From March 27 through 30, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) is gathering at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland for their annual conference and book fair. It’s a big event for writers, readers, academics, and blbliophiles, as it provides a venue for making connections, poet to publisher, reader to writer, bookseller to buyer, as well as between writing teachers and prospective employers. In fact, AWP is now the nation’s largest literary conference, drawing over 12,000 attendees for the four-day event. The book fair alone, open to the public on Saturday, March 30, pulls together over 700 exhibitors, from small press publishers to university presses and writing centers.

To connect with all of that interest in the printed word, the C.C. Stern Type Foundry will be hosting special open hours from 11:00 to 3:00 on Saturday, March 30. We’ll demonstrate the process of making metal type with a hand-held mold and with the Monotype “Orphan Annie” sorts caster. We’ll also have our tabletop platen press set up so visitors can print a letterpress keepsake from the foundry. The working museum highlights the history of metal type and its use in contemporary book arts, with examples from Jim Rimmer and, of course, Chris Stern, for whom the foundry and museum are named. Anyone can visit during open hours, so we hope to see you at the foundry.