10-9-2015
Best-selling Biographer, Eight Other Writers to Read at Corvallis Fundraiser Oct. 23
Contacts: Gail Wells, gailwellscommunications@comcast.net, 541-760-3070; Andrea Dailey,
2daileys@gmail.com, 541-368-5212 or 503-930-4484
CORVALLIS, Ore. —Best-selling biographer Tracy Daugherty will join novelist Molly Gloss, essayistfiction writer Karen Karbo, poet John Witte, outdoor writer Peter Zuckerman and four other distinguished
Oregon authors reading from their works at a gala Corvallis fundraiser for Linn Benton Food Share.
The 22nd annual Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger, set for Friday, Oct. 23, is an evening of
readings, music and refreshments at the historic Whiteside Theatre, a 1920s Italian Renaissance movie
palace in downtown Corvallis.
Jazz music by Corvallis’s LMNO will start at 6:30 p.m., and readings begin at 7. Tickets cost $10; they are
available from the Magic Barrel’s website (magicbarrel.org), or at the door if any seats are left.
Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and desserts will be offered. Squirrel’s Tavern will sell beer, wine and hard
cider by the glass. Authors will greet listeners and sign books, which will be available for purchase from
Grass Roots Books and Music at the event.
All proceeds after costs go to Linn Benton Food Share, which welcomes additional contributions online or
at the door.
This year’s Magic Barrel lineup:
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Corvallis writer Tracy Daugherty, author of the best-selling, critically acclaimed literary
biography The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion. He also has five short-story
collections and four novels, including the Oregon Book Award-winning What Falls Away. He is a
distinguished professor (emeritus) of English and creative writing at Oregon State University.
Molly Gloss, of Portland, best-selling author of five novels, including the Oregon Book Awardwinning The Jump-off Creek, and many sci-fi and fantasy stories.
Karen Karbo, of Portland, Oregon Book Award-winning author of the best-selling Kick Ass
Women series: Julia Child Rules, How Georgia Became O’Keeffe, The Gospel According to Coco
Chanel and How to Hepburn.
Peter Zuckerman, of Portland, coauthor of Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the
Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day, which won multiple awards, including the American
Outdoor Book Award.
John Witte, of Eugene, poet whose work has been in The New Yorker, the Paris Review and the
Kenyon Review. He has four books: Loving the Days, The Hurtling, Second Nature and Disquiet.
John Addiego, of Corvallis, author of a new mystery novel, The Jaguar Tree. He has two other
novels, Tears of the Mountain and Islands of Divine Music.
Danielle Cadena Deulen, of Salem, author of two prize-winning poetry collections, Lovely
Asunder and Our Emotions Get Carried Away Beyond Us, and an award-winning memoir, The
Riots.
Ashley Toliver, of Portland, author of the poetry chapbook Ideal Machine. Her work has appeared
in many poetry journals.
Karelia Stetz-Waters, of Albany, author of four novels: The Admirer, The Purveyor, Forgive Me If
I’ve Told You This Before and Something True.
The show’s emcee will be Elena Passarello, Corvallis essayist and OSU assistant professor of English. Her
work has appeared in Slate and literary journals including the Iowa Review and Oxford American. Her
nonfiction book Let Me Clear My Throat was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award.
The Magic Barrel—often called the mid-Willamette Valley’s premier literary event—features writers from
around Oregon each year to read from their works and help raise funds for Linn Benton Food Share.
The event takes its name from a short story by Bernard Malamud, a major American fiction writer who
taught writing at Oregon State from 1949 to 1961.
The Magic Barrel is supported by the Oregon Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University, by
many cash and in-kind donations from local merchants and restaurants, and by hundreds of generous
patrons.
“We’re grateful for the amazing community support that helps us keep the Barrel rolling,” said Gregg
Kleiner, Corvallis writer who serves on the Barrel’s all-volunteer steering committee. “Last year The
Magic Barrel raised over $6,500 for Linn Benton Food Share. This year we’re shooting for $8,000.”
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