From left to right: Kelly Clarke, Charles Heying and I on a panel about food and craft at last year's 2010 Wordstock. Looking forward to being on a panel this year too -- Saturday's Every Book is a Start-up.

I look forward to Wordstock every year. In fact, I wrote about just that recently. Jeff Baker, book editor for The Oregonian, asked me to write 150 words on what Wordstock means to me and I did along with Nancy Rommelmann, David Biespiel, Justin Hocking and many others for last Friday’s A&E cover story. (If you can find the story online please let me know. I have a hard copy but would love to link to it here…)

This year I’ll be speaking on a panel on Saturday at 2pm on the Wordstock Community Stage titled — Every Book is a Start-up with Jen Stevenson and Kelley Roy moderated by Todd Sattersten. The focus of the panel: “Learn from author-preneurs who found unconventional methods to launching their books about Portland’s food scene.”

Throughout Saturday and Sunday I’ll also be tabling at the Hawthorne Books table at the Book Fair. I’ve been an editor at Hawthorne since summer of 2009 and always look forward to Wordstock because a lot of our authors come and visit and sign books so we get to catch up and I also get to meet all sorts of folks while tabling, paneling, attending readings and wandering the fluorescent lit convention center halls. This is one of the few events worth braving that kind of lighting for. I hope to see you this coming weekend! Counting the days…

Wordstock
www.wordstock.com
October 8-9

I swear that Kelly Clarke, Charles Heying and I did not purposely color coordinate...

This year’s sixth annual Wordstock was a blast. There are some Portland events that I do my best to never miss in Portland — Portland International Film Festival, Portland Fermentation Festival, PDX Adult Soapbox Derby to name a few — and Wordstock is definitely one.

I heard a lot of grumbling about the grey, rainy weekend this Saturday and Sunday but none of it was from Wordstock folks because we were inside all weekend talking, reading, attending readings, learning about, checking out and buying books. A weekend very well spent.

Highlights for me included tabling with the Hawthorne Books crew, attending two fantastic panels: The Future of Reading and a Karen Karbo and Kim Dower panel on book promotion, seeing old friends from here, here and then some and making new ones.

I was also very honored to be invited to speak on a food and craft panel with Charles Heying moderated by Kelly Clarke — arts and culture editor for Willamette Week on Saturday.

I was nervous with the stage, lights, microphones but got over it and really enjoyed talking with Charles and Kelly about Portland’s awesome and diverse artisan goods culture. I talked a lot about PDX food and drink of course and Charles talked about that and then some. We traded books and I can’t wait to read his.

Here are some photos from a full-on Wordstock weekend. Let me know what your experience was if you were there…

Our seats were not on fire but the microphones didn't work at first.

I guess I look very serious when I'm thinking.

Hanging with the Hawthorne Books crew -- Kate Sage and Adam O'Connor Rodriguez.

Hawthorne Books' Rhonda Hughes after her Wordstock panel.

Baby bookworm.

Wordstock
www.wordstockfestival.com