Finalists Reading I: Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction

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.

Miriam Gershow is the author of Closer, Survival Tips: Stories and The Local News. Her writing is featured in The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, and Black Warrior Review, among other journals. She is the recipient of a Fiction Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, an Oregon Literary Fellowship, and is a two-time finalist for the Oregon Book Award.

Kimberly King Parsons is the author of the national-bestselling novel We Were the Universe, number two on TIME Magazine’s Best Books of 2024 and a Dakota Johnson Book Club pick the New York Times calls “a profound, gutsy tale of grief’s dismantling power.” Parsons’s debut collection, Black Light, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Story Prize. A recipient of fellowships from Yaddo and Columbia University, Parsons won the 2020 National Magazine Award for “Foxes,” a story published in The Paris Review. We Were the Universe was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and was a best book of 2024 in Elle, TIME, Oprah Daily, Nylon, Marie Claire, Marie Claire UK, and others. Parsons lives with her partner and children in Portland.

Tim Palmer has been living in Oregon full time since 2022 and is the award-winning author and photographer of thirty-three books about the environment and adventure travel. His Field Guide to Oregon Rivers was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in 2014. See www.timpalmer.org.

Valerie Witte is the author of multiple poetry and hybrid books, most recently A Rupture in the Interiors (Airlie, 2023) and, in collaboration with Sarah Rosenthal, One Thing Follows Another (forthcoming, punctum books, 2024), a collection of experimental essays exploring the work of dancer-choreographers Simone Forti and Yvonne Rainer.

Born and raised on the east side of Oʻahu, Charity E. Yoro now occupies the traditional territory of the Atfalati, Clatskanie, and Kalapuya with her wild, loving family. Charity’s writing has received Pushcart Prize and Orison Anthology nominations and can be found on poets.org, The New York Times, The Rumpus, Tupelo Quarterly, PRISM International, and elsewhere. Connect with her at www.charityeyoro.com.