Terroir Speaker Spotlight! Nonfiction writers

We are excited to be hosting some great nonfiction writers at this year’s festival. We tracked down this illuminating talk by one of our keynote speakers, critic Shawn Levy, about Italy’s Dolce Vita period, when Italian culture became world culture.

We encourage you to check out our speakers’ websites and explore their work before coming to learn from some of the best in the nonfiction craft!

Kate Carroll deGutes is the author of Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She has received fellowships from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Anderson Center, Artsmith, and Centrum. You can learn more about Kate and read her critically acclaimed blog, “The Authenticity Experiment,” at http://www.katecarrolldegutes.com.

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.

Emily Grosvenor’s first blog, Desperately Seeking Salem, won Best Salem Blog the year it launched and became a beloved column for the Statesman-Journal. An independent magazine journalist in McMinnville, she writes for The Atlantic, Sunset, Portland Monthly and Salon.com and currently maintains five blogs, including our festival blog.

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. Her self-published craft book, Creative Nonfiction Toolbox, is available exclusively at the Terroir Creative Writing Festival book table. http://www.lisaohlenharris.com

Shawn Levy is the bestselling author of Paul Newman: A Life and Rat Pack Confidential. He’s the former film critic of the Oregonian and teaches film studies at Portland State University. His eighth book, Dolce Vita Confidential, about film, fashion and paparazzi in 1950s Rome, will be published this fall. www.shawnlevy.com (Twitter = @shawnlevy)

William L. Sullivan is the author of 18 books about Oregon hiking, history, adventure, and mystery. He grew up in Salem and completed degrees at Cornell and the UO. In 1985 he hiked over 1000 miles across Oregon, an adventure recounted in Listening for Coyote, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award.

To sign up for the Terroir Creative Writing Festival, happening April 16 in McMinnville, please download this printable PDF, fill out and send with your check to the address listed.