Art & the Vineyard authors

THE ART & THE VINEYARD FESTIVAL – The Oregon Authors Table has become a popular feature of this artsy celebration on the Fourth of July weekend in Eugene’s Alton Baker Park, along the Willamette River. For general information about the festival, see http://www.artandthevineyard.org/info.html.

For the Oregon Authors Table, authors are sent an email invitation in early April, and sign up for as many two-hour intervals as they like. Authors do not have to pay the $10 admission to the fair, but a fee of $1 per hour is charged to offset the cost of the canopy and table rental. Authors are also expected to donate 15% of gross sales to the nonprofit Maude Kerns Art Center, the festival’s sponsor.

If you are an author and would like to receive an invitation, send an email to sullivan@efn.org with your name, the title of your book, a sentence about yourself, and a sentence about your book.

The event was canceled due to COVID in 2020, 2021, and 2022, but hopes to resume in 2023. Here is a press release for the 2019 event:

Authors Tackle History, Mystery at Art Fest

By William L. Sullivan

Updated 2019 Press Release – Oregon Authors Table at the Art & the Vineyard Festival

Contact: Bill Sullivan, 541-683-6837, sullivan@efn.org

Authors Tackle History, Mystery at Art Fest

By William L. Sullivan

History and mystery are among the themes of new books featured at the Art & the Vineyard Festival in Eugene during the July 4-6 weekend. More than 40 authors will be at the festival’s Oregon Authors Table to discuss and autograph their books.

Debra Gwartney, who partners with National Book Award-winning author Barry Lopez on many projects, will introduce her new book, “I’m a Stranger Here Myself.” Winner of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize, the book is partly a biography of Narcissa Whitman, the massacred pioneer Oregon missionary. But Gwartney also weaves in stories of her own family, reflecting on the strengths of women.

Suzi Prozanski has been involved in the Oregon Country Fair since its early days, and now has written her second book about the history of that summer festival, “Brigadoon of the Sixties: Revelry & Kerfuffles at the Oregon County Fair.” Released just last month, the new book is a sequel to “Fruit of the Sixties,” which documented the history of the Oregon Country Fair from its inception to 1980.

Joe Blakely and Pat Edwards have combined history with mystery by editing “Sasquatch,” a book of research into the Bigfoot legend by the late Ken Coon. Perhaps because Blakely himself is finishing up a five-part series of novellas about Bigfoot, one of Coon’s heirs stopped by Blakely’s Saturday Market booth last year and handed him Coon’s unpublished manuscript from the 1970s. Blakely writes in his foreword that the manuscript “confirmed what I already knew.”

Fans of mystery will know Eugene’s Carola Dunn, author of 23 books featuring the dauntless English sleuth Daisy Dalrymple. “The Corpse at Crystal Palace” is Dunn’s latest in the cozy murder series, set in England in the 1920s.

Eugene is the setting for a dozen murder mysteries in the Detective Jackson series by local author L.J. Sellers. The latest is “A Liar’s Death.” But Sellers has also penned a second mystery series that features an edgier protagonist – Roxanne, an autistic CIA agent prone to casual violence in her quest for justice. The most recent title in that series is “Broken Boys.”

Georgia Cockerham of Curry County writes murder mysteries with the tang of Oregon’s seashore. She introduced her detectives O’Toole and Starker in the aptly named series opener, “Murder on the Oregon Coast.” New this year is the third in that series, “Murder Replete . . . For Now.” Cockerham’s husband, a thirty-year law enforcement veteran who trained as a counter-sniper with the FBI, helps her keep the technical details accurate.

The Oregon Authors Table is located beside the festival’s wine courtyard in Eugene’s Alton Baker Park. Admission to the festival is $10 for adults and $5 for kids age 6 to 14.

The table has room for about ten authors at a time, so if you want to meet a specific author, be sure to check the following schedule of appearances.

Debra Whiting Alexander (Thursday 11am-1pm): “Zetty,” a debut novel about a mother lost to a rare form of schizophrenia, and a daughter's quest to find her.

Dan Armstrong (All day every day): “Blake College” (2019, a “psy-fy” mystery set in Eugene in 1970) and a series of historical novels set in ancient Rome.

A. Lynn Ash (Thursday 1-5pm): “Eugeneana: Memoir of an Oregon Hometown” and memoirs of camping stories.

Joe Blakely (All day every day): “Bigfoot and His Mysterious Death,” “Murder on Oregon's Coast Highway, 1961,” and books about Oregon history.

C. Steven Blue (Saturday 11am-7pm): “The Power of a Woman” and other books of poetry.

Valerie Brooks (Saturday 1-5pm): “Revenge in Three Parts,” a noir mystery set in Paris, Portland, and Kauai.

Charles R. Castle (Saturday 11am-7pm): “A Good-night in America,” “The Season's Second Coming,” and other books of poetry.

Georgia Cockerham (Thursday 3-7pm and Friday 11am-7pm): “Murder Replete . . . For Now” (2019, the third in her mystery series with detectives O'Toole and Starker.

Gary Cornelius (Saturday 11am-1pm): “Chasing Ivory: An Alaska Murder Mystery and Love Story” and “Dancing With Gogos,” a memoir of his Peace Corps service in a Zulu village in South Africa.

Joan Gold Cypress (Thursday 3-7pm): “The Nap Rap,” an illustrated children's book that includes a music CD.

Carola Dunn (Friday 1-5pm): “The Corpse at Crystal Palace” is the 23rd in her popular Daisy Dalrymple murder mysteries, set in England in the 1920s.

Pat Edwards (Friday 11am-3pm): The “Groundwaters” anthology and “The Life and Letters of Capt. John O'Brien,” second in a series of biographies of Lane County pioneers.

Cai Emmons (Friday and Saturday 1-3pm): “Weather Woman,” an otherwise realistic novel about a meteorologist who discovers she has the power to change the weather.

Tim Fox (Friday 3-5pm and Saturday 11am-1pm): “The Afterlands Convergence,” a trilogy of sci-fi novels.

Dana Furgerson (Saturday 3-7pm): “Muffy the Dragon Child” (2019, a collection of 13 stories) and many other novels and short story collections.

Debra Gwartney (Friday and Saturday 1-3pm): “I Am a Stranger Here Myself” (2019), part history and part memoir, this book uses the story of pioneer Narcissa Whitman to reflect on the power of women.

Quinton Hallett (Saturday 11am-2pm): “Stranger by the Hour” and other books of poetry.

Robert Leo Heilman (Friday 11am-7pm): “Children of Death” (2019, his family’s history of migration from France to Russia to America), “The World Pool” (essays and stories), and “Overstory Zero.”

Ann Herrick (Saturday 1-3pm): “The Next Great Rock Star!” (2019) and many other young adult novels.

Paul Hoobyar (Friday and Saturday 11am-1pm): “Rogue River Reprieve,” a thriller about a wilderness fishing guide on the Rogue River.

Valerie Ihsan (Saturday 5-7pm): “Smell the Blue Sky” and other books of poetry.

Leigh Anne Jasheway (Saturday 11am-3pm): “The Dogs' Guide to Human(Kind),” ”Bedtime Stories for Cats,” and many other books of humor.

Dan Liberthson (Saturday 2-5pm): “A Poetry of Birds: Poems About Birds and the Photographs that Inspired Them”.

Howard Libes (Saturday 3-7pm): “When All Else Fails,” a sci-fi novel about humanity surviving a climate change crisis.

Christopher Logan (Thursday 5-7pm): “Taiwan Through Foreign Eyes” (2019, short stories by Western authors living in Taiwan).

Autumn Lorraine (Saturday 3-5pm): “Astrobiologist Aurora: Searches for Life in Outer Space” and other books of poetry.

Mary E. Lowd (3-7pm every day): “The Snake's Song: A Labyrinth of Souls Novel” and other fantasy sci-fi novels.

W. B. “Bill” Martin (5-7pm every day): “Shoving Back the Shadows” (a novel about school shootings) and “Trouble Leaves Too Slow” (an action thriller).

Carter McKenzie (Saturday 5-7pm): “Stem of Us” and other books of poetry.

Joshua Mertz (Saturday 3-7pm): “The Sweet Smell of Freedom” (2019) and other books of poetry.

Erik Muller (Saturday 11am-3pm): “And Yet, Selected Poems 2011-2018” (2019) and other books of poetry.

Sharon Lask Munson (Saturday 11am-3pm): “The Weight of Snow” (2019) and other books of poetry.

Sharleen Nelson (Thursday 11am-5pm): “The Time Tourists,” a novel about a female private investigator with the ability to step into the time frame of any photograph.

Cynthia Pappas (Thursday 11am-3pm, Friday 11am-1pm, and Saturday 11am-1pm): “Homespun,” a memoir with essays about farming, friendship, and parenting.

Suzi Prozanski (Friday 1-5pm): "Brigadoon of the Sixties: Revelry & Kerfuffles at the Oregon Country Fair" (June 2019).

L. J. Sellers (Thursday 11am-5pm): “A Liar's Death” is the latest in her Detective Jackson series of murder mysteries set in Eugene.

William L. Sullivan (All day every day): “100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Central Oregon Cascades, Fifth Edition” (2019) and “The Ship in the Sand” (2019, a historical novel about the Danish Vikings).

Muabilai “Dr. T” Tshionyi (Thursday 11am-3pm): “The Snake and the Mongoose,” “The Monkey and the Frog: My Way Or No Way,” and many other books of African folk tales for children.

David Turner (Friday 11am-1pm): “Along the Long Tom River,” historic photos and stories of Kalapuyans, settlers, and modern farmers in Lane County.

Nancy Willard (Thursday 11am-3pm, Friday 3-7pm, and Saturday 3-7pm): “The Way of the Donkey” (2019, nonfiction) and “Be Positively Powerful: An Empowerment Plan for Teens Who Are Bullied or Harassed.”

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