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You are here: Home / 2012 / Archives for November 2012

Archives for November 2012

Oregon Book Club Inaugural Selection

November 27, 2012 By Becky Kjelstrom

We’re excited to announce our inaugural Oregon Book Club selection Disorder, written by author Dan DeWeese, and published by Portland independent press Propeller Books.

Disorder is exactly the sort of book we had hoped to dig up for our Oregon Book Club members. It’s not something you would find on your own. You won’t see it on the front table of Barnes & Noble. It was written, published, and designed by an Oregon publisher and author without a publicity machine behind him. And yet if you are one of the lucky few who get your hands on it, you’ll find its stories unforgettable.

It’s almost a shame to tell you what to expect from Disorder because DeWeese does such a good job of never telling you himself. In “Continuity” a man returns over and over to a paint store, unable to get the paint color right for a room he’s painting for his son. But in his brief exchanges with the paint store’s manager and customers, the man changes his story in small ways. It’s not even something the reader notices until the end, when the man gets angry, storming out of the paint store because he hasn’t been listened to.

Not since Hemingway’s classic short story “Hills Like White Elephants” have I met an author so skilled at revealing the things our conversations hide. Between the lines of DeWeese’s stories are entire novels—busted relationships, custody battles, children lost—but DeWeese only gives us the aftermath, the banter of the victims at a paint store.

The Oregon Book Club exposes OWC members to unheralded Oregon writers. We mail a newly published book four times a year. If you’re not yet a member, there are a few days left until we ship Disorder. If you would like to join, please visit the Membership page. If you’re curious, read more about the Oregon Book Club.

Filed Under: OWC News Tagged With: Dan DeWeese, Oregon Book Club

Former OWC Board Member Art Johnson Passes

November 16, 2012 By Becky Kjelstrom

We were saddened this week to hear of the death of long-time member Arthur Johnson. Art was a former board member, a stalwart of our writing workshops, and an active participant in our scholarship and conference committees.

Board member Martha Miller recounts that Art moved to Portland from Anchorage in the late ‘90s after attending a writing workshop at Colonyhouse. Impressed by the property, the friendliness of the group, and the high caliber of the workshop, he decided to make his home in Portland to be closer to all that Portland has to offer writers. Frequent workshop presenter Larry Brooks has written a fine remembrance of Art at his website Storyfix.com.

Art’s family and friends are helping create a fund in Art’s name, which will benefit low income writers and youth groups visiting the Colonyhouse. In lieu of flowers, the family invites those wishing to make a donation in Art’s remembrance to do the same.




Filed Under: Member News, OWC News Tagged With: Art Johnson, Larry Brooks

2012 Short Story and Poetry Contest Winners

November 14, 2012 By Becky Kjelstrom

Judges Gina Ochsner and Sue Parman have announced the winners of the 2012 Oregon Writers Colony annual writing contests. First-place winners through honorable mentions are invited to read an excerpt at the awards program.

Short Story Fiction

1st place

Patricia Barnhart, Lakeview, Oregon, Ellen Gregory

Gina Oschner’s note: “When I read ‘Ellen Gregory’ I knew I was in the confidant hands of a talented storyteller. The writing is clean, precise, imaginative, and it leaps off the page.”

2nd place

Shirley Dixon, Portland, Oregon, A Different Calling

Gina Oschner’s note: “Voice thrums behind A Different Calling, pulling the reader forward into a world we could not inhabit if not for the care and attention to description and detail afforded in the story”

3rd place

Diane Manley, Eugene, Oregon, The Favorite

First Honorable Mention

Harry Demarest, Corvallis, Oregon, Johnny Angel

Other Honorable Mentions (alphabetical by author)

Darlene Buechel, Chilton, Wisconsin, Six Rules for Surviving a Stepdad

Patricia MacAodha, Portland, Oregon, The Witch with the Backpack

John J. White, Merritt Island, Florida, Beneath the Wintry Sky

Judges Panel “Entries of Note” (alphabetical by author)

(These made it into the top ten lists of at least three judges, or high on the list of at least one judge.)

Patricia Barnhart, Lakeview, Oregon, Piece by Piece

Valerie Lake, Corvallis, Oregon, Jose’s Boots

Diane Miller, Sweethome, Oregon, The Struggle to Lose It

Chet Skibinski, Lake Oswego, Oregon, The Prince and his Tunnels

Patricia A. Smith, Corvallis, Oregon, Birthday Surprise

Short Story Nonfiction

1st place

Morgan Songi, Eugene, Oregon, Spirit Nights

Gina Oschner’s note: “In Spirit Nights the writer thoughtfully weaves an examination of past and present, memory and absence. The author skillfully architects exposition, summary, and scene to create a blended narration that reads in some places like poetry.”

2nd place

Donelle Knudsen, Richland, Washington, Ashes to Ashes and the Spirit of Forgiveness

3rd place

Cheryl Sears, Portland, Oregon, Prejudice Revisited

Gina Oschner’s note: “Both Ashes to Ashes and Prejudice Revisited struck me as being authentic and candid journeys through painful territory. Both authors explore through well-crafted scene and thoughtful narration their struggles in accepting some form of loss as well as the recognition that to be human is to be flawed in some manner”

First Honorable Mention

Leland Spencer, Monument, Oregon, Junkpile Go-Cart

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical by author)

Valerie Lake, Corvallis, Oregon, Invasive Species

Genny Lynch, Lebanon, Oregon, Kissing Lessons

Jean Peterson, Nehalem, Oregon, Border Banditos

Judges Panel “Entries of Note” (alphabetical by author)

(These made it into the top ten lists of at least three judges, or high on the list of at least one judge.)

Judith B. Allen, Manzanita, Oregon, Twenty Questions

Donelle Knudsen, Richland, Washington, Desert Rose or a Blooming Miracle

Rick Lamplugh, Corvallis, Oregon, Mystery at Trout Lake

Laura Loomis, Pittsburg, California, Ghost House

Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest

1st place

Barb McMakin, Crestwood, Kentucky, Familiar Skeletons

2nd place

Morgan Azinger, Portland, Oregon, Indescribable Things

3rd place

Karen Keltz, Tillamook, Oregon, Miasma

First Honorable Mention

Eileen Malone, Broadmoor Village, California, Whale Watching Guy

Other Honorable Mentions (alphabetical by author)

Morgan Azinger, Portland, Oregon, American Apocalypse

Ellanaine Lockie, California, Just Desserts

Morgan Songi, Eugene, Oregon, Weeds

Poetry judge Parman commented, “I’ve just finished my fifth perusal of these wonderful poems, long enough for some to drift to the top and others to the bottom. Many of the poems entered in the contest were full of pain and sharp experience; many were good stories (I’m a sucker for a good story), but when I had to choose between an explicit story told with only the barest gesture toward the poetic medium versus a tightly knit poem containing the hinted ghost of a story, I went for the ghost versus the explicitly told tale. Also, all things being roughly equal, a good title can make a difference.”

Filed Under: Member News, OWC News Tagged With: Barb McMakin, Cheryl Sears, Chet Skibinski, Contests, Darlene Buechel, Diane Manley, Diane Miller, Donelle Knudsen, Eileen Malone, Ellanaine Lockie, Genny Lynch, Gina Ochsner, Harry Demarest, Jean Peterson, John J. White, Judith B. Allen, Karen Keltz, Laura Loomis, Leland Spencer, Morgan Azinger, Morgan Songi, Patricia A. Smith, Patricia Barnhart, Patricia MacAodha, Rick Lamplugh, Sue Parman

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