Matt Love: An Evening with a “True Oregonian”
Posted in Writers Series on January 12th, 2010 by Vera – Be the first to comment
Matt Love read from his collection --Super Sunday in Newport-- and quizzed the audience on Oregon facts.
The highlight of the Dark & Stormy Book Weekend was Saturday night’s evening author reading. Author and publisher, Matt Love read from his new book Super Sunday in Newport and was followed by the Open Mic. Over 70 people came to listen and/or to read.
Love engaged the audience immediately with his “true Oregonian” contest and prize. He started the group standing up, telling people to sit down when they could not answer yes to one of his questions.
“Have you visited Crater Lake?’
“Have you sat on the beach by a bonfire?”
“Have you been to the Country Fair?”
The questions continued until only one person was still standing.
Sharlene Hanlon of Olympia won the True Oregonian prize.
Local audience member Karen Reddick Yurka was quick to point out that Hanlon was raised in Klamath Falls and lived in Portland for a long time before moving to Olympia to care for her dad, so the rumor that a Washingtonian won the prize isn’t quite true.
Love is founder and publisher of Nestucca Spit Press, an independent press that exclusively publishes books about Oregon. He has published several hundred Oregon writers in his anthologies, as well as Old Nehalem Road, a collection of poems by Manzanita’s Travis Champ. This year Oregon Literary Arts presented Love with the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award, “in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s literary community.”
It was appropriate that he was the featured author for the first literary weekend and that he read from his new book, Super Sunday in Newport, because that book evolved from pieces he wrote and read weekly at an Open Mic at Café Mundo in Nye Beach.
Love drew extra applause when he mentioned a recent conversation he had with a writer from a certain publication.
“He asked me what was the best book town along the Oregon Coast,” Love said, “I told him it was Manzanita — the community supports two independent bookstores and they support Open Mic evenings like this one, in force. Other towns have events but they are not as well-attended.”
After Love’s readings, the Open Mic session triggered lots of laughter and applause, with writers from as far as Astoria reading their pieces.
The event continued past that evening into the rest of the weekend, in at least one instance.
Tobi Nason of Overboard read to much delight at the Open Mic. On Sunday, she had two different people walk into her store to ask her to read her piece to them because they’d missed it.
“Then I closed my shop and stopped in at Vino,” she adds, “Sarah asked me to read it again since Dixie had to miss the reading.”
Nason and another local writer who read at the event, Holly Lorincz, said they were inspired by their experience reading to commit to writing a piece for every monthly Open Mic.
We look forward to it!
