The line outside Wordstock.
John Rosman / OPB
Rain didn’t stop book lovers from turning out for Wordstock, back Saturday after a two-year hiatus.
Literary Arts, which hosts author lectures in Portland, resurrected the almost-annual book festival this year.
Literature lovers stood in lines that spilled out of the Portland Art Museum and other venues where 90 authors were scheduled to speak
Some festival-goers complained on Twitter that the quarters were too cramped for all the people eager to hear their favorite writers.
One of the headlining authors, Ursula Le Guin, often described as Oregon’s greatest living writer, cautioned aspirants that writing is a difficult career.
“Commitment to your art seems to be the first step. You gotta commit to it. Which means you are committing yourself to years of work that probably won’t pay anything ever,” Le Guin said.
“I didn’t make a living out of my writing until well into my 40s, and it would have been a small living then. And that’s doing well," she said. "I hate to say this to young writers, but it’s a very difficult profession to make money in, and very few people can live on it.”
Festival goers get caught in long lines and heavy rain at Wordstock.
John Rosman / OPB
Enjoyment kept her going.
“I like writing. I like the whole act of it. I suppose in some ways I’m happier when I’m deep in writing than any other time,” she said.
She also enjoys reading, and urged fledgling writers to read their work out loud.
“My husband and I still read aloud to each other every night,” she said. “We just enjoy it — particularly with a little whiskey.”
