Zinesters Talking at MCL

When you think of the library, a few things may come to mind: librarians in cardigans and glasses that shush you if you're too loud, fines you don't want to pay, long lines for the computer....but what about zines?

That's right, zines! Did you know that Multnomah County Library is actually one of the greatest resources in Portland for zines and zine events? Zines, short for magazines, are self-published little gems of creativity that can range in topics from building a backyard chicken coop to autobiographical comics. Not only does MCL have a great zine collection available for checkout, but they also host a speaker series called Zinesters Talking where zinesters from both near and far talk about their work and zine culture. The series is currently in its fifth year, and there is only one session left, so be sure to check it out!

Tuesday, November 3, 6:30–7:45 p.m. Central Library, U.S. Bank Room

Historic Zinesters Talking:

Discuss the recent history of chapbooks, poetry and zines in Portland with Kevin Sampsell (co-author of Haiku Inferno; publisher, Future Tense Books; and small press champion, Powell's City of Books) and Leanne Grabel, poet (Lonesome and Very Quarrelsome Heroes, Short Poems by a Short Person), performer and teacher. Both events in the Historic Zinesters Talking series will be recorded and cataloged in the library's podcast collection.

Spotlighted Literary Events

Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
Celebrate Mother's Day weekend with Portland writer and scholar Judith Arcana.
Judith’s prose books about motherhood, Our Mothers’ Daughters and Every Mother’s Son, are classic feminist analyses of mothering in the USA. Her poetry collection, What if your mother, examines a constellation of motherhood themes you won’t find in Hallmark cards: abortion, adoption, miscarriage, the biotechnology of pregnancy & childbirth, and truth-telling about real live mothers. Judith’s special guest will be Leanne Grabel, longtime Portland poet/performer, whose current work examines the lives of Oregon daughters and mothers caught between some very sharp rocks & the hardest of hard places.
When: 3pm
Where: In Other Words Women's Books and Resources, 8 B NE Killingsworth St.
Cost: Free
For more information call 503-232-6003 or visit the events page at http://www.inotherwords.org/NASApp/store/IndexJsp and juditharcana.com.

Date: Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16, 2009
Thursday, May 14 begins a three-day consideration of poetry and peace from and beyond the life and writing of William Stafford. The symposium titled Another World Instead, begins at the NW Film center, with the premiere of a Every War Has Two Losers. Based on the book Every Way Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace & Way (Milkweed Editions,2003).

On Friday (at the First Unitarian Church), there will be a class taught by Kim Stafford (literary executor of the Estate of William Stafford) to explore connections between the writing of poetry and the life of witness for peace. Friday evening, there will be a poetry reading in the Spirit of William Stafford with reading by Abayo Animashaum, Tim Barnes, Andrea Hopkins, Fred Marchant, Kim Stafford, Mary Szybist, and others.

On Saturday (at the First Unitarian Church), the main Symposium will be an opportunity to consider how William Stafford's life of witness through poetry may inform our opportunities for literary citizenship in a time of war. Presentations will include Teaching Peace, Camp Angel, and Learning Poetry.

In addition, presenters will share information about the William Stafford Archive, now available online: http://www.staffordarchives.org.

For further information about the Symposium, please visit the Web site.

When: see Web site for details
Where: Lewis & Clark, MSC 85, 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road and First Unitarian Church, Eliot Chapel, 1011 SW 12th Ave
Cost: see Web site for details