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History of the Skagit Valley Writers League by Florence Logsdon Anderson The Skagit Valley Writers League got its start one evening in 1958 when six students from Skagit Valley College's Creative Writing Class, taught by Archie Binns, met at Marilyn Johnson's Mount Vernon home. Marilyn felt that meeting as a group, in addition to the regular classes, would enable them to read and critique one another's work in depth, as well as help them exchange marketing information. Forming a club would also see them through rejection and criticism by providing other writers a forum in which to share their feelings. Present at that first meeting were Molly Dawdle of Hamilton, Florence Logsdon of Mount Vernon, Gladys McCune of Burlington, Pat Talbert and Junia Palmer of Sedro-Woolley. The news spread and new members flocked to the meetings, which were held in members' homes. Before long, Marjorie Russo became a member (and still [was] active in the group at age 89), followed by Claire Bryant, Daisy Gabrielson, Jean Lisherness, Katherine McClintock, Shirley Hanson, and June Priest. As the group expanded, men began joining. The first four were Charles Britten, Ken Fenske, Roy Orcutt and Leroy Wyatt. The six original members became officers during the first two years, with another member agreeing to keep a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, club reports and pictures of the members to provide a history of the group. She passed away a few years later and the scrapbook was never found, leaving the League history only in the minds of its founders. In 1983/84, the group compiled a list of authors of Skagit County, and published a book to celebrate Skagit County centennial. To keep abreast of the latest trends in writing many members attended an annual Writers' Conference in Seattle. The group also had work critiqued, entered contests, and many won awards. Most of the founders have now passed away, but the Skagit Valley Writers League lives on today, strong and dedicated to its original purpose of aiding and encouraging writers both new and experienced. Many of the members are published authors. Their work covers many fields including humor, history, opinion, poetry and straight news articles. Some have written books, and many have been published in national magazines, newspapers, radio and television news shows. Today the League has 30 members, meets twice a month, and has a Website. This article posted November, 2004 |
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