Writers Faire 2010: Support Your Local Writers

By Corey Stixrud

Living in the Northwest, you're familiar with the following sentiments: Buy local. Support your local economy. Reduce your carbon footprint. Know your grower. Partner with your neighbors. Enhance your quality of life.

We've built a fair dose of "local" right in to our lifestyle: we clearly enjoy our farmers' markets and craft markets, our microbreweries and food co-ops, our pumpkin patches and our Christmas tree farms. A growing number of high-quality restaurants celebrate the exclusive use of Northwest ingredients, and grocery stores tag local products, identifying, with justifiable pride, all that is sustainable, fresh, and organic.

In that same spirit, it's time come together to enjoy and celebrate our local and abundant (and no doubt sustainable, fresh, and organic) literary talent. In a festive holiday mood, we invite all Willamette Writers members, their friends, and the general public to build a personal relationship with a local writer or two by coming to our Writer's Faire celebration on December 7th at the Old Church (1422 SW 11th), starting at 7:00 p.m.

As in past years, author tables and displays will be set up throughout the venue, with books available for purchase. You're invited to come in, browse the tables, and get to know some of the writing folk that help make Portland such a rich literary community. Young Willamette Writers will be adding some seasonal cheer to the Faire festivities as well, interviewing authors about the writing craft and gaining valuable firsthand experience in what it means to be part of an organization that supports local talent.

Do you want the opportunity to talk about your work in front of your writing peers? We'll have an Open Mic again this year for those of you seeking a friendly, supportive audience. Authors are invited to share from their work and slots are set for a maximum of five minutes. If we have more people who want to speak than available slots, we'll choose authors with a drawing before the meeting and notify authors.

So come and support your local writers. Come partner with those who provide Portland with the gift of prose. My personal plan this year is to get some of my holiday shopping taken care of at Writer's Faire. I can't think of a better way to ensure that our writing community continues to thrive. See you there!

All table spaces are reserved.

Writers Faire Flier

2010 Authors

Grace Reed
Joni Heyman
FI Goldhaber
Val Mallinson
Suzanne Jauchius
Paula Friedman
Liz Nakazawa
Bernadette Crepeau
Sage Cohen
Jessica Morrell
Carla Dietz
Bob Ferguson
Patty Somlo
Scott Lynn
Jennifer Omner
Randal Houle
Inara Scott
Bob Watt
Carol Jo Pettit
Maureen Hovenkotter
Rebecca Harrison
Susan Blackaby
Ron Gompertz
Tom Larsen
Kari Pius Baker
Cornelia Seigneur
Cindy Anderson
Kaylin McFarren
Kathleen McFall
Nancy Hill
Michele Bryngelson
Brandi Sandy
Linda Kuhlmann

Two attendees at a recent Writers Faire talk about books.