Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 2001)
7.2ÛQ1 BOOKS ▼ Calyx continues to bloom The nonprofit celebrates 25 years of promoting and publishing women’s writing by L isa t can be a scary world out there for small, independent publishers. Thanks to the superstores and dot coms of book selling, small presses are disappear ing as quickly as they sprang to life amid the feminist, queer and civil rights move ments of the ’60s and 70s. This wave of corporate domi nation gives a more poignant touch to the 25th anniversary celebration of Calyx. As director Margarita Don nelly explains, it was named after a botanical term for the covering of a flower to represent “the flowering of female imagery.’ From the very beginning to the mid-’80s, when hook publishing was added to its repertoire, on up to today, Calyx has continued its mission statement to “nurture women’s creativity by publishing fine literary and artistic work.” Donnelly was one of the founders of the Corvallis-based nonprofit. “At the time we started there were no West Coast feminist literary publications, and a number of important women’s publica tions had ceased,” she says. “We wanted She was duly inspired by music and litera to publish women’s literature and art in a beauti ture while growing up. Her father had a band, ful format and have the work speak for itself; we her mother played the piano, and the family wanted editorial decisions to be made by a group owned many books. of editors, not just one; and we wanted to treat “There were no radios, TV, phones, women writers with respect.” libraries, movie theaters, etc.,” Donnelly Those ambitious guidelines, coupled with remembers. "In the open stretches of the great the insistence that the work reflect the experi llanos, we were our own entertainm ent.” ence of many kinds of women— lesbians, work Donnelly’s m other died when she was a ing class, women of color, older women, teen-ager, and she was “shipped north” to younger women and, Donnelly adds, “women attend high school in the United States. “I was whose voices have not been heard”— have overwhelmed to discover libraries full of books been what set Calyx apart. I could borrow for free!" she exclaims. One of the most celebrated anthologies in the But her arrival in this country was no pic country, Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by nic. She became a Hispanic foreigner in racist Women is published twice 1950s California. yearly and consists of In school “Spanish what the editorial collec was banned,” Donnelly tive chooses as the best explains, “and those work received out of caught speaking Span about 1,000 submissions ish got demerits. Any of prose, poetry, print art one with demerits and book reviews. The could never be on the staff is almost completely honor roll, even if we volunteer based and had straight As.” comes from “varied back W hen she started grounds,” Donnelly notes. college as a U.S. citi “That diversity is reflected zen, she describes being in the work we publish.” enrolled in “bonchead Donnelly herself offers English,” because she a unique perspective as an was classified as a for editor. She was bom in eign student. Caracas, Venezuela, and Despite her bone- raised in the open grass head beginnings, Don lands of the llanos. While nelly graduated from the country’s cowboys, San Francisco State Uaneros, herded cattle University with an across the plains, Donnel Calyx director Margarita Donnelly anthropology degree in ly hunted and fished with 1966. She also did her father. research among the Otomi people in the valley W ith her three siblings she swam in the area a few hours north of Mexico City and piranha-infested waters of the upper llanos, studied at University of Veracruz in Jalapa. “where there are fewer piranhas and you can During her San Francisco years in the ’60s, get out in time.” She further assures, “Our she lived in the Haight-Ashbury District and mother checked us for open sores before we was involved in the civil rights and peace went in the rivers.” movements as well as the feminist movement. I Enter the glittering decadence of 19th century Paris. Lose yourself in Verdi s heartbreakingly beautiful score. Meet one of opera's most unforgettable heroines. explore the landscape of the heart ^TRAVIATA September 22, 24, 26, 29, 2001 • Giuseppe Verdi Sung in Italian with translations projected above the stage. TICKETS FROM S25 • CALL TODAY! rrr, (503) 241 -1 802 - Æ 0 r (503) 790-ARTS WWW.tick*tmaster com Groups oM O or More SAVE up to 20% • Call (503) 241-1407 • www .portlandopera.org x rz _U a ' a katu ^ m . B radshaw
