both the world and the human heart in a page-turning story that stays with you long after you’ve reached the end.”

Berne, whose fiction and poetry have been published in literary magazines, owns a market strategy consultancy and lives with his wife Aliza in Portland. Learn more at danberne.com. 

The Gods of Second Chances is illustrated by Portland artist Reid Psaltis, who draws inspiration from the natural world. Psaltis’s comics and illustrations have been featured on Top Shelf 2.0, Study Group Comics, Trip City, Scout Books Good Ink Series, and by other independent publishers. More of his work can be seen at reidpsaltis.com. 

Forest Avenue Press chose Berne’s manuscript as the first novel in its fiction catalog, following the release of the linked story collection A Simplified Map of the Real World by Stevan Allred, which was named a #1 book of the year in the Powell’s Staff Top 5s. The Night, and the Rain, and the River, an Oregon short story anthology edited by Liz Prato of Portland, and Skin Drag, a debut novel by Portland poet Kate Gray, are forthcoming in May and September 2014. 

For more information, see forestavenuepress.com.

Ooligan Press Book Launch: The Ninth Day

Ooligan Press Book Launch: The Ninth Day 

Where: Koehler House
732 NW 19th Ave
Portland OR 97209

When: Monday, December 16, 7pm-9pm 

Ooligan Press is proud to launch Ruth Tenzer Feldman's new title The Ninth Day at the historic Koehler House on  Monday, December 16th at 7pm. In The Ninth Day is the follow up to the Oregon Book Award-winning Blue Thread. 

The event will include refreshments and music from the 1960s. 

Admission is free, and teachers will have the opportunity to enter a drawing for a free classroom set of The Ninth Day.

THE WHOLE TRUTH: A Reading of Memoir & Non-fiction

Featuring: Stacy Bolt, Robin Romm, Margaret Malone, Colin Farstad & Liz Scott
Saturday, September 14th @ 7:00 p.m.Writers' Dojo7518 N. Chicago
Portland, OR 97203

Five of Portland’s talented writers will be reading from recent memoir and non-fiction work. Come and listen while you kick back with your shoes off at the Writer's Dojo in St. Johns. Suggested donation to the Dojo of $2 - 5.

THE WHOLE TRUTH is funded in part by a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
Stacy Bolt is the author of the memoir Breeding in Captivity, which chronicles her struggles to start a family. It was published by Globe Pequot Press in September 2013. Stacy is also a frequent contributor to the OPB radio show Live Wire and her writing has been featured in Portland Monthly and Imbibe Magazine.
Colin Farstad's writing has appeared most recently in Coal City Review and The Whistling Fire Journal. He is the editor of the short story anthology The Frozen Moment: Contemporary Writers on the Moments that Change Our Lives, released
by Publication Studios in December of 2011. Colin is a graduate from Portland State University with a B.A. in English and currently teaches with Tom Spanbauer in his weekly Dangerous Writing workshop. He is a writer and free lance editor living in Portland, Oregon where he recently finished his first novel The Four Month Summer.
Margaret Malone’s work has appeared in Oregon Humanities, The Missouri Review, Swink, Coal City Review, latimes.com and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a 2011 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship and a 2009 Oregon Literary Fellowship from Literary Arts. She is a co-host of the artist and literary gathering SHARE and lately has been teaching writing at the Sitka Center and as a visiting artist at Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Robin Romm is the author of two books. The Mother Garden (short stories) was a finalist for the PEN USA Prize. The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, and a Top Ten Nonfiction Book of the Year according to Entertainment Weekly. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The UK Observer, O Magazine, The Sun, Tin House, One Story, and many other publications. She's a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review, and teaches at the lowresidency MFA program for Writers at Warren Wilson. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon.
Liz Scott has been a psychologist in private practice for, well, forever. She is co-author of the newly released book Lies: The Truth About the Self-Deceptions That Limit Your Life and has had short stories published in numerous literary journals. She is currently in the process of wrestling with a memoir.

Poetry On Boradway Returns!

Poetry returns to downtown Portland!
The Attic Institute has partnered with Portland Center for Performing Arts to present Poetry on Broadway - a free poetry series in the heart of downtown Portland at PCPA in the rotunda of Antoinette Hatfield Hall at SW Main & Broadway.
Series opener | Monday, September 23, 8pm | Learn more
POETRY ON BROADWAY: LINDA BIERDSRaised in Anchorage, Alaska and graduate of the University of Washington, MacArthur Fellow and award-winning poet Linda Bierds uses her work to explore historical and scientific information from a new angle. Her poetry allows people to rediscover the lives of historical figures including Darwin, Beethoven, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Linda’s most prominent work includes her bookThe Ghost Trio (1994), named as a Notable Book Selection by the American Library Association. If you have seen Linda Bierds read, you know what a treat it is! Don't miss this poet in a rare Portland appearance.

Brittney Corrigan reading at Another Read Through

Brittney Corrigan reading at Another Read ThroughTuesday, September 10, 2013
7:00pm
Another Read Through

1435 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, 97217http://www.anotherreadthrough.com/Brittney Corrigan will be reading from her poetry collection, Navigation, as well as new work at Another Read Through, one of Portland's newest local bookstores. Come for the reading, stay for the open mic to follow, and browse the great selection of used books.

Brittney Corrigan was raised in Colorado but has called Portland, Oregon her home since 1990. She holds a degree from Reed College, where she is also employed. She is the poetry editor for the online journal Hyperlexia: poetry and prose about the autism spectrum (http://hyperlexiajournal.com/). Brittney’s poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and she is the author of the collection, Navigation, published by The Habit of Rainy Nights Press (2012), and the chapbook, 40 Weeks, published by Finishing Line Press (2012). To find out more about Brittney, visit http://brittneycorrigan.com/.

STEVAN ALLRED BOOK RELEASE!

Fifteen linked stories chart a true course through the lives of families, farmers, loggers, former classmates, and the occasional stripper. In the town of Renata, Oregon, a man watches his neighbor's big-screen TV through binoculars. An errant son paints himself silver. Mysterious electrical humming emanates from an enormous barn.

 A Simplified Map of the Real World (Forest Avenue Press), Stevan Allred's stunning debut, deftly navigates the stubborn geography of the human heart. 

Pre-order a signed edition of A Simplified Map of the Real World .

Thursday, September 12th @ 7:30pm Powell's City of Books on Burnside
1005 W Burnside (800) 878-7323

ATTIC ATHENEUM FACULTY TO READ AT BROADWAY BOOKS

7 pm on Thursday September 5 at 7 pm.

In celebration of the Attic Institute’s Atheneum Master Writing Program and its incoming class of Atheneum Fellows, the faculty from this groundbreaking program will read from their work.

The Atheneum Master Writing Program is an annual certificate program that melds independent study under close faculty supervision, student receptions, public readings, and other special events created around good writing and dialog within the literary community. The program is designed to advance student’s writing and seed literary life in the city of Portland. Atheneum Fellows form a unique community of literary artists and citizens.

Scheduled to read at this event are writers and faculty members David Biespiel, Karen Karbo, Lee Montgomery, Wendy Willis, Merridawn Duckler, and Greg Robillard.

VoiceCatcher Contributors Read at Rain or Shine Coffee House

Join poets Stella Jeng Guillory, Pattie Palmer-Baker, Marjorie Power, Cindy Stewart-Rinier and Wendy Thompson along with memoirist Anne Gudger

Wen: Thursday, September 19, 2013. 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: Rain or Shine Coffee House, 5941 SE Division St.,Portland, OR 97206

Tonia Twigger McConnell, whose photographs are on display this month at Rain or Shine, will also discuss her photography.

TWO PORTLAND POETS AT BROADWAY BOOKS

7 pm on Wednesday July 10

Poets Penelope Scambly Schott and Andrea Hollander will be here to read from newly published books.

Penelope Scambly Schott’s new book is Lillie was a goddess Lillie was a whore and is published by Mayapple Press of Woodstock, New York. It’s a poetic look at the world’s “oldest profession” – prostitution. By turns funny, wise, historical, contemporary, sacred and profane, this book is a thoughtful consideration of the subject by a poet with an unflinching imagination. Ms. Schott’s previous books include several chapbooks and collections. She is the recipient of an Oregon Book Award for Poetry. She is a resident of Portland and Dufur, Oregon.

Andrea Hollander’s new book is Landscape with Female Figure: New and Collected Poems, 1981 - 2012, published by Autumn House Press of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is the author of three previous chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections. She has won many honors for her poetry and memoir work, including two NEA fellowships, a D.H. Lawrence Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. She spent twenty-two years as Writer-in-Residence at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas and now lives in Portland.

The Studio Series: Poetry Reading and Open Mic

VoiceCatcher poets: Maggie Chula, Cindy Williams Gutiérrez, Andrea Hollander, Annie Lighthart, Emily Pitman Newberry, Darlene Pagán and Pat Phillips West  

at Stonehenge Studios, 3508 SW Corbett Avenue, Portland 97239 on Sunday, July 14 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

Free and open to the public, the Studio Series is held monthly on second Sundays. The adjoining Ross Island Café is no longer open on Sunday evenings. For additional information please contact host and organizer Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net.
Margaret Chula is a poet, teacher and performance artist. She has published seven books of poetry and currently serves as the first Poet Laureate of Friends of Chamber Music in Portland and as President of the Tanka Society of America.

Poet-dramatist Cindy Williams Gutiérrez collaborates with musicians, thespians and visual artists. Her collection, the small claim of bones, is forthcoming from Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe (Arizona State University). Her plays have been produced by the Miracle Theatre Group and Insight Out Theatre Collective.
Andrea Hollander is the author of three chapbooks and four full-length poetry collections, most recently Landscape with Female Figure: New & Selected Poems, 1982 – 2012. She is the recipient of a 2013 Oregon Literary Fellowship.
Annie Lighthart began writing poetry after her first visit to an Oregon old-growth forest. Since then, she has continued to write while working as a teacher and mother. Her book of poetry Iron String is forthcoming from Airlie Press in October 2013.
Emily Pittman Newberry is a poet, speaker, writer and performance artist. One Spirit Press published Butterfly A Rose, her first book of poetry, in 2010.
Darlene Pagán is a writer and mother, an activist and wife, a teacher and thinker. She teaches writing and literature at Pacific University in Oregon. A full-length collection, Petty Crimes and Other Misadventures, is forthcoming.
Pat Phillips West’s poems have appeared or will appear in Imagination & Place: Weather, Persimmon Tree, VoiceCatcher6, Manzanita Writers Press, San Pedro River Review and elsewhere.

Opened Window: a steaming evening of erotic verse

Verse In Person presents“Opened Window: a steaming evening of erotic verse”
· Featured readers will be Celina Wigle, Dena Rash Guzman, Joaquin Lopez, Ross Robbins, Sterling Clark
· A short open mic dedicated to erotic poems will precede the featured poets.
· Minors will be permitted if accompanied by a mature-looking adult.
· If an adult’s mature appearance is dubious, measurements of cranium and beadiness of eye will determine a subject’s grade of perversity and subsequent permission to enter event.
· Folding fans may be employed should audience members swoon.
· Smelling salts will not be provided.

STERLING CLARK is a poet, performance artist and creator. She hails from Los Angeles, CA where she began writing at the age of seven. Her poetry has been described as raw, erotic, and honest. She flays her heart open, exposes her vulnerability and presents it for all to hear through written word. She does queer, polyamoury and sex work activism and is a student of sexology. Her intent as a writer is to inspire honesty in a world so inhabited by fear.

DENA RASH GUZMAN is the author of Life Cycle-Poems (Dog On A Chain Press 2013.) Editor of the literary journal Unshod Quills, she is managing director for the Shanghai, China based English language publisher, HAL Publishing. In 2010 she was awarded Judge's Prize for Best Performance at the first known erotic fiction competition in post-Mao mainland China, at Glamour Bar in Shanghai.

JOAQUIN LOPEZ is a musician, writer, cultural events and music producer, and small business owner. Producer credits include Taste of Mexico at the Portland Art Museum and the annual cultural performance for Portland Latino Gay Pride: Voz Alta. In 2012, he released the album, “…For the Disenchanted,” a Spanish language ode to melancholia and longing featuring boleros. Joaquin received his BFA in Theatre Arts from Southern Oregon University and sits on the board of Business for Culture and the Arts, Momentum Alliance and Portland Latino Gay Pride. He works at La Bonita with his family.

ROSS ROBBINS lives, writes, and loves in Portland, Oregon. He is an avid self-publisher of chapbooks. His latest, "I want to say how I feel and be done with it forever," is available for purchase at his appearances, along with his other work.

CELINA WIGLE is an Oregon native and graduate of Portland State University's English Literature program. Her mystic alter ego, the Celestial Concubine, has produced three chapbooks and a spoken word album. She is a certified postpartum doula, freelance writer, steampunk fashion model, contributor to the Happy Hysteria holistic sexual health community, and a volunteer co-editor for VoiceCatcher literary journal.

Sign up begins at 5:45 pm. Reading runs 6:00 pm – 7:45 pm
Wednesday, June 26th
Northwest Library
2300 NW Thurman Street

For more info or questions email: verse.in.person.pdx@gmail.com

Loggernaut reading, "Spin"

Loggernaut reading, "Spin," featuring Patrick DeWitt, Sarah Barlett, and Daniel A. Hoyt

Tuesday, June 11th at 7:30 pm, at Ristretto Roasters, 3808 N. Williams, Portland, 97227. $2 suggested donation. www.loggernaut.org
SARAH BARTLETT is the co-author of two chapbook collaborations: Baby On the Safe Side (Publishing Genius in 2011) and A Mule-Shaped Cloud (horse less press 2008). Her recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Swine, Ilk, iO, Eleven Eleven, Phantom Limb, Heavy Feather Review, Spork, Sixth Finch, NOÖ, and inter|rupture. She lives in Portland.

PATRICK DEWITT was born in British Columbia, Canada, in 1975. He is the author of Ablutions: Notes for a Novel, and The Sisters Brothers, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Ken Kesey Award for fiction. He lives in Portland.

DANIEL A. HOYT's first short story collection, Then We Saw the Flames, won the Juniper Prize for Fiction and was published by UMass Press. His work has also appeared in The Kenyon Review, Missouri Review, and Gettysburg Review. He formerly worked as a journalist for newspapers in Columbia, Missouri; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; and Binghamton, New York. He now teaches at Kansas State University, where he directs the creative writing program.

PACIFIC UNIVERSITY MFA PROGRAM READING SERIES

PACIFIC UNIVERSITY MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN WRITING PROGRAM PRESENTS ANNUAL READING SERIES ON FOREST GROVE CAMPUS: JUNE 21-28
The Pacific University Master of Fine Arts in Writing program will once again host readings by some of America’s finest writers during its 10-day residency on the Forest Grove campus.

Free and open to the public, the evening readings take place at 7:30 p.m. from Friday, June 21, through Friday, June 28, in the Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center which is also the location for the day readings. Taylor-Meade is located on campus at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Cedar Street in Forest Grove.

This event is a rare opportunity to hear some of the best writers of contemporary American literature read on successive evenings. Featured authors include fiction writer Bonnie Jo Campbell, a National Book Award finalist; and poet Kwame Dawes, Emmy Award winner and Guggenheim Fellow.
EVENING READING SCHEDULE – 7:30 p.m.6/21 Kwame Dawes, Mary Helen Stefaniak & Kellie Wells
6/22 Jack Driscoll, Pam Houston & David St. John
6/23 Ellen Bass, Craig Lesley & David Long
6/24 Mike Magnuson, Joseph Millar & Christine Sneed
6/26 Marvin Bell, Bonnie Jo Campbell & Scott Korb
6/27 Sandra Alcosser, Carolyn Coman & Claire Davis
6/28 Debra Gwartney, Anna Journey & Dorianne Laux
DAYTIME READING SCHEDULE – 1:30 p.m.6/25 Frank Gaspar & Laura Pritchett
6/28 Steve Amick & Laura Hendrie

Daniel Kine & Lidia Yuknavitch Reading

April 26, 2013

7:30 p.m.

Powell’s City of Books

1005 W Burnside St., Portland, OR 97209

On April 26 Ooligan Press will celebrate the launch of Daniel Kine’s new novel Up Nights with a reading at Powell’s City of Books. 

Kine will be joined by Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water. Join them for a conversation about writing, and a reading from Up Nights on the third floor of Powell’s City of Books in the Basil Hallward Gallery. Signed editions of Up Nights are available for pre-order from powells.com. 

For more information about Up Nights, visit ooligan.pdx.edu/fiction/up-nights.

Loggernaut with Lenox, Ponteri and Martone

We're excited about our next reading, Wednesday, April 10th, at 7:30pm at
Ristretto Roasters (3808 N. Williams Ave, Portland, OR):

JAY PONTERI, STEPHANIE LENOX, and from Alabama, MICHAEL MARTONE!

The prompt for the reading is TRIP.

We hope you can make it!

-Loggernaut

http://www.loggernaut.org/readings
https://www.facebook.com/events/227532257388887/

~~~

STEPHANIE LENOX is the author of the poetry collection Congress of Strange
People (Airlie Press) and the chapbook The Heart That Lies Outside the
Body. Her work has appeared widely in journals and she's received
fellowships from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Oregon Arts
Commission. She teaches poetry at Willamette University and edits the
online literary journal Blood Orange Review. She lives in Salem with her
family.

MICHAEL MARTONE's most recent books are Four for a Quarter, Not Normal,
Illinois: Peculiar Fiction from the Flyover, a collection of essays called
Racing in Place: Collages, Fragments, Postcards, Ruins, and Double-wide,
his collected early stories. Michael Martone, a memoir in contributor's
notes, Unconventions, Writing on Writing, and Rules of Thumb, edited with
Susan Neville, were all published recently, too. He is also the author of
The Blue Guide to Indiana and Alive and Dead in Indiana. Martone is
currently a professor at the University of Alabama and a faculty member of
the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

JAY PONTERI is the author of the newly published memoir Wedlocked
(Hawthorne Books 2013). He directs the undergraduate creative writing
program at Marylhurst University and Show: Tell, The Workshop for Teen
Writers & Artists. He is the founding editor of both the online literary
magazine M Review and HABIT Books. His work has appeared in Tin House,
Puerto Del Sol, and Seattle Review; "Listen to This," was chosen as a
Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2010. He has interviewed Jim
Shepard, David Shields, and David Means for Loggernaut. Ponteri lives in
Portland with his family.

Portland Bridges Poetry Reading

Join eight Oregon poets in celebration of Portland’s famed bridges and poetry for the launch of Motionless from the Iron Bridge: A Northwest Anthology of Bridge Poems.

 

When: Saturday, April 13, 2013 @ 7pm

Where: St. Johns Booksellers, 8622 N. Lombard St. Portland, OR 97203

 

David Cooke, A. Molotkov, Katharine Quince, Sam Roderick Roxas-Chua, Coleman Stevenson, Mark S.R. Struzan, Carrie-Ann Tkaczyk, and John Sibley Williams will be reading from this exciting new anthology, published by Portland’s own Bare bone books. There will be wine and hors d’oeuvres served.

 

Including both narrative and experimental poetry from 12 renowned and emerging authors from the Portland area, Motionless strives to capture the timelessness of its subject through an incredible diversity of poetic voices, many of whom are leading members of the Northwest’s thriving literary community. The stunning works of Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen and multi-award winning poet and Attic Institute founder David Biespiel weave between poems from up-and-coming names. Combining intimate portraits with conceptual questions, Motionless from the Iron Bridge clears a unique path from which readers can approach the many faces of the classic bridge metaphor.

Alive at the Center Book Launch

Date: Friday, April 19th

Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm

Location: Literary Arts

Address: 925 SW Washington St, Portland, OR 97205

Price: Free

Description: Emcee Susan Denning presents readings by Alive at the Center poets.

On April 5th, Ooligan Press will celebrate the launch of its forthcoming poetry anthology, Alive at the Center, at Literary Arts in downtown Portland, from 7-9pm. The launch will feature readings by poets Carl Adamshick, Emily Kendal Frey, Paulann Petersen, and other contributors. Drinks will be available.

URL: http://ooligan.pdx.edu/poetry/alive-at-the-center/

Amanda Coplin presents The Orchardist

Monday,  03/11/2013 7:00 pm

 

Annie Bloom's Books is delighted to host Portland author Amanda Coplin for the paperback release of her highly lauded debut novel, The Orchardist.

At once intimate and epic, The Orchardist is historical fiction at its best, in the grand literary tradition of William Faulkner, Marilynne Robinson, Michael Ondaatje, Annie Proulx, and Toni Morrison. In her stunningly original and haunting debut novel, Amanda Coplin evokes a powerful sense of place, mixing tenderness and violence as she spins an engrossing tale of a solitary orchardist who provides shelter to two runaway teenage girls in the untamed American West, and the dramatic consequences of his actions.

"Many contemporary novelists have revisited the question of what constitutes a family, but few have responded in a voice as resolute and fiercely poetic." -New York Times Book Review

"A stunning debut…The Orchardist is a poetic book, but its strength doesn’t lie solely in its language. Coplin’s understanding of abuse and the lasting effects of fear and loss on the individual psyche are deeply resonant. As a debut novel, The Orchardist stands on par with Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain." -The Oregonian

VoiceCatcher Reading

VoiceCatcher: Readings

When: Sat, Mar 23, 2013; 1:00 to 3:00

Where Collins Gallery

First come, first served.

 

Celebrate new work by the authors of VoiceCatcher: A Journal of Women's Voices & Visions. Co-editor Celina Wigle will emcee this lively reading of prose and poetry that captures the diverse voices of local talent. Come prepared to add your voice during our open mic segment. VoiceCatcher is an all-volunteer nonprofit that connects, inspires and empowers women writers and artists in greater Portland/Vancouver.

Featuring:

• Melanie Green
• Tricia Knoll
• Sally Lehman
• Donna Prinzmetal
• Kristin Roedell
• Kelly Running
• Penelope Scambly Schott
• Leah Stenson

BRAVE ON THE PAGE AT POWELL'S

Local Creative Writing Anthology Earns

Powell’s City of Books Pearl Room Debut

PORTLAND, OREGON--An event celebrating Brave on the Page: Oregon Writers on Craft and the Creative Life will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, at Powell’s City of Books on Burnside, 1005 W. Burnside St., Portland. 

The Powell’s Pearl Room event will feature ten of the book’s forty-two Oregon authors. Gina Ochsner, Kate Gray, Robert Hill, Gigi Little and Laura Stanfill will read their flash essays from Brave on the Page. Following the readings, Joanna Rose will moderate a panel discussion on the creative process featuring Kristy Athens, Jon Bell, Scott Sparling and Yuvi Zalkow, all four of whom are interviewed in the book. 

Brave on the Page, a homegrown writing reference book edited by Laura Stanfill, was released this fall by Portland-based Forest Avenue Press. It was named the Powell’s On Oregon Blog “Book of the Year” for 2012, Powell’s Hawthorne recommended it as a staff pick and a four-star review is forthcoming from The Portland Book Review.

“The author interviews include advice to aspiring writers, behind-the-scene book tour anecdotes, and thoughts on rejections and the research process,” Stanfill said. “The short essays respond to a question word prompt—such as who or why—in relation to writing. They include an examination of where characters come from, hilarious real-life dialogue lines, tips on avoiding distractions and an homage to Lamy pens and Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. All the authors, some well known and others less so, have been bravely facing the blank page for years.”

Forest Avenue Press uses the Espresso Book Machine at Powell’s as its printer and primary distributor. In addition to being available made to order at any of the eighty Espresso Book Machines around the world, Brave on the Page, $14, 200 pages, is available in Portland at Annie Bloom’s, Broadway Books, Powell’s City of Books and Powell’s on Hawthorne. It’s available online at ondemandbooks.com and powell’s.com. For more information, see forestavenuepress.com, or contact editor Laura Stanfill at laurastanfill@hotmail.com.