Northwest Magazines

Regional Travel Guide - Astoria, Oregon

Get Hooked on Sea Stories

Astoria

Saucy stories, tawdry tales, and ribald rhymes highlight the 11th annual Fisher Poets Gathering in this former canning capital of the world February 22 through 24, 2008.

More than 50 writers, musicians, and artists from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, California, and other coastal areas are expected to share their work in a long-standing fisherman tradition of oral storytelling.

Attendees are treated to a combination of humor, rowdy songs, crafted free verse, live music, and touching personal accounts giving voice to the stories and poetry of commercial fishing life often recorded in journals or shared via radio during long hours at sea.

In addition to the evening performances, the event includes morning workshops in photography, creative writing and video, as well as ongoing art exhibits at nearby galleries. The Liberty Theater is hosting special 11th anniversary readings throughout the weekend featuring poets involved in the gathering since its inception. Activities are held in restaurants, pubs, galleries, and performance venues in downtown Astoria on Oregon's historic north coast, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean 70 miles northwest of Portland.

Weekend admission buttons are available for $10, day passes are $5.

(800-875-6807; www.clatsopcc.edu/fisherpoets);

Northwest Travel Magazine January/February 2007

Updated February 11, 2008