Presenters
Mark Yaconelli - Keynote Speaker
How Stories Can Save Us
“You will find Mark Yaconelli to be a wise and patient teacher with a lovely sense of humor. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll find direction and validation and a lot of truly great wisdom in his words.”
—Anne Lamott, NYT bestselling author
In an increasingly fast-paced and fractured world, sharing stories can be a radical and deeply human practice for uncovering the ties that bind us to one another. Story invites us to step into the reality of another person’s existence and instead of judgment feel kinship. In this inspiring and interactive presentation Mark Yaconelli will show how stories can heal our families, our world, ourselves.
Workshop: The Healing Power of Story
There is a depth to story that we rarely take time to ponder, let alone to tell and hear. Story is how we transform pain. Story is how we make something useful out of the absurd. Sharing stories is how we make a home within ourselves and one another. Based on his new book, Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us, Yaconelli will engage participants in a series of reflective exercises and facilitated discussions designed to help all of us expand our empathy and compassion for ourselves and for one another.
Biography
Mark Yaconelli is a speaker, community-builder, and author of Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us as well as five previous books. As founder and director of The Hearth nonprofit, Yaconelli has worked with The Ford Family Foundation, Compassion International, The Greenbelt Arts Festival, The Eli Lilly Foundation, The Mexican-American Center of Austin, among other organizations. Yaconelli holds an MA in Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union and received a spiritual direction diploma from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Interviews and profiles of Mark’s work have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC Radio, and ABC World News Tonight. He and his wife have three grown children and live in Ashland, Oregon.
Ellie Alexander - Lunchtime Speaker
Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time writing and testing a multitude of pastry and other recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she's not coated in flour or hard at work on the next book in one of her cozy mystery series, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails, trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research.
Carolee Harrison - Basic Book Repair for Libraries
Carolee Harrison began her career in libraries as a student employee at UC Santa Cruz in 1988. She joined the support staff at Portland University Library in 1998 and until 2013 served as PSU’s book mender, conservation treatment specialist, and bindery liaison. She is now a member of the PSU Library Special Collections staff, and her work includes digital and physical preservation of books, documents, manuscripts, film and audiotape. Carolee has taught book repair to library professionals, volunteers, and students throughout the state of Oregon since 2000.
Greta Bergquist - Why Get a Library Degree?
Greta Bergquist serves as the Youth Services Consultant for the State Library of Oregon. She has an MLIS from the University of Washington and previous careers in education and the world of afterschool learning. She loves all things early literacy, summer reading, and teen-related in the library world. In the non-library world, she loves baking, basketball, and block parties..
Darci Hanning - The State Library: Your Hidden Gem
Darci Hanning started her career at the State Library as the Technology Development Consultant over 15 years ago and led Plinkit, a web-hosting project for small and/or rural public libraries. Several years later, she transitioned into a new position as a public library consultant and continuing education coordinator. In her role as a public library consultant, she works with communities who are interested establishing a new public library, consults and facilitates strategic planning for small and/or rural public libraries, and serves on OLA’s Public Library Division and Public Library Standards committee. As the continuing education coordinator, she is responsible for creating a statewide continuing education program for library staff and supports local libraries’ staff training efforts, in conjunction with OLA’s Staff Training Round Table. When not hard at work at the State Library she enjoys traveling and mixed-media art journaling.
Kari May - Snapshot of Southern Oregon Library Services
Jackson County Library Services Director Kari May will share information about library services at JCLS, as well as some of her neighbors: Josephine Community Library, Klamath County Libraries, Southern Oregon University, and Rogue Community College.