Hello, Prose City community!
It has been wonderful to see many of you in various places since our last update. We hope you’re all staying cool and doing well. It is shortly before noon on this mid-August Sunday morning and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. A blissful 68 degrees and, something we watch more closely now, the air quality is good (24). To our readers in areas being affected by wildfires, storms, and more, our thoughts are with you.
On Air: The Prose City Podcast is live!
Last issue, we shared that we would be launching a new podcast focused primarily on the Greater Portland, Oregon literary and associated arts scenes, with some broader trends and goings on, as well. We’re excited to share that the Prose City Podcast is now live, with our first two episodes available in your favorite podcast app! We’ll also include a link below to the podcast page on our website.
In our first two episodes of the Prose City Podcast, we take a nostalgic stroll through a few of Portland’s beloved, bygone independent bookstores (episode one) before sitting down with local author and editor Chrys Buckley (episode two). Join us as we dive deep into Chrys’s award-winning debut memoir, Invisible Violets, exploring how she weaves humor, music, and complex personal narratives into a brilliant “mixtape” of lyric essays. Cricket and I also talk about a new bookshop discovery that blew my mind.
Updates to the Portland Literary Directory
When we sent the last edition, we had just launched our new Portland Literary Directory, and noted that was just phase one, which we would be expanding and enhancing over time. Since then, we have added street addresses to the bookshops there. We link to the websites of everyone in the directory, but knew that street addresses would be especially important for bookshops, so wanted to add those first. What else would you like to see in the directory? What information would you find most helpful?
Tents, travels, and books at the beach
Cricket and I took a couple days off work to road trip to Yachats and Cape Perpetua for some camping with friends. While Manzanita and Nye Beach have long been favorite spots on the coast, I think Yachats has stolen my heart. (Though my love for the Cloud and Leaf Bookstore, Manzanita News and Espresso, Wild Grocery, and Left Coast Siesta in Manzanita will never wane.)
We spent two nights tent camping with friends, and then stayed two more nights in a cottage in Yachats—walkable to downtown and the best bakery, coffee shop, and restaurant on the Oregon Coast: Green Salmon Coffee Company. They have the best pastries in Oregon, many of which are vegan. Visit for the amazing coffee and food, stay for their great selection of tarot decks, books, gifts, and swag.
Must-visit bookshop, worth the drive
Whenever we travel, however near or far, the first thing I do is look up indie bookshops in the area. Our trip to the Oregon Coast a couple weeks ago was no exception. We visited three bookshops on the trip, but I’ll share here only about the one that blew our minds. You can hear us talk about it more in the second episode of the Prose City Podcast, but briefly, it is perhaps the best curated shop we’ve ever visited. We were excited to learn while there that they are opening a second location in Yachats!
I can’t describe the shop better than Autumn Peterson, the owner and curator of Summer Beam Books, does on the website—and our visit showed that this description is spot on:
“Curated books for builders, makers, dreamers, do-ers, and curious minds. Summer Beam Books is an independent bookstore built on the belief that books have the power to shape the way we live. More than a place to buy books, we are a place to discover new ideas, learn timeless skills, gather in community, and cultivate a deeper appreciation for the world around us.“
Invite a couple friends along and enjoy the drive to Philomath for a visit, and then jot us a note to tell us what treasures you found!
Stay tuned for more goodness from our little literary haven that is The Farmhouse—the world headquarters 😉 of Prose City! We hope to see you here or out and about very soon!
Sending you lots of love and literary goodness, friends! Please pass this along and we’ll see you not soon enough. Keep reading and writing, and resist the doom scroll! 📚 🌈
Links to things mentioned in this edition
- Prose City Podcast
- Yachats, Oregon
- Green Salmon Coffee Company (Yachats, OR)
- Cape Perpetua (Oregon Coast)
- Summer Beam Books (Philomath, OR)
- Cloud & Leaf Bookstore (Manzanita, OR)
- Left Coast Siesta (Manzanita, OR)
- Wild Grocery & Café (Manzanita, OR)
- Manzanita News and Espresso (Manzanita, OR – no website)