Ain’t Misbehavin’
Focus on
Diversity
Portland Center
Stage’s tribute to black
musicians of Harlem
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TriMet hires
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‘City of Roses’
Volume XLIV
Number 47
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • November 4, 2015
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
for
Stoked
Wordstock
Literary festival has
new diversity focus
O livia O livia
T he P OrTland O bserver
A beloved Portland literary festival will kick off Satur-
day with an added focus on diverse authors and hopes of
reaching out more than ever to communities of color and
young people.
After a one year hiatus and some negotiation, Word-
stock returns under new leadership from Literary Arts,
Oregon’s prominent literary
non-profit organization and
annual presenter of the Ore-
gon Book Awards and pres-
tigious Portland Arts & Lec-
ture series.
When building this year’s
festival lineup, Literary Arts
put diversity and inclusion at
the forefront of their curato-
rial thinking, both in who is
represented in the festival Renée Watson
and what stories are told in
their work, subjects such as gender, sexuality, race, age,
genre, geography, independent publishing, and more.
The nonprofit pulled together an advisory board and
spent months planning how to keep the event inclusive
while making sure that this year, everyone 17 and under
would get in for free.
“A festival should reflect
the many different kinds of
stories that are being told
in many different ways in
our thriving literary cul-
ture,” says Amanda Bullock,
Wordstock’s new festival
and events manager. “We’re
off to a great start and I am
proud that Wordstock 2015
features stories that will res-
Sandra Cisneros
onate with many different
people.”
And different voices is spot on – the organization has
managed to land some of the most famous voices of col-
or in the modern literary scene, including internationally
acclaimed Chicana author Sandra Cisneros and Jefferson
High School alumn-turned-celebrated writer Renée Wat-
son.
Both Watson and Cisneros took some time to talk to the
by
PhOTO by O livia O livia / The P OrTland O bserver
‘Wordstock,’ the annual Portland book festival, returns Saturday, Nov. 7 to the Portland Art Museum with a
new emphasis on the diversity of the authors involved and the participation of communities of color and young
people. Promoting the festival are Amanda Bullock, (second from left) Literary Arts new festival and events
manager; J.S. May (far left) of the Portland Arts Museum; Andrew Proctor (second from right), Literary Arts’
executive director; and Brian Ferriso, Portland Art Museum director and chief curator.
C OnTinued On P age 15