Spotlighted Literary Events

Oct. 6, 7 PM: Songs of Ascension with Norman Fischer & Meredith Monk at Poets House, NY. Cost: $10 or Students/Seniors $7

Oct. 9, 6 PM: Come to Blackbird Wine Shop to taste wine and hear Oregon poets Peter Sears, Shaindel Beers, John Morrison and Pamela Steele.

Oct. 10-11: Wordstock 2009 is finally here! Come enjoy Portland's "annual festival of books, writers, and storytelling" at the Oregon Convention Center!

Wordstock

Over the past four years, thousands of Northwest book lovers have discovered new writers and celebrated books and stories at the Wordstock festival. This year's festival is is right around the corner, and we need volunteers! Volunteer opportunities include escorting authors to their readings, assisting with book signings, staffing information booths, and selling merchandise!

If you would like to help us put on a great event, click on the following link to fill out the volunteer application form. (You can also access the form through Wordstock's website. Click on the "Get Involved" tab on the right of the hompage, and then click on the "Volunteer Signup" tab on the left-hand side of the page.) Feel free to sign up for more than one shift, a whole day, or the entire weekend.

Without volunteers, Wordstock would not be possible. We hope to see you this year. If you have any questions, e-mail the volunteer coordinators at volunteer@wordstockfestival.com.

Wordstock is Portland's annual book and literary festival, one of the city's most high-profile cultural events and the biggest celebration of books and literature in the Pacific Northwest.

Ink-slingers: On your marks! It's the Wordstock Short Fiction Competition

Wordstock, Portland's annual festival of writers, books, and storytelling, is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 3rd Wordstock Short Fiction Competition.

The national contest is a “double blind” competition. The judges, a collection of writers, academics, publishers, bookstore owners, and literary critics, will choose 10 finalists. The winner of the competition receives a first prize of $1,000 and publication in the October 2009 issue of Portland Monthly magazine. All 10 finalists' stories will be published in the Wordstock Ten, an anthology that will be available at the festival, at Portland-area bookstores, and online through the Wordstock website. Every writer who enters the competition will receive a copy of the anthology.

The final judge for this year’s competition will be Oregon essayist, author, and short-story writer Barry Lopez. Mr. Lopez is a recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the John Hay Medal, fellowships from the Guggenheim, Lannan, and National Science Foundations, and many other honors, including the National Book Award.

Submission guidelines
- All short stories must be works of fiction written in English
- Stories must be an original work and not previously published
- The entry fee is $25 per short story entry
- There are no genre restrictions
- Manuscripts are to be typed, double-spaced, on 8.5” x 11” paper
- Stories should be no less than 1,500 and no more than 4,000 words
- Each submission must have a cover sheet with the writer’s contact information—do not put this information on the manuscript.
- No manuscript will be returned
- Entries that do not follow these guidelines will be disqualified

Submit your entry by mail to:
Wordstock short fiction competition
C/o Franklin, Beedle & Assoc.
8536 SW St Helens Dr., Suite D
Wilsonville, OR 97070.

Please make your entry fee check payable to Wordstock. All entries must be postmarked by July 1, 2009.

Last year's competition drew over 300 entries from all over the world. The 1st place winner, Kurt Rheinheimer of Roanoke, Virginia, won $1,000 and had his story, "Calendar Girl Arrested, Freed" published in the December 2009 issue of Portland Monthly.

See what all the fuss is about and visit this information at the Wordstock website.

Wordstock 2008

It's almost time for my favorite event of the year: Wordstock. Yup, this ranks even higher on my list than Christmas or birthdays. Seriously, what could be better than two whole days of a convention center filled with books, the people who create them, and the people who worship them? Besides that, Wordstock gives out these awesome buttons with witty sayings like "Reading is sexy." I'm getting giddy just writing this!

If you're in the Portland area, I urge you to check Wordstock out. The book fair at the Portland Convention Center this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Indigo will be there at booth #746 with great stuff like books, T-shirts, and free consultations for writers. We'll also host the winner of Sledgehammer as she reads her story on the Community of Writers stage at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Come to the reading to pick up your free copy of the Sledgehammer chapbook.

If you can't wait till Saturday for all this book loving, evening events like readings and poetry slams actually start tomorrow. Check out www.wordstockfestival.com for more details and venue locations.

Sledgehammer Winner Announced!

Congratulations to Mel Wells for winning the Sledgehammer writing contest with her story, "Moving On." You can download Mel's story at www.indigoediting.com/sledgehammer and also see her read at Wordstock this Saturday at 11:30 a.m. We'll be on the Community of Writers stage at the Oregon Convention Center.

Writers to your marks. Get set. Bang!

Sledgehammer Writing Contest

Let Indigo shatter your writer's block!

When: October 18, 12 p.m. to October 19, 11:59 p.m.

How the Contest Works: Teams of writers converge in downtown Portland at noon on Saturday, October 18 to receive their first writing prompt and clues to further writing prompts. They head out to several locations around Portland to gather all four writing prompts, and have thirty-six hours to write the best fiction piece they can come up with. Final submissions are due back at the original location by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, October 19.

The winning team’s story will be published in a pamphlet to be distributed at Wordstock and available for download on our Web site. The winning team will also have opportunities to read their story at local literary venues, including Wordstock, and will win a stellar prize package.

Through the Sledgehammer writing contest, we support writing as a team activity, foster love for the beautiful city of Portland and its small businesses, and thrive through cooperative creativity among people and across the arts.

Writers, register now!
Sledgehammer FAQs
Thank you to our sponsors!

Wordstock Needs You!

Wordstock 2008 is right around the corner, and we hope you're ready to join us as volunteers at this year's festival!

Wordstock is Portland’s Festival of the Book. The festival includes a book fair, a children’s festival, workshops for writers and teachers, and readings by regional and nationally known authors.

The book festival will be held on November 8th and 9th at the Oregon Convention Center. There will be some activity on Friday, November 7th, as well. If you are interested in helping our cause, please click on the following link to fill out our volunteer sign-up form. (You can also access the form by visiting Wordstock's website, www.wordstockfestival.com. Click on the Get Involved tab on the right of the page, and then click on the Volunteer Signup tab.)

When filling out the form, please pick your top three choices from a list of volunteer options. We will make every attempt to place you in your 1st choice. Volunteer options include escorting authors to their stages, providing information to visitors, selling Wordstock merchandise, and much more. Please feel free to sign up for more than one shift, a whole day, or the entire weekend.

Without volunteers, Wordstock would not be possible. If you have any questions regarding the festival or volunteering, please email megan@wordstockfestival.com or bradi@wordstockfestival.com.

Tomorrow

Sorry for the short notice. I just happened upon these and thought I'd share:

During Talk of the Nation on NPR, Neal Conan will explore the decline of reading in America. After attending Wordstock, I was astonished by the number of folks enthralled in all forms of reading and writing. Not surprisingly, the literary community in Portland does not reflect the nation's overall status. The program airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on OPB (91.5 in Portland), but if you miss it live, check it out online.

At 7:30 tomorrow evening, author Molly Gloss will be reading at Annie Bloom's Books. Her book, Hearts of Horses, was released this fall and follows three previous award-winning books. See you there.