Oregon Quarterly essay contest winners to read from winning essays

EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 13, 2008) -- The six top winners of Oregon Quarterly's ninth annual Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest will read their essays on Thursday, May 29, at the University of Oregon.

The readings will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. The event is free and open to the public.

The evening's readings will feature "The Old Hackleman Place, an Obituary" by 2009 contest winner Ellen Waterston; "The Sport of Kings" by student category winner Rebecca Owen; "Prayer Flag" by Richard Mack; "Pomegranate Prayers" by Gregg Kleiner; "The Fisherman is Just as Endangered" by Joaquin Chapa, and "Weird Nostalgia in Walla Walla" by Mike O’Brien.

Contest judge and Oregon Book Award winner Kathleen Dean Moore will provide introductory remarks. She is the author of three books of essays about wet and wild places: "The Pine Island Paradox" (2004), "Holdfast: At Home in the Natural World" (1999), and "Riverwalking: Reflections on Moving Water" (1996). Moore is University Writer Laureate and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Oregon State University. Her essays have appeared in such magazines as Orion, Discover, Audubon, Wild Earth, Hope and Field and Stream.

The Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest is an annual competition sponsored by Oregon Quarterly magazine and the Duck Store, formerly the University of Oregon Bookstore. The contest, featuring never before published writings about ideas affecting the Northwest, is open to nonfiction writers competing in student and open categories. Winners in each category receive a cash prize and publication in Oregon Quarterly.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

Source: Guy Maynard, 541-346-5048, gmaynard@uoregon.edu

Link: Oregon Quarterly, http://www.uoregon.edu/~oq/

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