Word Crazy

March in Eugene is filled with events for writers and readers

Author Jacquelyn Mitchard
Author Jacquelyn Mitchard

The third annual Wordcrafters Conference returns to Eugene this week.

Wordcrafters aims to provide “writers and readers opportunities to strengthen their craft, deepen their connection with literature and share their knowledge with each other and with future generations.”

The conference features two days of workshops and on Friday, March 4, bestselling author of Two If by Sea, Jacquelyn Mitchard, speaks at 7 pm in the UO Baker Center downtown, 975 High Street; FREE, wordcraftersineugene.org.

Local self-publishing services company Luminare Press has announced that this summer it will present a two-part multi-week publishing seminar in association with Wordcrafters. The seminar’s aim is to help local authors polish their work and get started in self-publishing.

Luminare is also gearing up to expand into commercial office space and launch a new website offering stand-alone eBook conversion, custom interior formatting and cover design services.

“No one else is doing anything like this in the area, at least not on this scale,” Luminare Press owner Patricia Marshall tells EW. “And I’m hiring local artists and editors to help authors nationwide.”

In other book news, the group Writers for a Sustainable Future – Ecofiction announced its “Ecofiction Challenge Eugene” contest. Submission should be stories of 3,000 words or less, set in Eugene in a specific month with ties to that month. There will be a youth and adult winner for each month. Submission deadline is April 1. For more information, check Facebook on.fb.me/1QHyC0I or email ecofictionchallenge@gmail.com.

Also this week, local author Anthony St. Clair speaks at Tsunami Books (2585 Willamette Street) on the business of writing at 6:30 pm Thursday, March 3. And at 7 pm Saturday, March 5, Tsunami celebrates National Women’s Month with “Of Course, I’m a Feminist,” a free poetry reading. The reading features local poets Shawn Aveningo, Tricia Knoll, Elise Kuechle, Sharon Wood Wortman and more. Copies of the anthology Of Course, I’m a Feminist will be available for purchase. Rounding out the week at Tsunami, former Lane County commissioner Jerry Rust reads from his latest novel The Shandong Question at 7 pm Wednesday, March 9; FREE.

On the UO campus, Wayne Morse Resident Scholar Jerry Rosiek reads and signs his latest book, Resegregation as Curriculum: The Meaning of the New Racial Segregation in U.S. Public Schools, 4 pm Tuesday, March 8, at the HEDCO Building. Also appearing on campus is philosophy scholar Lori Gruen, who will read and sign her book, Justice and Empathy Beyond the Human. Gruen appears 7:30 pm Thursday, March 10 in Straub Hall.