EUGENE,
Ore. -- (May 20, 2009) -- The six
winners of Oregon Quarterly's 10th annual Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest
will read their essays on Wednesday, June 3, at the University of Oregon.The readings will take place at 7 p.m. in the
Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. The event is free and open
to the public.

The readings will feature "Numbered Days"
by 2009 contest winner Harold Toliver.
Toliver, a 1954 UO graduate, is an emeritus professor of English at the
University of California at Irvine and a part-time resident of Black Butte
Ranch in Central Oregon.

Other readings will include "The Romance of Salmon" by student category winner Rebecca Reisbick; "The Ecstasy of Worms," by Gail Wells; and "The Wild Gods of the West and the Paradox of Beauty" by
Melvin Adams.

Olympian
marathoner and native Oregonian Kenny Moore, author of "Bowerman and the
Men of Oregon," served as judge of this year's contest and will deliver
opening remarks at the reading. Moore has been a senior writer for Sports
Illustrated. He co-wrote (with Robert
Towne) "Without Limits," the 1998 Warner Bros. feature film about
Steve Prefontaine and Bill Bowerman.

The Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest is an
annual competition sponsored by "Oregon Quarterly" magazine and The
Duck Store. The contest, featuring previously unpublished writings about the
Northwest, is open to nonfiction writers competing in student and open
categories. The
winner in the open category will receive $750 and publication in the summer
2009 issue of Oregon Quarterly, which is distributed to nearly 100,000 readers.
The student winner will receive $500 and publication in the autumn 2009 issue.
The second- and third-place writers in both categories will also receive cash
prizes.

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