OR: Fisher Poets Gathering

Second printing of “This Side of Sand Island: Reflections on Fish, Finns and Finding out about Family on the Lower Columbia” will be available at Astoria’s Fisher Poets Gathering, and directly from the author, Victoria Pitkanen Stoppiello. She is a past recipient of a Finlandia Foundation grant.

This illustrated essay collection looks, sometimes with a sense of loss, at the impacts of society’s choices on conditions for commercial fishing and the repercussions on families and communities impacted by those choices. It also provides snapshots of Finnish traditions such as sauna and the proper way to stack firewood.

At this year’s Gathering, she will read at 5:00 p.m. Friday, February 23 at the Wet Dog brew pub
and at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 24 at KALA, both in downtown Astoria.