Pages and Pairings: An afternoon with Southern Oregon Authors

Mike Walters
4 days ago
3 min read

On July 25th, I am heading to Walport Family Cellars for Pages and Pairings, and I want you to come.

Here is the thing about being an author in Southern Oregon: you get to know other writers. Real people doing the work. People who sit down and make shit up for a living. People who understand the loneliness and the joy and the uncertainty of putting your stories out into the world.

Pages and Pairings is about bringing those stories together. Good wine. Good food. And a room full of authors who actually care about connecting with readers.

Who is Coming

This is not just a handful of local writers. This is a diverse collection of storytellers, each bringing something different to the table.

EJ Fisch writes science fiction that combines space opera and spy thriller. Her Ziva Payvan series has been lauded for its grit and compelling character development. She is a data analyst by day and action junkie by night.

Holly Searcy writes fantasy and is a self-avowed nerd and lover of words. She spent four years in marketing and advertising before coming to her senses and returning to what she loves: books and Dungeons & Dragons.

Michelle St. Romain is a novelist and poet who has lived in the Rogue Valley for twenty years. Her debut novel, Song of Belonging, was released in April 2026 and won the Bronze Medal for Southern Fiction by the Independent Publishers Book Awards.

Diana Coogle has lived on the same piece of land on a mountain above the Applegate River for more than fifty years. Forty of those without electricity. She earned a Ph.D. in Old English from the University of Oregon at age sixty-eight and has published six books of commentaries and poems.

Lisa Baldwin is a fifth-generation native Oregonian who taught English in Grants Pass for thirty years before retiring in 2015. She is a past-President of the Oregon Poetry Association and an active force in the Southern Oregon poetry community.

Seth Kaplan brings poetry to the event.

Ryan Thomas writes dystopian science fiction with emotional depth and philosophical weight. He believes in stories that linger and characters who wrestle with more than just survival.

And me. I write character-driven mysteries set in Southern Oregon.

That is diversity. That is Southern Oregon's literary landscape on full display.

Why This Matters

Events like this remind me why I love being part of a writing community. It is not about competition. It is about celebration. About recognizing that another author's success is not your failure. That when we lift each other up, we all rise.

Walport Family Cellars is hosting this. Rebel Heart Books and Oregon Books and Games are co-sponsoring. These are local businesses that believe in authors and readers and the connection between them.

That is rare. That is worth supporting.

Come Join Us

Bring a friend who loves books. Bring someone who has been meaning to read more. Bring yourself and an open mind.

You will taste good wine. Eat good food. Meet authors who actually live in your community. Hear stories about where our characters come from and why we write the way we do.

This is an intimate event. Authentic. The kind of thing that reminds me why I love this place and this community of writers.

I hope to see you there.

More Information

Visit the venues:

Walport Family Cellars: wfcellars.com

Rebel Heart Books: facebook.com/rebelheartbooks

Oregon Books and Games: oregonbooks.com

Or find the authors online:

EJ Fisch: ejfisch.com

Holly Searcy: hollysearcy.com

Michelle St. Romain: michellestromain.com

Diana Coogle: amazon.com/stores/author/B001K8YE1M