Willamette Writers at Wordstock this weekend with David D. Levine

Willamette Writers Celebrate Wordstock with David D. Levine!

Wordstock Logo of Umbrella made out of a bookThousands of book lovers are expected to fill Portland’s park blocks for this year’s Wordstock: Portland’s Book Festival on November 11th at the Portland Art Museum. They will revel in seeing the more than 100 authors who have come to present workshops, give readings and sign books. Big names, such as Jeffrey Eugenides, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Lemony Snicket, and Lidia Yuknavitch, will present, as well as local authors, such as mystery writer April Henry, on nine festival stages. The venues are located in the Portland Art Museum, the Old Church, First Congregational Church, the Oregon Historical Society, and in all three theatres of the Schnitz.

In addition, pop-up events will fill local galleries with readings and performances. With such a wealth of literary riches, attendees will have a hard time choosing what to see.

Willamette Writers will be well represented this year at booth 59 of the Wordstock Book Fair, located in Fields Ballroom of the Portland Art Museum. Willamette Writers will feature Hugo and Andre Norton Award winning author and Willamette Writers member, David D. Levine.

Author David D. Levine floating in space

David D. Levine will sign book alongside 18 Willamette Writers authors, will rotate shifts to meet attendees and sell and sign their works.  Here’s who you’ll meet!

9 – 10:30 a.m. 

Teresa Klepinger: Cliffhanger Writing Prompts. 30 one-page story starters for kids from elementary school on up. Great for both passionate and reluctant writers.

KC Cowan: The Hunt for Winter. An abducted child, a wizard thought long-dead, and a plot to resurrect an evil menace. Queen Irene and her loyal friends must seek out the wizard who stole her son, but finding him is just the start of the mystery.

Carol Palo: My Life as a Metal Sculpture: Navigating Through Medical Adversity. Learn how to make the best decisions, find peace and communicate more effectively when faced with unexpected medical difficulties.

Warren Bull: Abraham Lincoln for the Defense. The novel is based on an actual trial. Read about Lincoln as a young attorney developing into a great man who became our 16th president.

10:30 – Noon

Mindy Hardwick: Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention. Mindy Hardwick volunteered to facilitate a weekly poetry workshop at a juvenile detention center. By helping the teens write poetry about their lives, Mindy discovered strength and courage to grieve the loss of her father, find forgiveness, and release the past.

Dede Montgomery: My Music Man.  Montgomery shares stories from seven generations of family living in the Willamette Valley, including publisher J.K. Gill and earliest Oregon Territory residents Chloe Clarke and William Wilson, to illustrate the power of storytelling.

Chuck Cooper: Safety Harbor: Keepers of the Light. Joe is Safety Harbor’s most beloved citizen. He has influenced the lives of many for good. Now, Joe is missing, leaving behind only a cryptic note that simply says, “Carry on.”

Noon – 1:30

Eldot: You’re in high school now. Eldot, author of the critically acclaimed Julian’s Private Scrapbook novels, presents another hilarious chapter in Julian’s poignant story: his first year of high school. It’s 1962, when life for a gay boy could be especially risky.

Joseph Hopkins: Joe’s first book, The Tree Lady, was a 2015 Oregon Book Award Finalist. The true story of green-thumbed pioneer and activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert town into a lush, leafy city known for its gorgeous parks and gardens.

Linda Atwell: Loving Lindsey: Raising a Daughter with Special Needs. Linda Atwell and her strong-willed daughter, Lindsey―a high-functioning young adult with intellectual disabilities―have a complicated relationship. At twenty, she runs away with Emmett, a man more than twice her age. A touching memoir with unexpected moments of joy and humor.

Author David D. Levine headshot

1:30 – 3:00 pm

David D. Levine: Hugo Award winner and Author of Andre Norton Award winning novel Arabella of Mars (Tor 2016), sequel Arabella and the Battle of Venus (Tor 2017), and over fifty Sci-Fi and fantasy stories.

Catherine Alene: The Sky Between You and Me. Raesha will do whatever it takes to win Nationals. For her, competing isn’t just about the speed of her horse or the thrill of the win. It’s about honoring her mother’s memory and holding onto a dream they once shared.

Keith Tittle: A Matter of Justice. Winner of Chanticleer’s 2016 Grand Prize for Suspense/Thrillers. Jefferson Dawes thought he had left law enforcement behind, but when a former colleague is found dead, Jeff realizes the apparent suicide is part of a much deadlier agenda.

3:00 – 4:30 pm

Patsy Hand: Lost Dogs of Rome.  International art courier Francesca Baltimore has five days to rescue an idealistic boy who fled to Rome and is trapped in a battle between a radical animal rights group and a brutal Italian businessman. The 15-year-old boy is her grandson, Will, who doesn’t know she exists.

Sarina Dorie:  Fairies, Robots and Unicorns?—Oh My!: A Collection of Funny Short Stories. This quirky collection gathers the funniest fantasy and weirdest science fiction stories written by award winning author, Sarina Dorie.

Bill Kroger:  13 Months in Vietnam. A coming of age story about four young men who go to Vietnam in 1963, early in the war before the major battles begin. The young men get into trouble, woo bargirls, and travel around Northeastern Vietnam.

Wordstock Logo with images of several authors4:30 – 6:00 pm

Dale Basye: Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go. When Milton and Marlo Fauster die in a marshmallow-bear explosion, they get sent straight to Heck, an otherworldly reform school. Milton can understand why his kleptomaniac sister is here, but he was a model citizen. Or was he?

Franklin Posner: Suburban Vampire: A Tale of the Human Condition – With Vampires. Scott Campbell, a forty-something slacker and all-around nice guy, isn’t having a good time in life. His dull suburban life is turned upside down when a rogue vampire forcibly converts Scott into a vampire himself. Now, Scott isn’t having a good time in “unlife.”

Gwendolyn Morgan: Snowy Owls, Egrets & Unexpected Graces. A portal to an interior landscape that mirrors the natural world, the poet reflects on the suffering of those living with chronic illness as well as on-going habitat destruction amidst climate change, violence, war, and poverty.

Show your support of our local Willamette Writers, including David D. Levine, by dropping by, saying hello and adding one or two new books to your bookcase or that pile by your bed!

Join our Facebook event to find out more. See you there!

KC Cowan

KC Cowan is the author of JOURNEY TO WIZARD'S KEEP and THE HUNT FOR WINTER. Cowan has spent her life working in the media, as a reporter for KGW-TV, KPAM-AM and KXL-FM radio, and as original host and story producer for an arts program on Oregon Public Television. In addition to the Irene, Nan and Kay saga, KC is also the author of “The Riches of a City,” the history of Portland. She and her husband, Glenn, split their time between Portland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona.