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Valley Writers Series

The Valley Writers Series exists to connect beginning writers with professional writers and to provide opportunities for enrichment to Linn-Benton students and the Linn-Benton community. Valley Writers sponsors writers of regional or national prominence to give presentations/readings each term. The Series purposes are to stimulate creative writing among area students, to enhance literary awareness in our community, and to encourage Oregon writers.

Please review the current program announcement below. All Valley Writers events are free and open to the public. If you have any questions about this event or have suggestions for future events, contact Lucette Wood at woodl@linnbenton.edu and Jane White at whitej@linnbenton.edu.

VALLEY WRITERS PROGRAM for WINTER TERM 2011
Please see the details of these events below, and plan to come!

A Valentine's Day Dead Authors Reading
Monday, Feb. 14th, at noon
The Library Reading Room on LBCC Albany campus

Join Valley Writers for a day to express your love for an author that has passed but is not forgotten. Show your homage by dressing in the likeness of your beloved and reading an excerpt of the words he or she penned. There will be a prize for the best-dressed. Bring your lunch, and we will share our love of literature and chocolate.

Reading by Corvallis Author and Instructor of Creative Writing, Alison Ruch
Wednesday, Feb. 16th, at 10 a.m.
Forum 104 (F-104) on LBCC Albany campus

Alison Ruch writes short fiction and teaches composition and creative writing classes at LBCC. In spring of 2009, she received an award as one of LBCC's outstanding part-time faculty. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Ruch moved to Corvallis in 2004 and received her MFA in Creative Writing at Oregon State University in 2006. During the program, Ruch wrote a novel about a comic book artist entitled Comic Toast. Currently, she is working on a collection of short stories, tentatively titled Human Error. Ruch's story "Safe" is forthcoming in The Iowa Review. She has published stories in Stringtown Magazine and with the Oregon Literary Review.

At the reading, Ruch will introduce her fiction collection project, talk about themes she likes to explore, and reveal where she finds inspiration. She'll read one of her short stories, answer questions, and, if there's time, coordinate a short fiction writing activity.

VALLEY WRITERS PROGRAM for SPRING TERM 2011

Presentation by Oregon's current Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen
Brought to you by LBCC's Library, Poetry Club, and Valley Writers
Wednesday, April 6th. Reading at noon. Workshop from 1:00-1:50
The Library Reading Room on LBCC Albany campus

Paulann Petersen was named to a two-year appointment as Oregon's sixth Poet Laureate by Governor Ted Kulongoski on April 26, 2010. Petersen was born and raised in Oregon and spent half of her adult life in Klamath Falls. She is a widely published poet, with four collections – The Wild Awake (2002), Blood-Silk (2004), A Bride of Narrow Escape (2006) and Kindle (2008) – and several chapbooks to her credit.

Petersen has received several awards, including Stanford University's Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry, two Carloyn Kizer Poetry Awards, and Literary Art's Stewart Holbrook Award for Outstanding Contributions to Oregon's Literary Life. Her poetry is featured on TriMet public transportation in Portland as part of Poetry in Motion® as well as in many publications. Petersen is a committed teacher who has taught high school English and led dozens of workshops in schools libraries, colleges, and writer's conferences across Oregon. Join us for this wonderful opportunity to hear a reading by Oregon’s current Poet Laureate.

Reading by Corvallis Author Rick Borsten
Thursday, April 28th, 3-3:50 p.m.
North Santiam Hall, NSH-207, on LBCC Albany campus

Rick Borsten’s first novel, THE GREAT EQUALIZER, was a National Endowment for the Arts New American Writing selection and a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in 1987. The Chicago Sun Times called the novel "Daring and imaginative, fast-paced and moving…a tender and loving story, and a ringing reaffirmation of life." Borsten is also the author of the novel RAINBOW RHAPSODY as well as other works of fiction and poetry. He has lived in Corvallis for over thirty years.

Reading by Corvallis Author and Instructor of Composition, Jed Wyman
Wednesday, May 11th, at noon
Cascade View/Alsea/Calapooia room, CC203/205, on LBCC Albany campus

Wyman attended Bard College in New York and The University of Montana in Missoula, where he earned his MA in history. In 2009, Wyman received his MFA in Creative Writing from OSU and is currently a Professor of Composition at LinnBenton. Prior to teaching at LBCC, he taught for two summers in Kenya. Wyman has also spent nine summers working on a trail crew in Sequoia National Park where he lived in a little green tent and rode a big red horse named Tabasco. His favorite authors include John Steinbeck, Jerzy Kosinski,Graham Greene, Tobias Wolff, Russell Banks, and Charles Bukowski.

Wyman will be reading from a recent collection of short stories.

Mark your calendars and plan to join us this term!

All Valley Writer's events are free and open to the public.