Festival History
Since the first Terroir Creative Writing Festival in 2010, we have hosted both emerging and established writers from across the region.
These include:
Ursula K. LeGuin, Molly Gloss, Jean Auel, Tracy Daugherty, Kim Stafford, Paulann Petersen, Omar Al Akkad, Ellen Waterston, Judith Barrington, Henry Hughes, Fonda Lee, Chelsea Cain, Willy Vlautin, C. Morgan Kennedy, Andrea Stolowitz, Steve Duin, Laura Stanfill, Emily Grosvenor, Joe Wilkins, Barbara Drake, and many more.
With 10 to 15 speakers each year, many outstanding authors have shared the secrets of their craft, offered encouragement, and read their work.
Planning Committee
As a program of the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County, the Terroir Creative Writing Festival is organized by a small but dedicated planning committee.
Lisa Weidman, a retired professor of journalism, public relations and advertising, is a founding member of the Terroir planning committee who manages the budget and registrations, develops printed materials, and writes grant applications. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees in mass communication from Syracuse University and a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from U.C. Davis. She served on the board of the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County from 2008 through 2012, including two years as board president.
Emily Grosvenor has served on the PR team for Terroir for twelve years and launched the festival’s fundraising program in 2025. She is a design journalist, essayist, and author of Find Yourself At Home: A Conscious Approach to Shaping Your Space and Your Life (Chronicle). Emily writes the Substack “I would do it differently.” Read more at emilygrosvenor.com.
Mary Adams has been the chief contact person for speakers at the Terroir Creative Writing Festival since 2023. She was publicity and promotion manager for two university presses (Iowa State University and the University of Illinois) that published both scholarly and general interest titles. She also worked with conference planning and promotion for ISU Continuing Education.
Melinda Moorefield plays a very important role in Terroir - she hosts the meetings! She also works on raffle baskets.
Barbara Drake has been publishing poetry and other works since she was a student at the University of Oregon in 1962. Her most recent poetry collections are Driving One Hundred and The Road to Lilac Hill, from Windfall Books. She has also published two collections of memoir Peace at Heart and Morning Light from OSU press, and various textbooks including Writing Poetry (HBJ) and high school literature textbooks. Now retired from Linfield College where she established the creative writing major and taught literature and creative writing for 24 years, she lives with her husband and assorted creatures on an old farm in Oregon’s Yamhill County.
Levi Laws has been a Lang and Lit teacher at McMinnville High School for the last 4 years. He won the Deb Bakner Teaching Award for Excellence in his second year of teaching. He also runs the school’s Poetry Club, one of the fastest growing clubs at the school where he helps students develop their craft and get their work published. His first poetry book, When We’re Awake at Night was published in 2020, which dealt with poems around a mental health journey. His second book, The Mirror and the Window, poems on healing from familial trauma is slated to be published late 2026.
Stephen Long is the author of the novels There’s a Somebody and All Hat, as well as the upcoming A Death in Felicity. He is the host of the long running interview show The Writing Life.
Erin Hall is the author of Dear Sylvia, Love Jane, as well as short stories and essays. She serves on the board of Gather Repertory Theatre and the planning committee for the Terroir Creative Writing Festival. Erin teaches writing and marketing classes and works a day job as a Marketing Content Strategist. Find her online at erinhallwrites.com
Josh Rice ….bio coming soon!