Clatskanie's Raymond Carver Writing Festival Features Regional Writers

Clatskanie’s claim to fame as the birthplace of world-renowned writer Raymond Carver will be celebrated May 17-18 during the annual Raymond Carver Writing Festival, an event which honors the craft of writing and supports the community of regional writers. The Raymond Carver Writing Festival is free and open to the public.

“Where I’m Calling From,” the title of both a short story and a collection of stories by Carver, is the theme of this year’s festival which will begin Friday, May 17, at 5 p.m. at the Clatskanie Cultural Center (CCC), 75 S. Nehalem Street, with a fair for publishers and writers. Visitors can explore local writing resources, meet presenting authors and purchase their work, as well as learn more about Carver’s life and writing. There will also be opportunities to meet fellow fans and scholars of Raymond Carver’s writing including representatives from The Raymond Carver Podcast, and The Raymond Carver Review.

A reception begins at 6 p.m. featuring Chad Wriglesworth, a writer and literature professor at St. Jerome’s, University of Waterloo, Canada. Wriglesworth is also an associate editor of The Raymond Carver Review. Keynote speaker for the evening will be Kim Stafford, founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, Poet Laureate of Oregon 2018-2020, and the son of the late William Stafford, also a renowned poet and a U.S. Poet Laureate.

After the reception, readings at multiple venues in Clatskanie will commence. Fultano’s will host Michael Mills, Ben Parzybok, Scott MacGregor, and Mac Stripling for a prose and story-telling event at 7:30 p.m. A simultaneous poetry reading featuring Robert Michael Pyle, Joseph Green, and Marianne Monson will be held at 7:45 p.m. at Flowers ’n Fluff. The evening concludes with a line-up curated by Mother Foucault’s Bookshop, with readings from Ed Skoog, Justin Taylor and others at Colvin’s Pub & Grill starting at 8:45 p.m.

Stafford will open the second day of the festival, Saturday, May 18, with “The World According to You” a morning writing conversation and warm-up at 10 a.m. at the CCC, followed by writing workshops from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. organized by The Writer’s Guild of Astoria. The three generative writing workshops will be facilitated by Vicki Lind, Asher Finch, and Nancy A. Cook.

Attendees and participants of the free writing festival are encouraged to “Explore Carver in Clatskanie” at several locations around the community on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A list of times and locations is available at https://www.clatskaniearts.org.