Oregon Poets share Friday at Grass Roots

Poets Tom Madden and George Estreich will read at 7 p.m. Friday at Grass Roots & Music, 227 S.W. Second St., Corvallis

Madden, of La Grande, will share from his collection, "Lessons for Custer," and Estreich, of Corvallis, will read from "Textbook Illustrations of the Human Body."

Haiku Slam makes splash at the coast

NEWPORT - Nye Beach Writers' Series Presents its second annual Haiku Slam at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cafe Mundo, 711 N.W. Second Court.

Writers On the Edge is sponsoring the event in celebration of National Poetry Month. Admission is free, and prizes will be awarded to winning performers.

The Haiku Classic is a four-team poetry competition, scored by the audience in a format similar to a diving event where judges hold up scores. All poets are randomly grouped into teams, which may have three or four members depending on the number of people who sign up.

Pacific City author Matt Love and Newport poet Andrew Rodman will co-host the event.

After teams are formed, they compete against each other. The host throws out a word or phrase, such as "beach" or "happiest moments," and each member from each team composes a haiku relating to that word or phrase. After the minute is up, the poets recite their haikus, and the judges score them on a 1-to-10 scale. The teams continue competing until the team with the highest total wins the final round and thus, poetic glory.

Prizes will be awarded to the first- and second-place teams. Sign-up begins at 6:45 p.m.; there will be no pre-registration.

Rick Bartow will perform original songs and traditional Americana music at Café Mundo immediately after the Haiku Slam.

Library event honors Book Award winners

The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library will host a party to celebrate the Sesquicentennial of Corvallis by honoring the many local writers who have been winners or finalists for the Oregon Book Awards since their inception.

The free event, held during National Library Week, is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the main meeting room of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave. The Friends of the Library will host the event, which is co-sponsored by the OSU Bookstore and Alphagraphics.

Emcee for the evening will be John Hope-Johnstone of Corvallis Tourism.

Music will be provided by the Wondertones: Neal Grandstaff on guitar, Ray Brassfield on bass, Alex Hargreaves on fiddle and Wes Tjernland on sax. After the concert, attendees will have a chance to meet the writers, buy books, or have personal copies signed by the authors. Refreshments will be served.

In the 20 years that Literary Arts, Inc. has been awarding Oregon Book Awards, 18 of the recipients have come from Corvallis. They are Linda Crew, Tracy Daugherty, Ehud Havazelet, Kathleen Dean Moore, Lex Runciman, Marjorie Sandor and Henry Sayre, winners in their respective categories. Finalists are Chris Anderson, Rick Borsten, Jennifer Cornell, Robert Crum, Deborah Hopkinson, Greg Kleiner, Steven Sher, William Robbins, Clemens Starck, and Bob Welch, with many of the authors receiving multiple honors for separate books.

Special award winners for their literary efforts are Calyx Publishing; Peter Sears, founder of Oregon Literary Coalition; and Carol Brown, president of Oregon Reading Association.

The event is free.

Corvallis poet shares

at Third Thursday event

The Third Thursday poets meet from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at The Blue Pepper Gallery, 241 Commercial St. N.E., Salem.

Third Thursday Poets are celebrating National Poetry Month with three local poets, one of them from Corvallis.

Duane Ackerson, a retired State of Oregon Employment Department employee, has published several collections of poetry, most recently "The Bird at the End of the Universe."

Charles Goodrich worked for 25 years as a professional gardener, and has also worked as a correctional work crew supervisor, a short-order cook and a carpenter. He is the author of a volume of poems, "Insects of South Corvallis," and a collection of essays about nature, parenting, and building his own house, "The Practice of Home." He serves as Program Director for the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State University.

Cameron La Follette lives and works in Salem. She co-founded Salem's Classic Poetry Group and works as an environmental land use advocate.

For more information, contact Maureen Clifford at maureen@thirdthursdaypoets.org

Silverton Poetry Festival runs this week

Seventh Annual Silverton Poetry Festival celebrating National Poetry Month runs this week through April 22 at locations including the Gordon House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Mt. Angel Abbey Library Auditorium, the Silverton Art Center and Borland Gallery.

Festival events encourage participation through workshops, open mics and readings open to community poets.

Mark Sargent will premiere his exhibition featuring performance, poetry, jazz, and art on Wednesday.

On Friday, Oregon's Poet Laureate, Lawson Fusao Inada, will read and compose extemporaneously to the music of Eadie Anelli's viola.

The festival also features poets Judith Montgomery, Paulann Petersen, Jim Shugrue, Floyd Skloot, and Lisa Steinman this year.

All public events are free. Updates and the latest information on the Festival schedule can be found at www.silvertonpoetry.org.

Oregonian editor offers writers' workshop

Good writing can dance, according to Jack Hart, writing coach and managing editor at The Oregonian.

Hart will host a writers' workshop at 3 p.m. Saturday at Grass Roots Books & Music, 227 S.W. Second St.

His new book, A Writer's Coach," is intended to nudge insecure writers - especially those in the early stages of honing their craft - in the direction of their keyboards with practical tools for how to achieve clear, forceful and effective writing, no matter the subject.

Interzone open mic celebrates poetry month

An open mic poetry reading in celebration of National Poetry Month is set for

8 p.m. Friday, at Interzone, 1563 N.W. Monroe Ave.

Poets from the Poetry Interest Group, the Black Poets' Society, the Mary's Peak Chapter of the Oregon State Poetry Society and Community Poets will share.

Library week being celebrated in Albany

The Albany Public Library celebrates National Library Week with a variety of programs at the main library, 1390 Waverly Drive S.E.

At 7 p.m. Monday, the Oregon Council for the Humanities will present a Chautauqua program, "Sojourners, Settlers and New Immigrants: Mexicanos in Oregon," with Erlinda Gonzales-Berry.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Henrik Bothe, juggler and magician, will share a family show.

From 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday is Banquet for the Brain, about computer resources.

At 3 p.m. Thursday is a showing of "An Inconvenient Truth."

At 1 p.m. Saturday, the Anime Club meets, and at 2 p.m. is a Civil War reenactment.

For more information, call 917-7580.

Staff reports