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VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver’s department of English is offering a Professional Writers Series January – March featuring five noteworthy Northwest writers. The series is ideal for anyone looking to get a new sense of purpose and direction in their own writing. Each installment of the series will include writing prompts and exercises along with the main lecture. All events will be held from 7 – 9 p.m. in the 91�ԹϺ����� Library, room 264. The series is free and open to the public.

Over the years 91�ԹϺ����� has hosted award-winning novelists, poets, screenwriters, essayists and memoirists.

“There are a wealth of terrific writers in the Northwest and narrowing down choices of who will be selected to make presentations can prove challenging. I look for both established and emerging authors who are devoted to their craft, possess a certain candor that will help those who aspire to literary careers, and can rally even the least optimistic of us to achieve our goals and ambitions,” said Howard Aaron, an English professor at 91�ԹϺ����� and coordinator of the Professional Writers Series for the last five years.

Jan. 18, Lidia Yuknavitch, “Moving Outside the Margins”

Lidia Yuknavitch is the author of the celebrated memoir, “The Chronology of Water,” described by author Rebecca Brown as the “kind of book Janis Joplin might have written had she made it through the fire.” Yuknavitch has also published three works of short fiction: “Her Other Mouths,” “Liberty's Excess,” and “Real to Reel,” as well as a book of literary criticism, “Allegories of Violence.” Her work has appeared in Ms., The Iowa Review, Exquisite Corpse, Fiction International, Zyzzyva, and elsewhere. Her book “Real to Reel” was is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and she is the recipient of awards and fellowships from Poets and Writers and Literary Arts, Inc. She teaches writing, literature, film and women's studies in Oregon.

Feb. 1, Jelly Helm “Hey Mister, That’s me up on the Billboard (and on TV, in Print, on the Web, etc.)”

Jelly Helm spent many years as executive creative director at Wieden+Kennedy in Portland and Amsterdam working on campaigns for Nike, Coke and Microsoft and was founder/director of W+K 12, Wieden+Kennedy’s experimental in-house school. He now heads Jelly Helm Studio whose clients include the Portland Timbers, Nike, Forest Ethics, Warner Brothers/DC Comics, Oregon Humanities, Wikipedia, Imperial Woodpecker, Infectious Diseases Research Institute, Red Hat, Dell, and other for profit and non-profit agencies. He has been featured in The New York Times, Mavericks at Work, and Adbusters. Helm says, “I’m interested in story, artisan values, and the open/free/shared knowledge movement. I’m interested in the role of story in the emerging culture.”

Feb. 15, Brian Doyle, “Noticing What Goes Unnoticed”

Brian Doyle is an award-winning novelist, essayist and editor of the University of Portland’s Portland Magazine, ranked one of the 10 best American university publications. About his new novel, “Mink River,” The Oregonian said, “The greatest gift of ‘Mink River’ is that it provides every reason in the world to see your own village, neighborhood and life in a deeper, more nuanced and connected way.” The author of numerous collections of essays, Doyle's other books include “Saints Passionate & Peculiar,” “Credo,” and “Two Voices,” which won a Christopher Award and a Catholic Press Association Book Award. Doyle’s work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, American Scholar, Orion and in the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2005.

Feb. 29, Cai Emmons, “Weaving the Well-Woven Story”

Cai Emmons’s debut novel, “His Mother's Son,” won the Ken Kesey Award for the Novel in 2003 and has been translated into French, Italian and German. Her second novel, “The Stylist,” was published by Harper Collins. Booklist said of this work, "With family relations twisted as a French braid and language as vivid as a platinum dye job, Emmons' potent novel features magnetic characters and complex and compelling secrets." Also a noted playwright, editor, director and screenwriter, she is a graduate of Yale University, received an MFA in cinema from New York University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon where she now teaches. Her short works have appeared in Arts and Letters, Narrative Magazine, The New York Post, and Portland Monthly and elsewhere.

March 21, Randy Gragg, “Making Your Pitch”

Randy Gragg is editor-in-chief of Portland Monthly, the city’s premiere arts and culture magazine. Prior, he was the architecture and urban design critic for The Oregonian where he also wrote on the culture wars, visual art, film and performance. He has written for wide range of national journals, among them, Metropolis, Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture, Harper's, and The New York Times Magazine. He is a recipient of fellowships from the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University and Harvard University’s Graduate Program in design. What makes a cultural magazine cohesive and what is the current market for freelance articles are among the topics of Gragg’s presentation.

91�ԹϺ����� is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205 and is accessible via C-Tran bus service. Parking is free after 7 p.m.

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MEDIA CONTACTS

Howard Aaron, College of Liberal Arts, 503-816-2742, howard823@comcast.net

Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@vancouver.wsu.edu