Ismet Prcic kicks off the 2012 Manzanita Writers' Series season with a reading from his novel, Shards.

Ismet Prcic will read from his novel Shards at the Manzanita Writers’ Series at 7pm on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. This event kicks of the 2012 series, now in its fourth year.

Also at the Saturday event, we’ll unveil the first edition of the new literary journal, the North Coast Squid, with selections from a variety of writers who have a connection to the local area.

Shards is a novel about a young Bosnian, also named Ismet Prcic, who has fled his war-torn homeland and is now struggling to reconcile his past with his present life in California.

It’s a harrowing war story, a stunningly original coming-of-age novel, and a heartbreaking saga of a splintered family. Shards has been listed as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Chicago Sun-Times Best Book of the Year, an Oregonian Top 10 Northwest Book of the Year, and shortlisted for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award and the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

Prcic has gotten positive reviews for his first novel:

“Prcic captures the insanity of war and its unceasing aftermath.” – Publisher’s Weekly.

“Impressive . . . Inventive . . . Pushes against convention, logic, chronology . . . Ambitious and deep . . . [Prcic] succeeds at writing an unsettling and powerful novel.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Irresistible . . . Fierce, funny, and real.”—Chicago Sun-Times

Ismet Prcic (ISS-met PER-sick) or Izzy as he prefers, was born in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 1977 and immigrated to America in 1996. He holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and was the recipient of a 2010 NEA Award for fiction. He is also a 2011 Sundance Screenwriting Lab fellow. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife.

Following Prcic’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work.

Admission for the evening is $7.

Thriller author, Chelsea Cain will read from her new book on Nov 5. Photo by Laura Domela.

So, who is Chelsea Cain and why does she write gory thrillers?

New York Times Bestselling author Chelsea Cain will read from her latest book The Night Season at 7 pm Saturday November 5.

Caine’s Portland-based thrillers, described by The New York Times as “steamy and perverse,” have been published in over 30 languages, recommended on “The Today Show,” appeared in episodes of HBO’s “True Blood” and ABC’s “Castle,” named among Stephen King’s top ten favorite books of the year, and included in NPR’s list of the top 100 thrillers ever written. According to Booklist, “Popular entertainment just doesn’t get much better than this.”

So how did this “Queen of serial-killer fiction” (Kirkus Reviews) get into writing gory books? Here’s the start of an explanation.

“In retrospect I always had a fascination with the macabre.

It started with the pet cemetery. A kitten of mine was hit by a car and I buried her in an elaborate ceremony under the Rhododendron bush in our front yard in Bellingham, Washington. Months later, I came across a dead bird. I picked it up, put it in my lunchbox, carried it home and buried it under the Rhododendron.

Eventually kids in the neighborhood started hearing about the cemetery and would appear at my door cradling their dead pets. By the end of that year I had buried fifteen birds, three cats, a hamster, a rabbit, a chicken, and about a dozen gold fish. Each corpse was laid in a shoebox, cushioned with toilet paper, and presented with a piece of costume jewelry from a collection that someone had given me. I would then bury the box and say a few words to whoever was present. I had a special vintage ladies hat I would wear for the occasion. It was black, with white silk flowers piled on it, and a torn black net veil.

I was not an ordinary child.”

Get the idea that Cain won’t be an “ordinary reader?” To find out more about how the Green River Killer, Nancy Drew and TV cops shows headed Cain down the path of gory thrillers join us on November 5.

After Chelsea’s reading and Q&A we’ll have our popular Open Mic focused on the theme of “It was a dark and stormy night” at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.

Admission for the evening is $5.

The weekend is a joint event of the Manzanita Writers’ Series/Hoffman Center and the Manzanita Business Alliance, and is made possible in part by a grant from the Tillamook County Cultural Coalition.

After hearing Jess Walter read at Wordstock 2010, the Manzanita Writer’s Series coordinators vowed to get him to come to Manzanita. He’s funny, engaging, and so-very-down-to-earth. You won’t want to miss this.

Take a look at some of the reviews of The Financial Lives of Poets.

“The hero of Jess Walter’s novel is like a stoned Humbert Humbert … The funniest way-we-live-now book of the year.” – TIME

“Brilliant–and brilliantly funny.” – ESQUIRE

“Lifts off like a rocket … This vigorous, engaging novel is one of the sharpest satires to come along in years.” — BOSTON GLOBE

“Gasp-out loud funny.” — New York Daily News

The book has been chosen in lists of best novels of the year by Time, NPR’s Fresh Air, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Oregonian, Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Salon.com, and others.

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of five novels and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages and his essays, short fiction, criticism and journalism have been widely published, in Playboy, McSweeney’s, ESPN the Magazine, Details, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe among many others.

Following Walter’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work. The recommended theme for this month is “Trouble.”

Admission for the evening is $5.

The series is a program of the Hoffman Center and will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.)

Naseem Rakha reads on Saturday, August 20

Naseem Rakha will read from her book The Crying Tree at the Manzanita Writers Series event at 7 pm on Saturday, August 20, 2011.

Set in southern Illinois and central Oregon, The Crying Tree tells a story of a mother who must overcome the hate, grief, and secrets that surround the murder of her 15-year-old son, and defy church and family as she attempts to stop the execution of the man who killed her boy.

With the heart of a storyteller, Naseem explores the death penalty and forgiveness with her audience through the lens of our justice system as well as subsequent interviews with crime victims, inmates, corrections officials and exonerated death row prisoners.

Publisher’s Weekly says, “This complex, layered story of a family’s journey toward justice and forgiveness comes together through spellbinding storytelling.”

The American Booksellers Association chose The Crying Tree for its TOP 10 Indie Next list for Reading Groups <http://news.bookweb.org/news/winter-2010-2011-indie-next-list-reading-groups> . The book has been published in six international editions.

Naseem is an award-winning author and journalist whose stories have been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace Radio, Christian Science Monitor, and Living on Earth. She lives in Oregon with her husband, son, and many animals.

Following Rakha’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work. The recommended theme for this month is “Forgiveness.”

Admission for the evening is $5.

Further information on the Writers’ Series can be found here or contact Kathie Hightower, 503-739-1505 or Vera Wildauer at vwildauer@gmail.com.

Be sure to stop by the Hoffman Center on Saturday, July 23rd, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We’re excited to show off some of the changes to our performance and gallery spaces, as well as the newly expanded Clay Studio.  Plus, you’re invited to explore all sorts of demonstrations of what the Hoffman Center has to offer, including clay, drawing, writing, reading, music, letterpress, mixed media, and book and paper arts.  Click on the Hoffapalooza Schedule for a printable schedule of events.  There’s no admission.

Local businesses and individuals have also generously donated over $1,500 worth of products and services for our fabulous raffle and silent auction prizes. Enter to win a $25 gas card from Bayside Shell & Grocery, just for showing up. Click on this list of Hoffapalooza prizes to see all of the wonderful raffle prizes and special silent auction items.  Raffle tickets are just $1 each,  12 for $10, or 25 for $20.    All proceeds go to the Hoffman Center Operating Fund.

And that’s not all!  Over 20 local artists will be showing and selling their art, including pieces made in the Hoffman Center Clay and Life Drawing Studios, and other art classes.  There also will be a display of art by kids in the Outside the Box Arts program.

Did we forget anything?  Well, there will be a lemonade stand on the front porch, plus tasty hand baked goods donated by Kim Miller.

We’ll see you there!

Jennifer Lauck to read from her new memoir on June 18th

Jennifer Lauck will read from her new book Found: A Memoir at the Manzanita Writers’ Series event at 7pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at the Hoffman Center.

Found is the long awaited sequel to the 2000 international bestseller Blackbird: A Childhood Lost & Found which was featured on Oprah and an international bestseller. Blackbird was translated into 22 languages and hit the bestseller lists in London, Ireland and Spain as well as in the United States.

Blackbird was written in the voice of a little girl who attempts to make sense of a world where parents die and children fall through the cracks and are left homeless. Found is written in the voice of a confident woman determined and thus destined to find inner peace, lasting happiness and sense of the familiar.

Jennifer Lauck, with humor, clarity and urgency takes her readers on a thrilling quest that leads her first into motherhood and then into the complex spiritual traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, where Lauck discovers great masters, great teachings and the great truth of who she is. Lauck finally ends her journey when she finds her natural mother—the one who gave her life and gave her away with the hope that she would have a better life.

Lauck has published two other memoirs, a novel and a book on writing memoir. She traveled throughout Northern Europe to speak about her writing. Lauck was given the Book Sense 76 award and was featured in Newsweek, Harper’s Bazaar, Talk Magazine, People, Glamour and Writer’s Digest. She was a select USA Today pick and nominated for two Oregon Book Awards.

Before becoming a memoir writer, speaker and teacher, Lauck worked for many years in television news for ABC affiliates from Montana to Oregon. Her investigative journalism reports appeared on CNN and the ABC Nightly News

During the day on Saturday, June 18, Lauck will teach a workshop on Scene Writing for all genres from 10-3 at the Hoffman Center.  Click here to download the registration form.

Kaeli Eudy, left, Open Mic organizer with Beth Noregaard, fellow writer.

Kaeli Eudy loves to write. A Junior at Neah-Kah-Nie High School, she’s a member of the Creative Writing Club, takes every writing class available, and writes articles for the school newspaper. Asked about her favorite genre, she replies, “Poetry. And stories. Stories with a bit of mystery or a twist.”

That interest spurred her to take on organizing an All-Student Open Mic for the Manzanita Writers’ Series for her Senior Project.

The All-Student Open Mic event will be held on Saturday, May 21st at 7 p.m. at the Hoffman Center. There is a $5 admission fee, and half the proceeds will go to the Creative Writing Club.

If you’re a student, show up a little early to sign up to read. First signed up, first to read and pieces are limited to five minutes. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. If you’re a member of community, come on out and listen to original work by local students, and help make Kaeli’s Senior Project a success.

“I was in Mexico City for six weeks this past autumn,” says Champ.  “Holed up with a typewriter in a cheap hotel.  Trying to adapt and become comfortable in the city. If anything, that is what the book is about.”

The book was printed entirely by letterpress at The Manzanita Community Printshop which is located at the Hoffman Center.  Sarah Archer designed and printed the cover and Champ bound the hardcover books by hand.

There are ongoing printmaking classes and information about that will be available at the reading as well.

Jane Kirkpatrick to read on April 16

Jane Kirkpatrick was due to read from her latest book “A Daughter’s Walk” at the Manzanita Writers’ Series, at 7 pm, on Saturday, April 16, at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.  But the event and her workshop on historical fiction have been cancelled due to a family medical emergency.

Jane Kirkpatrick’s works have appeared in over 50 national publications. She has written nineteen books, most based on the lives of historical women. She speaks with humor and inspiration about the power of story in our lives, at events across the country and internationally.

Her works have won national awards including the Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Center and the WILLA Literary Award from Women Writing the West. Her novel “A Flickering Light” was named to Library Journal’s Best Books of 2009.

You can find A Daughter’s Walk, as well as a number of Kirkpatrick’s other books, at Ekahni Books in Manzanita.

PoetryFest on March 19

Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen, and fellow award-winning poets Margaret Chula, Carlos Reyes and Penelope Scambly Schott 
will participate in a Poetry Fest at the Manzanita Writers’ Series at 7 pm on Saturday, March 19, at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.

Oregon’s sixth Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen has five full-length books of poetry: The Wild Awake, Blood-Silk, A Bride of Narrow Escape, Kindle, and The Voluptuary, published by Lost Horse Press in 2010. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts, she serves on the board of Friends of William Stafford, organizing the January Stafford Birthday Events. (http://www.paulann.net)

Margaret Chula is a poet, performer and world traveler. In 1977 she traveled overland through Asia and Southeast Asia with her husband before settling in Japan, where she taught English and creative writing at universities in Kyoto. She has published six books of poetry. Her one-woman performance of Three Women Who Loved Love premiered in Krakow in 2003 and toured to Canada, Japan and the US. (http://www.margaretchula.com or www.margaretchula.blogspot.com)

Poet and translator Carlos Reyes lives and writes in Portland, Oregon when he is not traveling. He travels a lot, and whether he journeys to Panama, Spain, Alaska or Ireland, those experiences inspire and inform his poetry. In 2007 he was honored with a Heinrich Boll Fellowship, which gave him two weeks to write on Achill Island, Ireland. He has had fellowships to Yaddo and the Fundación Valparaíso (Mojåcar, Spain). He was poet-in-residence in 2009 at the Lost Horse Ranger Station in the Joshua Tree National Park.

Penelope Scambly Schott has published eight full-length books of poetry. Her verse biography A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth won the 2008 Oregon Book Award for Poetry, and her most recent collection Crow Mercies (2010) received the Sarah Lantz Memorial Award from Calyx Press.

 To help you prime your own poetry, join the poets during the day on Saturday in a series of mini-workshops called Prompting New Work. Spend an hour with each of these acclaimed poets. They’ll share their favorite writing prompts. You’ll come away inspired and with new material for your work. Pick and choose, or spend time with all four; the price is the same, $40 for the day. Just download a registration form.

The series is a program of the Hoffman Center and will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.) The building will be set up in a café style with coffee/tea and snacks available. Admission fee is $5.