The Magic Barrel: Good Readings for Hard Times
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 18th annual Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger is set for Friday, Oct. 21 at Corvallis High School Theatre.
The Magic Barrel is a feast for mind and body. Nine fine local writers will read delectable samples of their work, and there’ll be sweet and savory tidbits from Corvallis’s best chefs and bakers. Suggested donation is $7, but no one will be turned away.
As always, all the money raised at The Magic Barrel goes to Linn Benton Food Share to help alleviate hunger in our community.
The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger has become the mid-Valley’s premier literary event, says Corvallis novelist Rick Borsten. “The format is eight or nine brief readings, moving bang bang bang from one genre to the next,” he said. “I like to call it ‘inter-genre-ational.’ There’s nothing else like it out there. It makes for a lively evening.”
This year’s readers are:
* Keith Scribner, OSU professor and author of the novels Miracle Girl, The Good Life and the just-released The Oregon Experiment
* Alison Clement, author of the novels Pretty Is as Pretty Does and Twenty Questions
* Tom Birdseye, author of a dozen novels for young readers including the recently published Storm Mountain
* Jon Lewis, OSU professor and author of eight nonfiction books about cinema including one about “The Godfather” and another about Francis Ford Coppola
* Debra Gwartney, author of Live Through This, a memoir about her daughters living on the streets as runaways; the book was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
* Tim Black, author of the poetry collection Connecticut Shade and Cave Canem Fellow.
* Karen Holmberg, OSU professor, author of the poetry collection The Perseids and recent winner of the John Ciardi Prize
* Ann Staley, author of the poetry collection Primary Sources and an organizing publisher of FIREWEED: Poetry of Western Oregon
The jazz group Sideways Portal will play before and during the show. Emcee will be Mike McInally, editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
The name “Magic Barrel” has deliberate literary overtones. It’s the title of an early short story by the acclaimed writer Bernard Malamud, who taught freshman composition at Oregon State College (as it was then called) in the early 1950s. He went on to write eight novels and 65 short stories, and won both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize for his 1967 novel The Fixer.
“The Magic Barrel is a rare opportunity to feed your soul and help feed hungry bellies at the same time,” said Corvallis poet Charles Goodrich. “And because of the dismal economy, there are a lot of hungry people in our community.” Goodrich read from his work at last year’s event, which raised more than $2,000 for Linn Benton Food Share.
“Most people are shocked to learn that Oregon is the third hungriest state in the nation,” said Linn Benton Food Share community services coordinator Mike Gibson. In 2009 the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that more than half a million Oregonians were “food insecure,” meaning they lived in households without enough money or other resources for food.
The Magic Barrel begins at 6:30 p.m. with music. Readings start at 7. Said Borsten: “Our goal is to fill the house and fill the barrel for the hungry in our community.
Please see www.magicbarrel.org for information about this year’s or past events. You may also follow us on Facebook. To learn more about efforts to alleviate hunger in Oregon, please see the Linn Benton Food Share website, www.csc.gen.or.us/foodshare.htm.
The Magic Barrel: Good Readings for Hard Times
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Good stories have always lifted people’s spirits. At “The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger,” good stories also help fill hungry bellies. The 17th annual Magic Barrel rolls again, Friday, October 22, 7 p.m., in the Corvallis High School Theater. Some of Oregon’s finest authors will share their works in a benefit for Linn-Benton Food Share to help relieve hunger in the mid-Willamette Valley.
The line-up features several local writers with freshly published books–fiction writer Tracy Daugherty, One Day the Wind Changed, and poets Jennifer Richter (Threshold) and Charles Goodrich (Going to Seed). Also reading are Oregon Book Award-winner Scott Nadelson (Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories), Virginia Browne and Linda Hamner (Letters from Cleo and Tyrone), OSU historian Bill Robbins (Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story 1800-1940 and The Great Northwest: The Search for Regional Identity, OSU English instructor Wayne Harrison, and local poet and Crescent Valley High School English teacher Beth Russell. Bob Crum will serve as emcee, and Sideways Portal will provide live jazz before and during the show.
“Our attendance grows every year,” said Gregg Kleiner, a member of the organizing committee, “Everyone goes home enchanted with the great live literature, while knowing they’ve helped to relieve hunger in our local community. If you’ve never attended before, you’re in for a surprise.”
This year’s Magic Barrel theme is “Good Readings for Hard Times.” Mike Gibson, director of Linn-Benton Food Share, says, “The last few years have been difficult for many. In our two-county area there are currently over 10,000 people officially unemployed, and we have seen many families requesting emergency food boxes who have never asked for help before. The Magic Barrel is a great example of the community support we need to succeed in our efforts to eliminate hunger in our area.”
All proceeds will be donated to Linn-Benton Food Share for local hunger relief. “The need is greater than ever,” says Gibson. For every dollar raised at The Magic Barrel, Linn-Benton Food Share will purchase and distribute up to 12 pounds of food for the hungry in our area.
In addition to the author readings, there will be live music starting a half hour before the show and continuing afterward, when complimentary desserts from local restaurants are served. Grass Roots Books and Music will be on hand with autographed books.
Admission is a suggested donation of $7 at the door, but no one is turned away for lack of funds.
Now in its 17th year, The Magic Barrel is sponsored by the OSU Center for the Humanities, with support from OSU Printing and Mailing, the Spring Creek Project, and other area donors.
For reader bios, and more information, visit The Magic Barrel website: http://www.magicbarrel.org/ or call Sarah Williams at 541-737-9560.
The 2010 Magic Barrel was a rousing success! Out of the bottomless barrel came dollars for food share and stories, poems and music to feed all!