Writer launches Central Oregon Book Project

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- In the face of a continually changing region, country and world, local writer Kimberly Bowker has launched a Kickstarter campaign to share Central Oregon voices and stories in the form of a collective book project.

“Recognizing and listening to one another’s stories and sharing our own is an opening to grow in understanding and compassion in our community and world,” Bowker said. “It is one way to connect with and honor each other and the land we are gratefully able to make our home.”

Central Oregon is one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation. It ranks No. 6 in population increase according to the 2018 US Census, as cited in a 2019 Economic Development for Central Oregon report.

With this growth comes change in the community. Central Oregon Book Project aims to provide a platform for many voices and perspectives to be heard in expressing how we connect to Central Oregon through story, with the intention of discovering common ground and deepening our understanding of our lives and experiences here.

This project will publish community prose and poetry submissions on the themes of Roots, Gratitude, Community, and Hopes. Once published, the book will be distributed for free in public places and community libraries.

The Kickstarter campaign will run until December 1, 2020. If funded, a call for public writing submissions will be made in the spring of 2021, with an anticipated publication date of the anthology in the fall of 2021.

Kimberly Bowker is a local freelance writer who worked for The Bulletin after college. She is excited to hear all the ways people love Central Oregon and how we can move forward while we remember our past—together.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please email Kimberly at kimberlybowker@gmail.com.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1882635437/central-oregon-book-project