Each week, Literary Arts staff will round up news, events, and more happening in the literary community. Let us know if you have any events or book news to share.
Barry Lopez: An Era of Emergencies is Upon Us and We Cannot Look Away
It is with great sorrow that we mark the passing of Barry Lopez, one of the greatest Oregonain writers, at the age of 75 after a long battle with cancer. Barry was involved with Literary Arts since our organization’s founding, and was an important and trusted advisor to nearly all of the Executive Directors of Literary Arts.
Barry will be remembered with fondness and reverence. His passing is a loss to all readers and writers. Below is an excerpt of his introduction to American Geography, where Barry contemplates the future of America and the world.
I have studied what we have done to the planet and I object. I object to the exploitation of, and the lack of respect for, human laborers. I object to the frantic commercialization of the many realms of daily life, I object to the desecration of what is beautiful, to the celebration of what is venal, and to the ethical obtuseness of the king’s adoring enablers. I object to society’s complacency.
MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2021
Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2021 (Lit Hub)
Most Anticipated Releases of 2021 (Book Riot)
Our Most Anticipated Books of 2021 (Bookshop)
What to Read When 2021 Is Just Around the Corner (The Rumpus)
Anticipated Books of 2021 (Penguin Random House)
The January 2021 Indie Next List Preview (Indiebound)
All That’s on Our 2021 TBR List (Powell’s Books)
The 30 Most Anticipated SFF Books of 2021 (Tor.com)
Several of the books/ authors on these lists were part of Portland Arts & Lectures and the 2020 Portland Book Festival, presented by Bank of America. You can watch replays of #PDXBookFest events in our Portland Book Festival Video Library.
Simply register for a free account to view. To request closed captioning on any video in the library, email la@literary-arts.org or call us at 503-227-2583, option 2
VIRTUAL LITERARY EVENTS
Pièces de Résistance: Readings by Camille Dungy, Dorianne Laux & Joe Millar
January 10 | 4:00 p.m. PST | Free (donation optional)
Join Alaska Quarterly review for 21 free, live online readings and conversations, featuring 58 exceptional new, emerging, and established poets and writers who have appeared in AQR. Pièces de Résistance runs from October 4, 2020—May 2, 2021 hosted by the Anchorage Museum and moderated by author Heather Lende and AQR Co-Founder and Editor Ronald Spatz.
Annie Bloom’s Books presents: Lori Tobias with Laura Stanfill
January 14 | 7:00 p.m. PST | Free
A livestream reading with Lori Tobias from her new book, Storm Beat: A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast. She will be in conversation with Portland writer and publisher Laura Stanfill, author of Sad House: Parenting, Grief, and Creativity in the Coronavirus Crisis.
MFA Alumni Reading: C. R. Grimmer, Genevieve Hudson, & Suman Mallick (Portland State MFA)
January 15 | 4:00 p.m. | Free
The Writing Body (IPRC)
January 17 | 10:00 a.m. | $65 (scholarships available)
In this three-part workshop, we will allow the emotional and intellectual bodies, as well as the body in space, to inform writing practice. Through somatic awareness, movement, and meditation practice, we will generate written work.
Author Jon Mooallem talks with OPB’s John Notarianni at the Portland Book Festival
Mooallem spoke with OPB’s John Notarianni as a part of the recent Portland Book Festival, put on by Literary Arts. His most recent book is This Is Chance! The Shaking of an All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together. It might be the most oddly reassuring disaster story you’ll ever read.
West x Midwest Presents: Marilynne Robinson and C Pam Zhang in Conversation (The Believer)
Transcript from the Portland Book Festival event.
Winter Fishtrap: Resilience
An Online Conference: Saturdays, January 9, 16, 23, 30
Join Fishtrap this January for Winter Fishtrap as we explore the role Resilience plays in our communities, our cultures, our world, and our lives. Be a part of the conversation as we examine these questions:
- How does Resilience impact mental health?
- How do cultures survive, even thrive?
- What does Resilience look like in the natural world?
- What is the role of imagination in building Resilient communities?
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS
2020 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction
Deadline: February 15
This contest is open to any short fiction writer of English. The prize includes a $2,000 cash award and publication of the winning manuscript. Judged by Alice Sebold.
Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships
Deadline: February 23
The 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships are $50,000 awards given to honor poets of literary merit appointed to serve in civic positions and to enable them to undertake meaningful, impactful, and innovative projects that engage their fellow residents, including youth, with poetry, helping to address issues important to their communities.
Dramatist’s League Foundation
DGF provides emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness.
MASS MoCA Fellowship for Writers of Color
Deadline: January 8
This fellowships shall be awarded to one writer working in English in any genre who self-identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color. The fellowship funds all residency fees for up to four weeks in residence.
Waterson Desert Writing Prize
The Prize annually honors literary nonfiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy — with the desert as both subject and setting. Inspired by author and poet Ellen Waterston’s love of Central Oregon’s High Desert, the Prize recognizes the vital role deserts play worldwide. Emerging, mid-career and established nonfiction writers are invited to apply. Previous applicants who have not won an award are eligible to submit a new project. The Prize is awarded to a nonfiction full-length book proposal.
We Need Diverse Books Emergency Fund
We Need Diverse Books have recently updated their eligibility criteria so that even more diverse creatives can apply during this challenging time. Grant amounts range from $500–$1,000.
FOR KIDS/TEENS
Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards Program in Partnership with We Need Diverse Books
Deadline: March 2, 2021
Calling all high school seniors attending a public high school in the United States! We Need Diverse Books and Penguin Random House are happy to announce that submissions are open for the 2021 Creative Writing Awards, a scholarship program dedicated to furthering the education of students with unique and diverse voices.
Waterson Student Essay Competition
The student award contest is open to all high school-age students (grades 9-12), 18 years old or younger, who reside in Crook, Deschutes, Harney, Jefferson or Lake County. Public school, private school and home-schooled students are eligible.
WHAT WE’RE READING
The craven man in his seat,
The insolent unreproved—
And no knave brought to book
Who has won a drunken cheer—
The witty man and his joke
Aimed at the commonest ear,
The clever man who cries
The catch cries of the clown,
The beating down of the wise
And great Art beaten down.
W. B. Yeats – “The Fisherman”
Theo Ndlovu of ATMOS Collective reads W. B. Yeats – “The Fisherman” (Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation)
The Coole Park Poetry Series involves poets of different cultural backgrounds living in Ireland, reading both their own work and the work of poets associated with Coole Park, including Lady Gregory, W. B. Yeats, and J. M. Synge. The poets filmed are Seán Hewitt, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, FeliSpeaks, Evgeny Shtorn, and ATMOS Collective. All ten films were recorded in the grounds of Coole Park in September 2020 as part of DruidGregory and directed by filmmaker Matthew Thompson, with music by Gerry Horan.
Blog cover image from Lucas Foglia.
