About

The Mid-Willamette Valley’s premier literary event, The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger, is held every fall in Corvallis, Oregon, to raise funds for Linn-Benton Food Share. The unique event is named after Bernard Malamud’s short story collection, The Magic Barrel, and features approximately eight writers from the Willamette Valley who share their fiction, poems, and works of nonfiction in brief readings. Punctuated by a “tone poem” from the improvisational jazz group, Sideways Portal, the evening begins and ends with music and food, and the excitement of hearing new works, frequently by authors who are nominees for the Oregon Book Award. Books by readers are available at the event, with proceeds donated to LBFS by our local bookstore Grass Roots Books. The event is supported by donations from Oregon State University, where Malamud once taught, and is organized by a “ragtag” group of writers, many of whom are connected to the university.