Author Author is an occasional feature of interviews with authors in Portland, either on tour or local writers. Ed Goldberg has been conducting these interviews for almost 20 years. Each interview discusses the author’s current work, thoughts and process for writing.
September 21, 2018
International award-winning architect Donald MacDonald is the designer of the Tilikum Crossing Bridge. He also designed the east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and was the first architect to work on the Golden Gate Bridge since its original construction. With Ira Nadel, he is the co-author of Golden Gate Bridge: History and Design of… More
August 21, 2018
Kenneth Friedenreich has been drinking, and writing about, wine for a very long time. He is especially keen on Oregon wine and the Oregon wine industry. He is impatient with wine rating systems and the snobbishness that often accompanies wine writing and tasting. I spoke with him at our studios at All Classical Portland.
August 17, 2018
I have known Heather Sharfeddin for several years, and have spoken with her about two of her previous novels. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and PhD in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University in Bath, England. Her novels explore western themes based on her early life in Idaho and Montana. She currently… More
August 2, 2018
Carolyn O’Doherty has published the first volume of a projected trilogy about Spinners, a group of mutated kids. Sixteen-year-old Alex is a Spinner. She has the ability to rewind time to review past events. Hated and feared because of their ability to find the truth, the small population of Spinners is restricted to Centers; compounds… More
July 20, 2018
Rachel Kushner was born in Eugene, Oregon, the daughter of two scientists whom she has described as “deeply unconventional people from the beatnik generation.” Her mother arranged after-school work for her straightening and alphabetizing books at a feminist bookstore when she was 5 years old, and Kusher says “it was instilled in me that I… More
May 17, 2018
Apricot Irving is the daughter of missionaries who went to Haiti during one of the the island nation’s many times of turmoil, the 1980s. She spent much of her girlhood and teen years there, as her agronomist father attempted to reforest Haiti, and help the people become subsistence farmers. The story, in her book The Gospel… More
March 8, 2018
I have known Phil Margolin for more than 20 years. Not only is he a successful and best-selling novelist, he is happy to support and encourage other local writers. Like me. Our friendship has survived a less-than-glowing review I wrote for the Oregonian many years ago, because Phil is a nice man. His latest book is… More
February 23, 2018
Carl Wolfson has been a stand-up comic on the circuit since 1980. In addition, he has hosted progressive political radio talk shows for the lamented Air America and our local KXRY. His family moved to South Jersey in 1963, and became Phillies fans. In 1964, the team blew a first-place lead to finish out of… More
January 31, 2018
WARNING: This interview contains frank discussions of sexual behavior and drug use. If you feel you might be offended, please do not listen. Thank you. Erica Garza’s essays have appeared in Salon, Narratively, BUST, Good Housekeeping, and the Los Angeles Review, among other publications. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. Getting Off, her memoir on sex addiction,… More
January 19, 2018
Lili Ristagno is a Portland writer, artist and performer. She has been a dancer both with artistic dance companies and in go-go bars. Ristagno’s latest illustrated true crime novella, Death Valley 69, set in that darkly weird period at the birth of the 1970s. The focus is on the Manson family. A caution: some of… More