The release of Out of the Fire on Saturday, June 17, 12-4 PM at the Angels Camp Museum Carriage House was a huge success, with many wonderful people in attendance. Many thanks to the sponsors of the event and the book for making this possible. Contributors read from the book and photographers had prints of photos from the book available for purchase. We will sell the books to the public, so be prepared for a powerful experience in reading. Many people have stories to tell about the fire. We are hoping this opening publication will help heal some of the pain and will inspire others to come forward and share their unique story and poem, photographs, or other remembrances of the fire. The web site will be dedicated to these stories. We would also like to link to others’ stories, articles, websites, and Facebook accounts as a receptacle or repository of the historic event and its impact. We’d like stories from firefighters, law enforcement, children, evacuees, those who lost their homes, those who still have their homes but lost their vista, recovery workers and volunteers, and everyone who has a story or photo to share. The web pages devoted to the fire will be a good resource for others who go through such a hardship and have an opportunity to find out how others coped and adapted.  PURCHASE HERE

 

MWP writers, photographers, and editors have been working on this all-color, 116-page book since October 2015, so we are excited about the release.  There are 50 contributors — 14 photographers and 36 writers — who sent us powerful work to share with the public. We are grateful to all of the storytellers, poets, musicians, essayists, photographers, and artists who participated, creating this powerful book. I would like to thank John Slot for his fantastic cover photograph that just knocked us over. Thanks to Cate Culver for the title page image–a multimedia artwork on wood, with metal implements salvaged from a friend’s home after the fire. Her powerful artwork has a home with Little Owl Cyber Security Company in San Andreas, who purchased it for their office,  and they welcome people to come by if they would like to see it in the flesh. This company was our first generous sponsor!

Most of the writers in this collection do not write for a living, but their powerful stories and poetry make a literary mark in our region and will resonate for years. We are proud of this collective community effort and vow to continue collecting stories, photos, song, and video for the blog and website.  Our goal is to work on linking to other sites that have records of the event and to post reflective writing that continues to serve as therapy and healing through the written and spoken word.  PURCHASE HERE

Editors: Suzanne Murphy and Monika Rose