Recent News
Epublishing Conference
The New Publishing World: Everything You Need To Know From E to Z
START TIME: Mar 24 2012 – 09:00 AM
Portland Airport Sheraton
Take Advantage of New Technology & The Digital Revolution
March 24-25, 9:00AM to 5PM at the Airport Sheraton – 8235 NE Airport Way, Portland
E-books, e-readers, tablets, indie authors, on-demand printing, Kindle Fire, the Nook – it’s suddenly a whole new world of opportunity for readers and writers. Self-publishing and the e-book market have skyrocketed in popularity. To help you understand this revolution, Oregon Writers Colony brings together technology providers, subject area experts, and successful e-book authors and publishers to present all you need to know to get started e-publishing. Click here to read more, or to register for this conference.
2011 Contest Winners Announced
Celebrity judges, author Robin Cody, and poet Barbara Davis Kroon announced the winners of the Oregon Writers Colony annual writing contests in October. OWC received more than one hundred entries from all over the United States, and even one from Australia.
Short Story Fiction
1st place
Patricia Barnhart
Lakeview, Oregon
Coda
(Judge Robin Cody’s comment)
Coda opens like “Lives of the Cowboys” with four horny wise-crackin’ pards playin’ poker in the bunkhouse, but in the morning, when they have work to do, four distinct and appealing characters emerge. They know their horses and they feel the landscape and they get under one another’s skins. The chase is dramatic, not gratuitous, and it leads to a smart twist at the end.
2nd place
Beth Navarro
Corvallis, Oregon
Loba
3rd place
Nancy K. Berry
Seaside, Oregon
Classified Miracle
First Honorable Mention
Kathleen Ewing
Prescott Valley, Arizona
Living Legend
Short Story Non-Fiction
1st place
Joanne Arledge
Yonkers, New York
The Birds
(Judge Robin Cody’s comment)
The Birds is a complete short story of the sudden shift in little sister’s view of herself in relation to three wild brothers in a broken family. Boy! This is narrative nonfiction at its best, with finely detailed scenes, a strong sense of place and a sharpshooting, immensely appealing narrator.
2nd place
Valerie Lake
Corvallis Oregon
The Man with No Legs
3rd place
Rick Lamplugh
Corvallis, Oregon
Slugging it Out in the Garden
First Honorable Mention
Samantha Ducloux Waltz
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Persuasion
Other Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical)
Linda Elin Hamner Philomath, Oregon O Christmas Tree…O Christmas Tree…
Judith Allen Manzanita, Oregon Boots
Rachael S. Neal Missoula, Montana Kind Eyes
Kate Gilbert Richmond, NSW, Australia Strong Lines
Dee Roy Albany, Oregon Different Kind of Snake
Sara Truitt Claremont California Daughter
Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest
1st Prize
Ada Molinoff
Salem, Oregon
Tethered
2nd Prize
Kathryn Graves-Messer
Keizer, Oregon
Steam
3rd Prize
Gail Black
Portland, Oregon
The Arleta Library
1st Honorable Mention
Jeffrey Jensen
Portland, Oregon
Orpheus The Haunt
2nd Honorable Mention
Kathryn Graves-Messer
Keizer, Oregon
At The Mouth of The Klamath River
3rd Honorable Mention
Gwendolyn Morgan
Willapa Bay
Ecotones
RaeAnn Proost Releases Stories
ReeAnn Proost has released a collaboration of stories titled, Just a Heartbeat Away: Reconciled to the Loss of our Children.
Fourteen parents celebrate the lives of their children, share their loss and unfathomable grief, provide unique insights, and offer up glimmers of inspiration and hope. To bare the heart is a painful and daunting task. The stories are fraught with memories, calamitous sadness, and hope. Here is advice and understanding, along with peace and comfort, for the mothers and fathers who sadly must follow in our footsteps. We work through our grief to find a new normal, and we know we are not alone.
The book contains a forward and afterward by Chaplain Joy LePage Smith, MA, and is available by emailing
heartbeat@bendbroadband.com, from Book Locker, or from your favorite bookstore.
OWC Booth at Wordstock
The OWC will be at Wordstock with a full slate of authors signing books and discussing craft topics.
We’re at Booth #312 and #314 from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. both Saturday, Oct. 8 and Sunday Oct 9. We’ll also have free copies available of the famous Oregon Writers Colony cookbook.
Saturday
Judy Allen, 10-11AM
Greg Nokes,11AM-12PM
Rae Richen,noon-1PM
Sharon Wood Wortman, 1-2PM
Bill Cameron, 2-3PM
D’Norgia Price,3-4PM
David Oates,4-5PM
Sunday
Esther Schrader,10-11AM
Marlene Hill,11-noon
Kerry Cohen,noon-1pm
Lori Lake, 1-2PM
Megan Clark,2-3PM
Paul Gerhards, 3-4PM
Carolyn Rose and Mike Nettleton,4-5PM.
The New OWC Website
Photo by Kirsten Steen
Oregon Writers Colony has a new website and a new way of doing things. Take a fresh look at www.oregonwriterscolony.org and see how much is here for you and your writing.
At the Events pages, it’s easier to find the workshop you need to give your writing a boost. You can now use Paypal to register for workshops and conferences and the Mentor in the House Program. You still may pay by check and mail us a registration form found on the website – your choice.
Encourage your writing friends to join, using the member application. Been a member for six months? Then take a look at your opportunity to use Colonyhouse, OWC’s writers retreat. See what other writers have to say about Colonyhouse.
See Member News to learn about fellow members’ writing success. Send your writing news to orwriterscolony@gmail.com, so we can celebrate with you. You can also send us a photo of your publication cover and a link to your website. We’ll put you in our Books by Members page.
Under Member Resources, you can read book reviews of published books authored by fellow members. The reviews are written by OWC members. You can offer to be one of our reviewers, too. If you have a published book, let us know you’d like us to find someone to review it. Email us at orwriterscolony@gmail.com.
You can also participate in the Writer’s Place Blog – writers writing about marketing, editing, character and plot development, synopsis writing, the search for agents and editors – whatever writing topic you want to discuss.
Plus, look at a new opportunity to go nation-wide in your search for home, health and other products you need at www.marketamerica.com/owc . This is Oregon Writers Colony’s portal into the non-profit sector of a twenty-year-old online shopping mall – probably the oldest and biggest community of familiar and fresh, and large and small stores. When you shop at Market America, each of you – each shopper receives cash back for every purchase. And when you buy through our MA portal, Market America supports Oregon Writers Colony, too.
So search through our new website. Discover what Oregon Writers Colony can do for your writing life. Meet other writers as you participate in the OWC blog, book reviews, member news and the many workshops and events designed for your writing career.
And if you are enjoying the new look and the new ease of navigation, thank our friend Bill Cameron, author of the gripping mystery County Line. Bill put his artistic eye to work for OWC members and visitors. He’s done a lot of work to make www.oregonwriterscolony.org a great site to visit.
Rae Richen
President
Oregon Writers Colony
OWC Founders Day 2011
August 13-14, 2011
All members and friends are invited to the annual Founders Day held in Rockaway Beach, Oregon.
Saturday’s schedule includes a Writing Class taught by publisher/editor/writer, Lynn Price – Cost $40. Lynn Price will also have private appointments following the class available for $15 for a one-on-one.
Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen and historical novelist, Barbara Corrado Pope are the featured speakers for Saturday with a reading at the Rockaway City Library at 1:30 and at 3:30 in the afternoon dedicating the newly installed Poetry Pole at the Colonyhouse followed by a reception at Colonyhouse from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Sunday’s program at the Rockaway City Hall kicks off with speaker/writer, Dana Haynes at 9:15a.m., followed by the Authors’ Showcase – a time for featured published authors of OWC to share their work.
The luncheon speaker is R. Gregory Nokes. The afternoon program features break-out sessions moderated by published writers in Poetry, Mystery, Short Fiction and non-fiction, Research, and Self-publishing.
At 4:30 attendees are invited to a reception and tours of the Colonyhouse.
Cost for the Founders Day Celebration is $40 per person. For further information contact Marlene Howard.
To register for the Lynn Price class or Sunday’s Founder’s Day Celebration festivities, visit our Founder’s Day 2011 Events page.
Short Story Contest
For the Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest, click here.)
For a printable flyer and entry form for both contests, click here.
Contest deadline: August 15, 2011
Short Story – both True and Imagined Awards:
- First prize: $200
- Second prize: $100
- Third prize: $50
- First Honorable Mention: Certificate of Achievement.
- Additional Honorable Mentions credited in Colonygram and on OWC website.
- First place winners are featured on the cover of the Colonygram. All winners listed inside Colonygram and on this website.
- Winners are invited to read from their winning entry at the awards ceremony.
Short Story Contest Rules:
- Original, unpublished short story, fiction or nonfiction.
- Word limit: 2500 max.
- Fee per entry: $10/OWC member, $15/non-member
- $10 optional fee for judges’ constructive critiques.
- Standard manuscript format (double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12pt. Courier or Times Roman font).
- Title, word count and category (fiction, nonfiction) on first page.
- NO author name on story. This is an anonymous contest.
- Multiple entries okay.
- One entry per submission packet.
Include in Short Story submission packet:
- Four stapled copies of one entry. (Keep originals; entries will not be returned.)
- One business envelope – labeled fiction or nonfiction — with the following inside:
- Check for entry fee. (Can combine with optional critique fee.)
- 3×5 card (please no odd-sized cards) with:
- Category (fiction or nonfiction)
- Entry title
- Name, address, phone, email
- OWC member or non-member
- How you heard about this contest. Specifically – if online, where?
- Critique request if you include optional critique fee.
- SASP (Self-addressed stamped postcard for receipt and your piece of mind.)
- #10 SASE if you request judges’ constructive critiques (mailed to you in early October.)
Judging Criteria (for fiction and nonfiction short stories only, not necessarily in order of importance.)
- Plot (hook, complications, climax, satisfying resolution).
- Evokes emotion in reader (e.g. chuckle, sadness).
- Theme (what story is about beyond the plot (e.g. courage/fear, loss/gain).
- Mechanics (grammar, point of view, showing/telling etc.).
- Sensory detail
- Originality
- Depth of character/character arc
- Tension Follows contest director’s nit-picky Contest Rules
Mailing address for Short Stories – Both True and Imagined:
OWC Contest, C. Lill Ahrens
306 NW 32nd St.
Corvallis, OR 97330
For inquiries email C. Lill Ahrens
You Can Also Pay your Entry Fee in Advance Here:
Members:
Non-members
 |
2011 Short Story Contest judge: Robin Cody
Robin Cody was born at St. Helens and grew up in Estacada, Oregon. A graduate of Yale, he taught at the American School of Paris for a decade and was Dean of Admissions at Reed College in Portland before taking up freelance writing in 1984. While writing, he has been a baseball umpire, a basketball referee and special-ed school bus driver. Cody is the author of Ricochet River, a novel full of rivers, fish and Indian lore. In 2005, the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission recognized Ricochet River as one of the 100 essential “Oregon books.” Voyage of a Summer Sun is the non-fiction account of Cody’s 82-day solo canoe trip down the Columbia River from its source in Canada to its mouth at Astoria. Voyage won the 1995 Oregon Book Award for literary non-fiction and the 1996 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award. Both books are in the Oregon State Library’s “150 Books for the Oregon Sesquicentennial,” for February, 2009. His most recent book, Another Way the River Has, is a collection of short true stories published by Oregon State University Press in April, 2010. Cody lives with his wife, Donna, in Portland. |
Poetry Contest
For the Short Story Contest, click here.)
For a printable flyer and entry form for both contests, click here.
Contest deadline: August 15, 2011
Poetry awards
- First prize: $100
- Second prize: $50
- Third prize: $25
First, Second and Third prize poems will be published in OWC Colonygram. All winners listed inside Colonygram and on this website.
- Winners are invited to read their winning entry at the awards ceremony.
Poetry contest rules
- Up to three poems per entry, any form or style, original and unpublished.
- Fee per entry: $10/OWC member, $15/non-member.
- NO author name on poems. This is an anonymous contest.
- Multiple entries okay.
- One entry (up to three poems) per submission packet.
Include in Poetry submission packet:
- Two copies of each poem. (Keep originals; entries will not be returned.)
- One business envelope with the following inside:
- Check for entry fee.
- 3×5 card (please no odd-sized cards) with:
- Your name, address, phone, email.
- Poem titles.
- How you heard about this contest. Specify — word-of-mouth, publication, online, where?
- Whether OWC Member or non-member.
- SASP (Self-addressed stamped postcard for receipt and your piece of mind.
Mailing address for Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest:
OWC Contest
Judith Massee
3415 S.E. Steele Street
Portland, OR 97202-4161
You Can Also Pay your Entry Fee in Advance Here:
Members:
Non-members
Direct inquiries to Judith by email.
 |
Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest Final Judge: Barbara Davis KroonBorn in The Dalles, Oregon, Barbara Davis Kroon spent her early years on a wheat ranch near Condon. In undergraduate school she studied piano and music theory at Willamette University in Salem, where she wrote and produced a musical comedy, The Lady’s Game.
Her poetry has been included in two books: Millennial Spring / Eight New Oregon Poets (Peter Sears and Michael Malan, editors) and Once Upon Ice and Other Frozen Poems (Jane Yolen, editor). In addition, her poems have appeared in such publications as Hubbub, The Northwest Poets & Writers Calendar, The Devil’s Millhopper, The Chadakoin Review, Zone 3, Visions International, The Haight Asbury Literary Journal, The And Review, Ignis Fatuus Review, The Worcester Review, Calapooya Collage, Portlander, The Denny Poems, Portland Review, and Verseweavers. |
2010 Contest Winners
Winners were invited to read from their work and receive their prizes at Oregon Writers Colony Winner’s Contest Reading on November 15, 2010, 7 to 9 p.m., at Tabor Space, 5441 SE Belmont St. Portland, OR 97215.
Sue Parman, OWC Contest Winner 2010
Fiction:
- First Prize: Sue Parman, Hillsboro, “The Spirit Bird”
- Second Prize: Dorothy Blackcrow Mack, Depoe Bay, “Chi-Chi Foretells the Sex of Alex Turning Hawk’s Baby”
- Third Prize: Aron Bernstein, Portland, “Tunnel Vision”
- First Honorable Mention: Tamsin Morgan, Eugene, “Bitter Creek”
Honorable Mentions (alphabetical)
- Patricia Barnhart, Lakeview,”In the Details”
- Lynn Veach Sadler, Sanford North Carolina, “Spitting in Van Gogh’s Eyes”
- Patricia Smith, Corvallis, “Dinner at the Weitzman’s”
Fiction Entries of Note (alphabetical) The entries in this and the nonfiction category made it onto at least 2 of 4 judges’ top ten lists.
- Patricia Barnhart, Lakeview, “I Remember You”
- Michael C. Bronson, Tigard, “The Comfort People”
- Randy Dary, Lakeview, “At My Wit’s End”
- Jill Kelly, Portland, “Of All the Things I Might Have Done”
- Jean Liebert, Corvallis, “The Gun”
- Ann Littlewood, Portland, “Dry Gulch”
- Deb Mohr, Eugene, “The White Train”
- Beth Navarro, Corvallis, “Bird of Freedom”
- Lois Rosen, Salem, “Peonies”
- Jo Senters, Portland, “Blue Bedroom Eyes”
- Alida Thacher, Portland, “The AquaContrarium”
Steve Theme, OWC Contest Winner 2010
Nonfiction:
- First Prize: Steve Theme, Beaverton, “Lulu”
- Second Prize: Mark A. Bryant, Lebanon, “Boodle or Brace”
- Third Prize: Karen Flagstad, Portland, “The Night Train”
- First Honorable Mention: Samantha Ducloux Waltz, Lake Oswego. “An Inventory of the Perfect Man”
Honorable Mentions (alphabetical)
- Patricia Daharsh, Deauville FL, “The Caretakers”
- Genny Lynch, Lebanon, “Expand Your Dating Pool”
- Cheryl Sears, Portland, “The Amputee Hamster”
Nonfiction Entries of Note (alphabetical)
- Karen Alexander-Brown, Portland, “Monologue, Mostly in Silence”
- Dale L. Baker, Portland, “A Tale of Two Kissers”
- Jo Barney, Portland, “Mary’s Closet”
- B.J.Bateman, Damascus, “Generation Gap”
- Lois Jean Bousquet, Albany, “An Undying Love”
- Ange Crawford, Corvallis, “Wildlife, Erotic Nights and Real Life”
- Alan Huster, Albany OR, “Fish Soup”
- Allyson Koplin, Hillsboro, “Bathroom Floor”
- Donelle Knudsen, Richland WA, “Angels Come in Many Sizes”
- Valerie Lake, Corvallis, “Night of Lions”
- Sue Parman, Hillsboro, “Gargoyles To Go”
- Vera Wildauer, Manzanita, “On the Road Redux”
Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest
Poetry Judge Ron Talney has chosen the following poets to receive prizes in the 2010 Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest. Talney’s fourth book of poetry, A Secret Weeping of Stones, was recently published by Plain View Press.
- First Prize : Sue Parman, from Hillsboro, “Rain”
- Second Prize : Lois Rosen, from Salem, for “Pantoum for Dorothy at 92″
- Third Prize : Sue Parman, for “Looking for Water”
- First Honorable Mention : Gwen Morgan, from Portland, “Within the Breath”
- Second Honorable Mention : Joseph A. Soldati, from Portland, “Matinee Idyll”
- Third Honorable Mention : Dale L. Baker, from Portland, “Room 134A”
- Fourth Honorable Mention : Patricia E. Lanier, from Eugene, “Snow Birds”
