Astoria's writing festival

Best-selling author Karl Marlantes, author of Matterhorn, Deep River, and Cold Victory, will headline The Writers Guild's Creative Writing Festival, October 18-20th. The festival is a weekend long celebration of reading and writing that includes readings, performances, workshops, and an Authors Fair in various venues around Astoria.

The Friday evening event will be held at the Liberty Theater at 7 pm. Marlantes will speak about his work and then join Guild president Marianne Monson on stage for a conversation. The event is included with the purchase of a festival pass, but tickets are also available to the public via the Liberty Theater box office for $25/$15 for students. A limited number of free tickets are available for students and community partners. Register for scholarship tickets at thewritersguild.org.

On Saturday, from 8:30 am-5:30 pm, Hotel Elliott will host the festival for a full day of workshops and performances offered by a number of popular regional authors including: Harvest Moon, Quinalt Storyteller; Alyssa Graybeal, whose memoir won the Red Hen Nonfiction book award and was a finalist for the 2024 Oregon Book award; Lara Messersmith-Glavin, a well-known FisherPoet performer; Pacific Northwest poet, Emily Ransdell who won the Lewis Award for One Finch Singing; writer and choreographer Susan Banyas; and poet Mary Delea. Marlantes will also offer a writing workshop on Saturday (a very rare opportunity). Space is limited.

Saturday evening there will be a poetry celebration hosted by the Columbian Theater at 7 p.m. Emceed by the Guild's development officer, Logan Garner, the evening will begin with a 30 minute open mic (sign up begins at 6:45 p.m. ). Following there will be performances by the festival presenters as well as local ponca poet and storyteller Cliff Taylor, who is the author of The Native Who Never Left. Tickets for the Poetry Celebration are included for festival pass holders; the event is open to the public for $10 at the door.

The festival wraps up on Sunday with an Authors Fair hosted by Fort George Taproom from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Presenters and local authors have the opportunity to talk with readers and other writers as they sell and sign copies of their books. Auction items in support of Guild programming are on offer compliments of local businesses. Free and open to the public. Sign up for a table at: http://www.thewritersguild.org.

Karl Marlantes grew up in Seaside, Oregon. He attended Yale University and served with the Marines in Vietnam, receiving a number of medals for his service. His novel, Matterhorn, is based on his wartime experiences and has been an international best-seller. The New York Times called the novel "One of the most profound and devastating novels ever to come out of Vietnam–or any war." His second book, Deep River, is a family epic based on the lives of the Finnish immigrants who settled the Lower Columbia region. It won the Washington State Book Award in 2020.

Tickets to the Liberty Theater/Marlantes event are available ($25/$15 students) here: libertyastoria.org. Creative Writing Festival tickets ($155/$130 Guild members/$50 students.) https://www.thewritersguild.org