Well, I did it. I started a Substack. I won’t inundate you. I won’t charge you. I just want us to stay connected.
It will give you information about my creative news, my clients’ creative news, and unsolicited advice about the writing life. Take it or leave it.
Check it out. Let me know what you think.
Here’s the lowdown in one place of all the upcoming events going on I’ll be participating in this month. For more information on them, check out the Calendar section on the website here.
TUESDAY, February 4 at LITERARY ARTS on 716 SE Grand Ave. @ 7:00pm
In Conversation with Olufunke Grace Bankole to celebrate her Tin House novel, the debut The Edge of Water.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6 at Alberta Rose Theatre @ 7:30pm, Doors at 6:30pm SOLD OUT
This show, dedicated to shine a light on musicians who passed away in 2024 has a bananas all star lineup Bring Out Your Dead – Celebrating the Music that Remains
Featured performers include Storm Large, China Forbes, Puddles Pity Party, LaRhonda Steele, Laura Gibson, Holcombe Waller, E Ellison, Julianne Johnson, Alonzo Chadwick, Mitch Gonzales, Stephanie Schneiderman & Tony Furtado, Alina Aliyar and Margaret Malone.
With an all-star band which includes: James Beaton (Storm & The Balls), Nate Query (The Decemberists), Bill Marsh (Pink Martini), Ji Tanzer (Blue Cranes) and Jon Neufeld (Jackstraw).
Expect covers of iconic songs and arrangements that may take on a different form than the original. From rock to pop, jazz to classical, the performances will honor a wide range of musical genres.
Stories curated by Courtenay Hameister.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8 at Up Up Books @ 7:00pm
PICTURE FRAME PRESS LAUNCH EVENT – Early the Other Morning
Come out to celebrate the new #PictureFramePress flip-facing chapbook with two new stories, one by me and the other by Tim Joy. These are limited edition chapbooks. Only 100 made in this printing. Come out to hear Tim and I read our stories, meet some other folks, eat snacks, and fall in love with Up Up Books, if you haven’t already.
On XRAY.FM’s episode 4 of Bust the Canon, we talk to JOHN VERCHER, author of Devil Is Fine, just long listed for Aspen Words Literary Prize and named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books. John is also the author of When the Lights Go Out, and Three-Fifths.
In addition to John being, simply, one of my favorite writers to talk with about writing and publishing, he is also (unfailingly) willing to go into the real shit. We wade into those territories and more in this episode. Hope you enjoy the conversation and find it inspiring.
Books and Authors Mentioned in John’s episode include:
Hokum (Anthology edited by Paul Beatty)
Joseph Earl Thomas (Sink, a memoir, and God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer, a novel)
Thanks for tuning in today on xray.fm to listen to the interview with Seattle author and journalist Kristen Millares Young.
This program was gratefully funded by a grant from RACC in its original inception. Thanks to RACC for helping to make this idea come to life.
Here’s a list of the books and authors mentioned in today’s conversation with Kristen:
Kristen Millares Young – Subduction
Sarah Ahmed
Mercè Roderoda – The Time of the Doves
Pilar Quintana – La Perra/The Bitch (translated by Lisa Dillman)
Yuri Herrera
Sasha Lapointe
Jen Soriano
I urge you to purchase your books, whenever possible, from local, independent bookstores, women-owned bookstores, BIPOC-owned bookstores, or directly from the author.
If you live in the Portland area, here are a few ideas:
Third Eye Books
Broadway Books
Up, Up Books
Annie Blooms Books
Forest Avenue Press
XRAY.FM has made my dream a reality. The long-in-the-making interview series I’ve been hatching BUST THE CANON will now have a home at XRAY.FM.
New episodes every fourth Monday at 1pm (Pacific), starting Monday, April 29th.
If you missed the first episode during XRAY’s annual Amplify Women Teach-In on International Women’s Day, you can listen here. On that inaugural episode, I spoke with Portland author Kesha Ajose-Fisher. Her debut story collection No God Like the Mother, won the 2020 Oregon Book Award for Fiction.
Thanks for tuning in today in International Women’s Day to listen to the interview with Portland author Kesha Ajose-Fisher.
This program was gratefully funded by a grant from RACC in its original inception. Thanks to RACC for helping to make this idea come to life.
Here’s a list of the books and authors mentioned in today’s conversation with Kesha:
Kesha Ajose-Fisher – No God Like the Mother
Abi Daré – The Girl with the Louding Voice
Destiny Birdsong – Negotiations
Heidi W. Durrow – The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
James Baldwin
Zora Neale Hurston
I urge you to purchase your books, whenever possible, from local, independent bookstores, women-owned bookstores, BIPOC-owned bookstores, or directly from the author.
If you live in the Portland area, here are a few ideas:
Third Eye Books
Broadway Books
Up, Up Books
Annie Blooms Books
Forest Avenue Press
Hey friends. I have a new story out in the new issue of Buckman Journal.
I’m so excited the story found a home here.
It’s paired up with some very cool photos and a collage by Dorothy Glenn.
Check it out, and grab a copy before they’re gone.
They will sell out!
Literary Arts asked me some questions about the award, my writing process, my project, and what I’ve been reading and watching and listening to these days.
The full interview is linked here.
There’s also a short excerpt at the end of a page of the novel.
They’re posting these short interviews one by one with each writer and I encourage you to read them all. It’s fascinating to learn about every writer’s process and focus. Enjoy.
Well, geez. In all honestly, I did not see this one coming.
When I got the news, my jaw, quite literally, dropped and my mouth fell open. I stared at the email for at least two minutes. Which is a really long time to digest information. That’s how long it took for me to understand and take in the good news.
This fellowship is the first substantial head nod from the universe for the novel I’ve spent the past three years at work on every single day. So, it has an extra special meaning for me.
All that said, having applied for the past 13 years for an OLF and not received one, I’m also viscerally aware of all the writers, also hard at work every day for the past three or more years, on their own projects, also in need of a head nod from the universe, and so I accept the good news as humbly as possibly. And say to all of you, keep applying. Keep applying. Keep applying.
Wishing each of you your own good news somewhere, somehow as soon as possible.
Keep going…
Happy to share I’ll be the short fiction instructor for the 2023 Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. This insanely gorgeous part of California is very close to my heart, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring my love of writing, teaching, and the Northern California coast all together in three-day workshop.
Registration opens March 15. Grab a spot while you can.
There are wildly talented instructors leading all the workshops and it promises to be an incredible experience, including Ariel Gore, Nayomi Munaweera, Daniel B. Summerhill, Sarah McColl, Ploi Pirapokin, Muriel Leung and Carvell Wallace.
Join us if you can.
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Here’s a brief rundown of what a day at the conference (from their website) would be like, more details to follow soon:
All morning workshops and afternoon events will take place in Mendocino, California. Evening events may take place in Mendocino and the surrounding Fort Bragg. Location details will be available in early 2023.
All eating will be outdoors, and masks will be required at all times indoors. The seating in classrooms for morning workshops and afternoon seminars will be spaced apart, and windows kept open, to promote social distancing and good ventilation.
08:00am-08:45am: Breakfast (included)
09:00am-12:00pm: Morning Workshops
12:00pm-1:00pm: Lunch (included)
2:30pm-4:00pm: Afternoon Seminars
4:10pm-5:00pm: Anonymous Critique (Thursday and Saturday)
Thursday, August 3 | 5:30pm: Student and Faculty Welcome
A meet-and-greet followed by faculty readings.
Free and open to the public from 6.30pm onwards
Friday, August 4 | 6:30pm: Faculty Reading
A medley of faculty readings.
Free and open to the public
Saturday, August 5 | 5:30pm: Dinner and Keynote Address
Dinner (outside), faculty book signing and the conference keynote address.