Develop your writing—develop your self with Personal Essay and Heather Sharfeddin.
People crave to understand and be understood. The personal essays, when it balances first-hand experience with introspection and insight, can facilitate that understanding. In this series we’ll explore and practice the elements of successful essays. Join fellow writers in this safe and creative environment where we will wrangle and share our own experiences through our writing.
When: Thursdays, Oct 6–27th, 6:30–8 pm
Where: Willamette Valley Vineyards Tasting Room Conf. Rm., McMinnville
Bio:
Heather Sharfeddin (Sharf-a-deen)
Heather Sharfeddin is the author of four novels about the Pacific Northwest. Her work has earned starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal, has been honored with an Erick Hoffer award and at the New York and San Francisco Book Festivals, as well as the Pacific Northwest Book Sellers Association. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a PhD in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University (Bath, England). She has taught creative writing at Randolph Macon College, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is currently an adjunct professor at Linfield College.
For more information about her writing visit http://www.sharfeddin.com.
Register now for Personal Essay Here Simply print out the form and mail it in with your check. Early registration is encouraged.
Any questions? Please contact workshop coordinator Tandy Tillinghast.
tillingt@mail.wou.edu
We are so thankful to a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for making this workshop series possible!
Writing Poetry—Register for Writing Poetry with Barbara Drake
Fall in love with words—again. Play with poetry with Barbara Drake
Writing Poetry: How do we get ideas for poetry? How do we even start? Then what? We will use simple exercises to address those questions and experiment with different types of poetry, such as lyric, narrative, didactic, and persona poems. No experience required, just a sense of adventure and a love of words. Recommended for teens through adults of all ages.
When: Wednesdays, Sept 7–28th, 4–5:30 pm
Where: The Horseradish, Carlton
Bio:
Barbara Drake has published several chapbooks and book length collections of poetry, most recently Driving One Hundred from Windfall Press. The author’s newest collection of essays is Morning Light: Wildflowers, Night Skies, and Other Ordinary Joys of Oregon Country Life, published by Oregon State University Press (Fall 2014). Her previous essay collection, Peace at Heart, was a 1999 Oregon Book Award finalist. Drake’s college textbook, Writing Poetry, has been in print and widely used in creative writing classes since 1983. Not only does she love to write; she loves to help others explore their creativity in a supportive and sociable setting. She is a Linfield College Professor Emeritus and lives with her husband on a small farm in Yamhill County.
Register now for Writing Poetry [form here]! Simply print out the form and mail it in with your check.
Any questions? Please contact workshop coordinator Tandy Tillinghast.
tillingt@mail.wou.edu
We are so thankful to a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for making this workshop series possible!
Bring your story to life for yourself or for family! Life Writing: Introduction to Memoir with Lisa Ohlen Harris helps you begin your story.
Whether you’re recording family history for your grandkids, writing to understand yourself better, or penning a memoir that will be a best seller, WordStudio’s Life Writing class will provide you with the tools you need to make life into literature. We’ll work on organization, scene writing, and bringing your unique personality to the page.
When: Tuesdays, July 7–26th, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Suite4, downtown McMinnvill
Lisa Ohlen Harris is the author of the Middle East memoir Through the Veil and The Fifth Season: A Daughter-in-Law’s Memoir of Caregiving. Both books were finalists for the Oregon Book Award. Harris teaches online for Creative Nonfiction Foundation and works as a freelance editor and writing mentor. http://www.lisaohlenharris.com
Register now for Life Writing( form Found Here! ) Simply print out the form and mail it in with your check.
Any questions? Please contact workshop coordinator Tandy Tillinghast.
tillingt@mail.wou.edu
We are so thankful to a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for making this workshop series possible!
Is your mind in another era, more than our own? Historical Fiction is the ultimate reward!
Writing historical fiction but getting bogged down in the research?
Author Samuel Snoek-Brown will guide you through a series of workshops to help you quickly find historical details that will lend your story authenticity and then—most importantly—get you back to the writing!
When: Mondays, May 16–Jun 13th, 4:30–6:00 pm (Not on 5/30)
Where: Coffee Cottage Annex, Newberg
Samuel Snoek-Brown lives in Portland and teaches writing at Chekemeta Community College’s Yamhill Valley campus. His work has appeared in dozens of literary journals, and he serves as production editor for Jersey Devil Press. He’s the author of the chapbooks Box Cutters and Where There Is Ruin, as well as the historical novel Hagridden, for which he received a 2013 Oregon Literary Fellowship.
Register now for Historical fiction Registration Form Simply print out the form and mail it in with your check.
Any questions? Please contact workshop coordinator Tandy Tillinghast.
tillingt@mail.wou.edu
We are so thankful to a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for making this workshop series possible!
Terroir Creative Writing Festival happening this Saturday!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What: Yamhill County’s homegrown writing and literary festival
Where: McMinnville, at the Chemeketa Community College Yamhill Campus
When: 8-9:00 registration, and the festival happens 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Who: 18 speakers, local writers and YOU!
Why: To get inspiration to last a whole year!
How: Come the day-of for on-site registration, but let us know you are coming by posting to our Facebook page!
Want more information? Download the schedule (pre-registration form) here!
My eldest daughter, Laurie, started researching family history when she was a teenager, starting with a collection of letters and photos and records my mother-in-law had assembled in plastic sleeves before her death.
Laurie pored over those family history notebooks for weeks, learning her great-grandmother’s script in order to read correspondence.
“They just wrote about the weather,” Laurie said at one point. “Eugene was out on the range and Mee Mee had been on her own for months, and all they do is report on the boring stuff.”
About that time, I had grown discouraged in my own writing. Oprah hadn’t noticed my work, and book publication seemed more like a letdown than anything else. I mentioned to Laurie that I wasn’t sure sometimes whether I even wanted to keep writing. Maybe I would focus on editing and mentoring and let my own work fall to the wayside. It took (it takes!) so much effort—and for what? So a few people can buy a book or read an essay and then put it on the shelf.
“Mom, your writing is more than that,” my daughter said, looking me straight in the eye. “When I read one of your essays, I see how you think. I understand the way you see the world—at least at the time you wrote the essay.”
She went on to compare my writing with that of her Texas ancestors, who left nothing of their minds as a record for those who might read their writings later.
“You have to keep writing, Mom,” she said. “For your descendents. For me—so I know what you thought.”
My daughter is an adult now, setting her own mind down on the page in poetry and nonfiction. Over the years, her encouragement and interest are a large part of what has kept me writing. I’ve become convinced that we must write while we are able, to record family history, to explore the significance of our lives, and to put our own thoughts, memories and passions on the page—if not for an adoring public, then for our daughters and sons and those who will come after us.
Let’s create a record of these lives we have lived.
On Thursday evenings, April 12 through May 3, I’m facilitating a course in McMinnville, Oregon, on life writing for those who realize how important it is to put heart and mind on the page. Join me!
To register for Lisa Ohlen Harris’s WordStudio workshop, download the registration form here and return by mail.
#TCWF16 featured poets list
We are excited to be featuring three poets at our festival this year, happening April 16 at the Yamhill Campus of Chemeketa Community College. Who said April had to be the cruelest month? For writing in Yamhill County, it just might be the best of all.
Barbara Drake
Barbara Drake’s newest collection of essays is Oregon Book Awards finalist Morning Light: Wildflowers, Night Skies, and Other Ordinary Joys of Oregon Country Life, (OSU Press). Previous books include Peace at Heart (essays), Driving One Hundred (poetry) and Writing Poetry (textbook). A retired Linfield College Professor, she lives with her husband in rural Yamhill County and will be giving a talk for poets at the festival.
Ed Edmo
Ed Edmo is a Shoshone-Bannock poet, actor, playwright, performer, traditional storyteller, tour guide, and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture. He adapts Native legends for the theatre and performed with Ken Kesey, Mason Williams, and Allen Ginzberg in 1977 before 10,000 people in Eugene. Ed lives in Portland with his wife, children, and granddaughter. www.ededmo.tripod.com
David Mason
Poet Laureate of Colorado from 2010-2014, David Mason is a native northwesterner, author and editor of many books, including Ludlow: A Verse Novel, Sea Salt: Poems of a Decade, and Davey McGravy: Tales to be Read Aloud to Children and Adult Children. His work appears in The New Yorker, The Nation and many other magazines.
Have you signed up for the festival yet? Register by downloading this form and sending it with your check to the address provided!
