Fiction

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Downtown / Theater / Words / Events / Fiction

"Dearly Departed" brings authors of yesteryear to Tin Pan Theater

Posted By Kelsey Rook on Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 2:00 PM

Tomorrow night at 7:00 pm a group of wildly famous, uber-talented authors will be hanging out at Bend's Tin Pan Theater. And, get this, they're all dead. Writers such as Oscar Wilde, Gerturde Stein, and Dorothy Parker will be brought to life again by students of the OSU Cascades Low Residency Creative Writing MFA Program—and hopefully a few non-student lit-geeks—as part of their "Dearly Departed" tribute to authors of yesteryear. The cost is a mere $5 suggested donation and if you act fast, you might still be able to join the roster.

I interviewed Irene Cooper, Creative Writing MFA student who will be making her impostor debut as American satirist and poet Dorothy Parker.

Source Weekly: How does "Dearly Departed" support the MFA Program's philosophy— to "teach ourselves to play outside our comfort zones" and "celebrate our own and each others' adventures in self-expression"?

Irene Cooper: "Dearly Departed" is a whimsical way to tap into some of our literary lineage. I say whimsy, but costumes are a funny thing. Some people feel liberated by costumes, some feel protected by them and others feel entirely exposed by dress-up. "Dearly Departed" is a fabulous opportunity to explore our literary icons as people to whom we have a connection, without worrying about egos, because, you know, they're dead.

This demure lady's got one sharp tounge - DOROTHY PARKER VIA PHOTOPIN (LICENSE)

Dorothy Parker via photopin (license)
This demure lady's got one sharp tounge

SW: Who will you be channeling and how will you prepare for the event?

IC: I am almost completely certain I will come to play as Dorothy Parker. I have selected a few poems that may be read under the allotted time (I sense that Mrs. Parker was punctual, among her other celebrated qualities). I screened Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle a while back and I watched Anne Hathaway read one of Parker's essays (no help at all). I have a wig.

SW: What kind of creative and artistic license does this kind of literary event afford participants and audience members that a more traditional reading does not?

IC: There is a certain protocol to a so-called traditional reading that is hard to put aside without some major shift. If the reading is of someone else's work, I think the reader aims to honor the writer in a sincere manner. So, someone stands at the front of the room, others sit and listen respectfully. One might shake it up by changing the space or in some way re-drawing the boundaries.The costume, here, is the shift. It provides a chance to embody the artist, to run some blood and oxygen through the material, and to perhaps take a little liberty with one's interpretation. We love them, we respect them, but again, they're dead, and we're not, and most of this stuff is now public domain.

Irene Cooper is a Creative Writing graduate student at the OSU-Cascades Low Residency MFA Program.

Tags: dearly departed, tin pan theater, osu cascades, creative writing mfa, dead authors, literary event, Image

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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Fiction

Send Us Your Short Stories: Fall Fiction

Posted By Brianna Brey on Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 3:09 PM

Calling all writers! Send a fictional short story based on one of the below prompts to the Source Weekly for a chance to be published in the paper and win awesome prizes. Read the guidelines below and submit to fiction@bendsource.com

SUBMISSIONS DUE ON FRIDAY THE 13th

The rules are simple, but strict:
• Use one of the prompts to kickstart your story
• Each story must be shorter than 250 words
• One entry per person
• And, submit no later than Friday, September 13 at 5 pm to Fiction@BendSource.com

Final selections will be read and judged by Dr. Emily Carr, Director of Oregon State-Cascade’s Low Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing; Mary Heather Noble, programs director, Nature of Words; and Phil Busse, Editor of the Source Weekly.

First place will receive tickets to Jazz at the Oxford. Second place will receive a $50 certificate to Three Creeks Brewing.

Choose from one of the following prompts:

I wasn’t sure how, and when, to tell him that his poetry was bad. I mean, really terrible.

I used to think if you fell from grace it was more likely than not the result of one stupendous error or else an unfortunate accident. (Jane Hamilton)

Fall Fiction will be presented in the October 10 issue, and at our monthly Media Salon, Monday, October 14 at Broken Top Bottle Shop, 7 pm.

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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Reading / Fiction

Battle of the Books

My book is better!

Posted By The Source Staff on Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 9:53 PM

With rain in the forecast for next week, you might be looking for a clever new book to curl up with. Lucky for you The Morning News has just released their match ups for the 2012 Tournament of Books, an NCAA-style battle that pits fiction against fiction and highlights 16 of the year's most acclaimed, loved and underrated novels.

This year's list features new releases from beloved authors like Jeffrey Eugenides (Virgin Suicides, Middlesex) and Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood) as well as relative literary newcomers Chad Harbach (The Art of Fielding) and Karen Russell (Swamplandia!).

You can read commentary and reviews of the challengers at The Morning News Tournament of Books website. Today’s match? The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes vs. The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock, as judged by Emma Straub.

Powell's Books in Portland will offer a 30% discount off the cover price of these literary gems while the competition is taking place, or if you're one of the few folks who still know how the library works you can pick them up there for the excellent price of FREE.

If just reading the books isn't exciting enough for you, download a bracket here and follow the action Book vs. Book.