Oregon Book Awards Author Tour Pendleton: Becky Ellis, Charlie J. Stephens and tina ontiveros

Becky Ellis, daughter of a World War II combat sergeant and veteran of a war fought at home, is the author of Little Avalanches. She believes in the transformational power of storytelling and facilitates writing workshops in underheard communities with Write Around Portland. A longtime Oregonian, she has raised three daughters in Portland.

tina ontiveros grew up below the poverty line and went to community college. As a writer and a teacher, her work explores class, generational hardship, and marginalization of the poor. Her memoir, rough house, was a PNBA Bestseller, a national Indie Next Pick, an Oregon Book Award finalist, and 2021 Pacific Northwest Book Award winner. tina teaches writing and literature at Columbia Gorge Community College.

Charlie J. Stephens is a queer, non-binary, mixed-race writer from the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Salem, Oregon, Charlie has lived all over the U.S. as a bike messenger, wilderness guide, high school English teacher, and seasonal shark diver (for educational purposes only). Resident of Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast, they are the owner of Sea Wolf Books & Community Writing Center. Charlie’s short fiction has appeared in Electric Literature, Best Small Fictions Anthology, New World Writing, Original Plumbing/Feminist Press, and elsewhere. They are the author of the novel A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest. More at www.charliejstephenswriting.com.