Brew to Bikes in the New York Times

As a publishing student at PSU, I work for the student-run book publishing company, Ooligan Press. The upcoming Ooligan title Brew to Bikes by Charles Heying and other contributors gets mention in this article in the New York Times:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/us/09local.html?_r=2 
 
(The article says Brew to Bikes will be published in November, but it's been changed to October so that the book will be featured at the annual Portland book convention, Wordstock.)

Publicity for Ooligan Press & PSU

Ooligan Press--and several other Portland-area presses--are featured in this blog:

http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/news/2010/06/creating_a_green_press_portlands_book_publishers_and_literary_magazines/

Write to Publish 2010 a Great Success

Publishing student Tom McCluskey interviews Ursula K. LeGuin

Chuck Palahniuk and Ursula K. LeGuin chatting

As a grad student working for Ooligan Press at Portland State University, I devoted last weekend to Write to Publish, Ooligan's writing conference. It was a great success!

The first day  (May 22) consisted of workshops run by Dennis Stovall, founder of Ooligan Press; Sarah Berry and Marty Brown, PSU publishing instructors; YA novelist Sara Ryan; Vinnie Kinsella of Deklaration Editing; literary agent Bernadette Baker-Baughman; Bo Johnson of Boiler Hat Comics; Ali McCart of Indigo Editing; Michael Clark, copyright lawyer; Aaron Colter of Dark Horse Comics; Brett Warnock of Top Shelf Productions.

The second day (May 23) consisted of an industry mingle at the Smith Memorial Ballroom at PSU. Vendors from mostly local publishing-related businesses had booths, and guest authors onstage talked about writing. The guest authors were: Virginia Euwer Wolf, Ursula K. LeGuin, Chuck Palahniuk, Deborah Hopkinson, Lilith Saintcrow, and Shannon Wheeler. LeGuin and Saintcrow gave especially helpful advice for writers trying to get published.

Lilith Saintcrow and Sara Ryan have since blogged about the event:

http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/journal/

http://sararyan.com/

Author/Editor Brown Bag Lunch at Write to Publish

Authors and editors, you are welcome to attend the Write to Publish Author and Editor Luncheon taking place on Saturday, May 22 from noon to 1pm. The luncheon will be held at Portland State University in the Smith Memorial Student Union room 328. I have included the full list of authors and editors below. The format of the discussion will be three sets of authors and editors talking about their experiences working together. It is a brown bag luncheon, so please grab something at the Farmers' Market, or bring a lunch from home.



Paricipants:

Loretta Stinson, author of Little Green
Sid Miller, author of Dot-to-Dot, Oregon and Ooligan Press editor, Kelsey Parpart
Michale Munk, author of The Portland Red Guide and Ooligan Press editor, Amanda Gomm

Get your tickets to the Oolicon: Write to Publish conference May 22 & 23 and learn about the process of getting your writing published. To purchase tickets, please contact the Portland State University box office at (503) 725-3307.

For more information about Write to Publish: http://www.ooliganpress.pdx.edu/

Write to Publish video!

Watch the Write to Publish manifesto video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrMfwUsMN_g

Get your tickets to the Oolicon: Write to Publish conference May 22 & 23 and learn about the process of getting your writing published. To purchase tickets, please contact the Portland State University box office at (503) 725-3307.

Ursula K. LeGuin and Chuck Pahlaniuk are among the guest speakers on May 23!

Need an Editor? Developmental Edits at the Write to Publish Conference

Ooligan Press will hold its annual conference, Write to Publish, on May 22 and 23. If you’re a writer who would like a professional editor to look over your manuscript and give you feedback on how it could be improved, you will have a great opportunity during Write to Publish.


We are still accepting manuscripts for this developmental edit service. It includes a thirty-minute meeting with your manuscript’s editor and a detailed developmental edit letter.

If you wish to take advantage of this service, we ask for four things: fifty pages of your manuscript, a plot summary, a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and the editing fee of $50.00, which can be paid with either a check or money order made out to Ooligan Press. Please send these items to:


Write to Publish
c/o Ooligan Press
369 Neuberger Hall
724 SW Harrison Street
Portland, Oregon 
97201

Upon receipt of the manuscript, we will mail you your appointment time. All appointments are scheduled for Saturday, May 22, 2010, the first day of the Write to Publish conference. If you have any questions, please contact us at events@ooliganpress.pdx.edu.

For more information about our editing service, about the Write to Publish conference, or about Ooligan Press, please visit http://ooligan.pdx.edu.

Book Review: Holly Black's White Cat

In a world where mobster families practice dark magic, Cassel feels left out as the only one in his dysfunctional family who has no magic powers. He compensates with his abilities to con and lie much like the rest of the family. As if normal teen angst weren’t bad enough, he is haunted by the horrific death of a friend and struggles to remember how she died. When he dreams of a white cat talking to him and wakes up sleepwalking on the roof of his prep school dorm, his life spins out of control.


Holly Black’s fairy tale trilogy, Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, are among my favorite fantasy novels. While not about fairies, this is another urban fantasy by Holly Black, one that will keep you up all night reading to the end, as the plot twists and turns and Cassel learns disturbing things about himself and about his family. The world of curse worker mobsters is a highly original conception.

The novel itself is excellent, but the cover art is yet another example, along with Justine Larbalestier’s Liar and Jaclyn Dolamore’s Magic Under Glass, of YA cover art whitewashing. Cassel has black hair, black eyes, and tan skin, yet the boy on the front cover has auburn hair and very pale skin. The continued racism in the publishing industry, which believes that featuring white people on the front cover will sell more copies, is a disgrace.