Linn-Benton Community College

Kiera Lynn LBCC student Poet Laureate Kiera Lynn will hold a poetry reading as part of the Valley Writers Series Tuesday, May 13 at 3 p.m. at Linn-Benton Community College’s Library Reading Room, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany. Originally from a little truck-stop town south of Denver, Lynn grew up with the great outdoors as her backdrop.  She headed to Washington, where she roughed it before landing on her feet in Corvallis and finding her niche with LBCC’s Poetry Club. Lynn plays ukulele and guitar in her band, Little Brother, and hopes to be a slam poet, motivational speaker, teacher, lifelong student, yogi, rockstar, published writer, dancer and revolutionary. The LBCC Valley Writers Series is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the LBCC English Department, the series exists to connect beginning writers with professional writers and to stimulate creative writing among area students, to enhance literary awareness in our community and to encourage Oregon writers. ...

Poets Laureate Ruth Krueger, right, and Amy Earls. Student Poets Laureate Ruth Krueger and Amy Earls will hold a poetry reading as part of the Valley Writers Series Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at LBCC’s Benton Center, room BC-244, 757 NW Polk Ave., Corvallis. Earls became the second LBCC Student Poet Laureate in 2009-2010.  A writer and part-time English and education graduate student at Western Oregon University, Earls also instructs an online vocabulary course at LBCC’s Benton Center and is currently writing her memoir. Krueger’s love for words came to life when she started taking classes at LBCC in 2009.  She began writing poetry, enjoying the variety of expression that can go into a poem. Krueger was an active member of the LBCC Poetry Club and, following in the footsteps of her daughter Amy, served as the fourth LBCC Student Poet Laureate in 2011-2012.  Krueger is pursuing a degree in elementary education and in liberal studies at Oregon State Universit...

Danny Earl Simmons (photo contributed) Corvallis poet Danny Earl Simmons will hold a poetry reading as part of the Valley Writers Series at LBCC’s Benton Center Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in room BC-234, 757 NW Polk Ave., Corvallis. Simmons has lived in the Willamette Valley for over 30 years and considers himself an Oregonian. A graduate of Corvallis High School, he is a friend of the Linn-Benton Community College Poetry Club and an active member of Albany Civic Theater. Simmons’ poems have appeared in various journals, such as Naugatuck River Review, Off the Coast, Shadow Road Quarterly, Grey Sparrow, and Verse Wisconsin. His first collection of poems titled Dancing the Allergic Swim is waiting publication. The LBCC Valley Writers Series is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the LBCC English Department. The series exists to connect beginning writers with professional writers and to stimulate creative writing among area students, to enhance literary awareness in our...

Shaindel Beers Author and poet Shaindel Beers will hold classroom readings and discussions at Linn-Benton Community College Friday, May 17 from 10 to 10:50 a.m. in North Santiam Hall, room 110, and from 1 to 1:50 p.m. in North Santiam Hall room 209, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany. Beers also will hold a reading and discussion May 18 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Mennonite Village Lakeside Community Center, 2180 SE 54th, Albany, followed by a Writing Workshop, “All the World’s a Poem: Writing Using ‘Found’ Poetry from the World Around You” from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Albany Public Library meeting room,  2450 14 th Ave SE. Beers’ poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is currently an instructor of English at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon and serves as Poetry Editor of Contrary. A Brief History of Time, Beers’ first full-length poetry collection, was released by Salt...

Eric Dickey Corvallis author Eric Dickey will hold a poetry reading as part of the Valley Writers Series at LBCC’s Benton Center Wednesday, March 6 from 7 to 8 p.m. in room BC-244, 757 NW Polk Ave., Corvallis. Dickey has a master of fine arts in Creative Writing from Oregon State University. His has written two chapbooks: The Hardy Boy Poems from Beard of Bees Press released this month, and Forgive Me, Tiny Robots from The Argotist Online Press released in April. He also has entered a daily tweet of exactly 140 characters, Monday through Friday, since June 2009 at twitter.com/MePoet . His poems and translations have appeared in Rhino, Manzanita Quarterly, West Wind Review, International Poetry Review, and the Suisun Valley Review, among others.  Online, Dickey’s poems can be found at talkingwriting.com , blazevox.org , and toegoodpoetry.com , among other sites.  The Valley Writers Series is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the LBCC English Department. ...

Oregon authors Charles Goodrich, Marjorie Sandor and George Estreich will give presentations on the meaning of “home” as part of the Valley Writers Series at Linn-Benton Community College on Wednesday, April 18 from Noon to 2 p.m. in the college Fireside Room, second floor Calapooia Center building, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany. Each has written a book that meditates extensively on the meanings of “home.” All three authors, in very different ways, set the literal, hands-on, messy aspects of taking care of home against the larger questions implicit in living and making a family in a specific place. Charles Goodrich, in The Practice of Home, provides his account of family, gardening, and building a house. He has made a long career as a professional gardener and writer. He is the author of another volume of poems, Insects of South Corvallis (Cloudbank Books, 2003), and his poems and essays have appeared in Orion, The Sun, Open Spaces, Willow Springs, Zyzzyva and many other magazines. Ma...

Author and English instructor Peter Jensen will discuss his works on Shakespeare as part of the Valley Writers Series at Linn-Benton Community College on Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in North Santiam Hall, room NSH-106, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany. Jensen recently published two works on Shakespeare : Shakespeare’s Name Code, a recently updated chronology of research surrounding Shakespeare’s autobiographical code, and his newly released novel, Shakespeare’s Lovers, a fictional adventure mystery that covers Shakespeare’s life in London and Stratford from 1587 to 1616. He will read from his new novel, Shakespeare’s Lovers, and will describe his journey of research and discovery. Jensen is a faculty member in the English department at LBCC where he teaches Shakespeare, fiction, science fiction and writing. He received a B.A. in English, philosophy, and anthropology from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in English from New York University. The Valley Writers Series ...

Oregon author Kim Findling will discuss her recent work as part of the Valley Writers Series at Linn-Benton Community College on Monday, Feb. 13 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in North Santiam Hall, room NSH-106, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany. Findling released two books this year: Day Trips From Portland: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler, from Globe Pequot Press, and Chance of Sun: An Oregon Memoir, from Nestucca Spit Press, a coming of age story set in Oregon. Findling grew up on the Oregon Coast, spent years in the Willamette Valley and has lived in Central Oregon for sixteen years. Chance of Sun depicts twenty-three essays set over 20 years, where Findling traces her own coming-of-age story against the beauty and complexity of the Oregon landscape. Her essays and articles have appeared in many magazines over the last decade, including Travel Oregon, Oregon Quarterly, Horizon Air and High Desert Journal. Findling lives in Bend with her husband and two daughters. The Valley Writers Ser...