FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Nancy Cook
RAIN Magazine
503-338-2335
ncook@clatsopcc.edu
IMAGE ATTACHED

RAIN Magazine Public Reading and Reception: Come Celebrate the 2007 Fisher Poets Edition!

Clatsop Community College will host its annual RAIN Magazine Public Reading and Reception this Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 7 p.m. at the CCC Art Center Gallery, 1653 Jerome Ave. in Astoria. Authors are invited to read their work aloud, original artwork will be on display, complimentary copies of the magazine will be available and refreshments will be served. Don’t miss this chance to meet the staff and contributors to our region’s best (and only) literary magazine.

This year’s magazine includes a special section celebrating ten years of the Astoria Fisher Poets Gathering. Enjoy original works by local fisher poets Geno Leech, Dave Densmore, Lorrie Haight, Jon Broderick, Jay Speakman, Harrison “Smitty” Smith, David Campiche as well as accomplished fisher poets and visual artists from all over the country: Toby Sullivan, Erin Fristad, Jen Winston, Pat Dixon, Moe Bowstern and more. This is a wonderful portal into the commercial fishing culture that is so central to our North Coast heritage.

The remainder of the 210 page, perfect bind magazine features writing and artwork by local writers and artists. Many of the names will be quite familiar—Robert Michael Pyle, Claudia Harper, Anne Splane Phillips, Susan Firghill Park, Margaret Smith, Jan Bono, Jane Means—but we also have some fabulous emerging poets and artists: Chris Ahlvers, Katy Shannon, Larissa Williams, Bradley Knox. The list goes on.

RAIN Magazine enjoys a proud history, serving for more than 30 years as a showcase for local artists and writers. Thanks to funding by local donors and an Oregon Literary Arts Publishing Fellowship, this year’s edition is showier than ever with more than sixteen color images and 210 pages total. The cover features a fabulous color photo of Dave Densmore’s F/V Cold Stream by Clatsop student Sam Higgins, who visited the fishing vessel at Astoria’s East Mooring Basin (Cover design by Bradley Knox). This year’s edition is dedicated to Ellen Shannon, writer, editor and teacher, who founded Clatsop Community College’s first literary magazine in 1969. Ellen died this past May, while her daughter, Katy Shannon, was serving on RAIN’s student staff. She will be greatly missed, and RAIN is pleased to acknowledge her lifelong devotion to our literary community.

Submissions for next year’s edition are accepted beginning October 10, 2007. Any subject is considered, and submitters need be neither CCC students nor professional writers and artists. For more information, contact Nancy Cook at ncook@clatsopcc.edu.


ATTACHED IMAGE: David Campiche reads during the 2006 Rain Magazine Reception at the Clatsop Community College Art Center Gallery.