Read alert
The Oregon Legacy Series returns to Lincoln City’s Driftwood Public Library
At Driftwood Public Library in Lincoln City, February might as well rhyme with legacy. Well, it doesn’t, but February does hail the arrival of the annual Oregon Legacy literary series, taking place on Sunday afternoons throughout the month.
The series opens on Feb. 2 with a visit from Portland-based climate journalist and fiction writer Emma Pattee, who has written about climate change for The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Washington Post. In 2021, she coined the term “Climate Shadow” to describe an individual’s potential impact on climate change. Her fiction has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Idaho Review and New Orleans Review. Her debut novel, “Tilt,” will be published in March.
On Feb. 9, Dan Shryock will visit Lincoln City. He is a career journalist and Salem-based author and travel writer focusing on cycle tourism. After graduating from Indiana University’s School of Journalism, he served as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Indiana, California and Oregon. While working for the Times-Advocate in Escondido, California, he teamed with colleagues who together became Pulitzer Prize finalists in the field of explanatory journalism. He later served as editor of the Gazette-Times in Corvallis and as both managing editor and digital media director of the News-Register in McMinnville. He now enjoys producing freelance magazine and website content featuring cycle tourism and general travel. His writing has appeared on travel websites and in publications including the magazines Bend, Via, Cycle California! and Northwest Travel & Life.
Shryock recently launched a digital publication on Substack titled “Why We Ride.” His book, “Cycling Across Oregon: Stories, Surprises & Revelations Along the State’s Scenic Bikeways” follows a group of friends as they set out to explore the state’s 17 official scenic bikeways in a single year.
Oregon Legacy continues on Feb. 16 with a return visit from writer John Larison, who was born in Philomath in 1979. The son of National Geographic filmmakers, he spent much of his childhood on assignment. He attended the University of Oregon and studied philosophy and literature, then stayed to earn a master’s of education. While learning to write fiction, he worked as a fly-fishing and whitewater guide. His first book was a how-to text on fly-fishing,” The Complete Steelheader.” He went on to publish two fishing-related novels, “Northwest of Norma” and “Holding Lies.” His 2018 novel, “Whiskey When We’re Dry” was a Los Angeles Times and Seattle Times bestseller, an Indie Next Pick in hardcover and paperback, a finalist for the Ken Kesey Award and winner of the Will Rodgers Medallion. It was named a Best Book by O Magazine, Goodreads, Entertainment Weekly and Outside Magazine and was featured on NPR's “All Things Considered.” His latest novel, “The Ancients,” was released last October. It has been selected as a Buzz Book by Publishers Marketplace and an Indie Next Pick by independent booksellers across the country.
The series finishes on Feb. 23 with a visit from Josephine Woolington, who was born and raised in Portland. She has earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Oregon, in journalism and political science, and received the school’s highest award for excellence in journalism. She has worked at several local newspapers in Oregon, where she wrote about everything from cops to hydropower. She’s a member of the Indigenous Journalists Association and the Society of Environmental Journalists, and her work has been supported by the Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources. In addition to journalism, Woolington is a musician and music instructor. She teaches at a nonprofit music school in North Portland that makes music lessons affordable to kids and adults. She has toured nationally and internationally with different local artists, and she writes, records and performs her own music as Josephine Antoinette. During the pandemic, she started researching and writing her first book, “Where We Call Home” a natural and cultural history essay collection about Pacific Northwest plants and animals that was published in November. The book won a 2024 Oregon Book Award.
Each Sunday presentation begins at 3 pm on the second floor at 801 SW Hwy 101 in Lincoln City. For more information, email khobson@lincolncity.org or go to driftwoodlib.org.