Arts Alliance of Yamhill County
nourishing the creative spirit in everyone
Jim Donaldson - yamhilljim.com
Applications are accepted in January and February for this event.
The Arts Alliance of Yamhill County invites submissions to the Paper Gardens Literary Contest. Open to all residents of Yamhill County ages 6 and up, Paper Gardens is a wonderful creative-writing outlet for the community.
Paper Gardens features two main categories for submission, poetry and prose, and encompasses three age groups: children (ages six to 12), youths (ages 13 to 18) and adults (19 and above). The prose category includes subcategories of short story and memoir, and is limited to one submission per person. Poetry has four subcategories: traditional, free verse and haiku, and returning for a second year, poetry-of-place.
The poetry-of-place subcategory is specifically intended for poems written about or inspired by places in Yamhill County. As Paper Gardens is a literary contest for residents of Yamhill County, work inspired by our local surroundings is a natural fit for the competition.
Writers may submit up to three poems total. More than one submission per subcategory is allowed. The entry fee for adults is five dollars. Children and youth submissions are free of charge.
The judge will select three winners in each category, and the winning poems will be published in the Paper Gardens chapbook. The winning authors will receive a free chapbook and certificate of recognition, and will be invited to read their work at an awards ceremony in the spring.
In 2010 when a small group of local writers and other supporters of literary arts got together to talk about putting on a Yamhill County Creative Writing Festival, no one knew if there would actually be interest in such an event. The Arts Alliance of Yamhill County agreed to sponsor the festival and the Yamhill County Cultural Coalition gave a grant to help fund the project. A variety of other local groups and individuals stepped up and made contributions ranging from cash, cookies, and donuts to wine and table bouquets; Third Street Books offered to be our festival bookstore; the McMinnville Community Center agreed to provide space. Soon we were off and running. Registration was far beyond what we expected with more than 150 people attending that first year. In its fourth year the festival has definitely found a place in the creative life of Yamhill County.
One aim of the festival is to build a stronger literary community in our area by encouraging and spotlighting local writers while also making connections with the writing and publishing community beyond. You don’t have to be a writer to attend. Anyone interested in contemporary writing and writers will find something here to enjoy. Past speakers have included visiting authors Ursula LeGuin, Molly Gloss, Jean Auel, and Willy Vlautin, as well as authors from our area such as Lex Runciman, Phoebe Newman, Linfield graduate Molly Johnson, and book artist Marilyn Worrix. With anywhere from 10-15 speakers each year, many outstanding authors have shared the secrets of their craft, offered encouragement, and given readings from their works.
This year’s Terroir Festival, to be held April 27, 2013, 9-5:30 at the Yamhill Valley Campus of Chemeketa Community College and will once again offer a mix of local and non-local writers speaking, giving workshops, and reading from their own writing. Books by featured authors will be available at the festival bookstore and authors will be available at a signing table to sign their books and chat informally with festival attendees.
This year’s program will once again offer a wide variety of choices in genres and voices. 2013 fiction authors include Anna Keesey (Little Century), Heather Sharfeddin (Windless Summer, Sweetwater Burning, and others), and Monica Drake (Clown Girl and The Stud Book). Nicole J. Georges (Calling Dr. Laura) will bring a new angle to the festival by giving insights into writing the graphic novel. Her recently published Calling Dr. Laura published by Houghton Mifflin is receiving wide attention Another new genre included this year is writing for the romance market. M.L. Bucher, author of eleven romance novels as well as science fiction will speak on getting into the romance novel market. Journalist and biographer Peter Ames Carlin, author of Bruce, the newly published biography of Bruce Springsteen, will share insights on the art of researching and writing biography. Local author Steve Long will tell us how he used the funding program Kickstarter to get his novel into print. Also dealing with publishing as well as reading their poetry, will be Stephanie Lenox, Anita Sullivan, and Dawn Diez Willis of Airlie Collective Press. Oregon Book Award winning poets Lex Runciman and Penelope Scambly Schott will give workshops and readings. An open mic reading will take place at the end of the afternoon and attendees are invited to bring short pieces of their original work. Whether on the program or not, any author registered for the festival is invited to bring a representative copy of his or her work to display on a table near the registration desk. Book artist and founder and director of the McMinnville Book Arts Center, Marilyn Worrix, will once again offer her popular handmade book workshop, pre-registration required.
The Festival is open to anyone from 7th grade through adults of all ages. Registration fees are as follows:
Adults Pre-registration $45. Day-of registration $55.
Students and Seniors 65+ Pre-registration $35. Day of registration $45.
Box lunches are available with pre-registration, $9.00.
Registration forms can be downloaded here,
or at the festival website.
and submitted by mail to AAYC, PO Box 898, McMinnville, Oregon, 97128
Please note: We would like to offer this experience to as many people as possible, but space may be limited so pre-registration is strongly recommended. Also, if teachers or others know of someone who would be seriously interested and would benefit from attending but cannot afford registration, please contact about possibilities for scholarships.
The Terroir Creative Writing Festival is sponsored by the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County with support from the Yamhill County Cultural Coalition, Third Street Books of McMinnville, and Chemeketa Community College, Yamhill Valley Campus.
The Studio Tour will take place in October.
It is a self-guided tour of artists’ studios all over the county.
For details:
http://www.artharveststudiotour.org