The Russian River Writers' Guild: origins

The Russian River Writers' Guild was unofficialy founded when Sebastopol poet Donna Champion, who needed some community service credits at Sonoma State, joined forces with fellah poet, Marianne Ware, in the fall of 1978. Before that, the west county reading series, curated by Pat Nolan, Gail King, Andrei Codrescu, Hunce Voelcker, Jeffrey Miller, etc., had no real name, nor permanent home. At one point it was called The Sonoma County Writers' Association, or Sonoma County Russian River Writers, etc.

This poster below was for a reading at Odd Fellows Junction (formerly Brothers), 2 miles east of Guerneville, on Highway 116. Sometimes readings were held in living rooms, at the crossroads, in a makeshift castle with a real moat and drawbridge, or even in an old redwood stump. I remember attending a memorial reading and book party for Jeffrey Miller, which was held inside an old redwood snag near (or in) the Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, sometime in the late 1970s. That was probably my introduction to the Russian River poets.

Poets also read at Country Grounds in Guerneville. But I first became aware of the reading series when it moved to a new venue, Garbo's Nightclub and Cabaret in Guerneville in 1978. And the Garbo's reading series was my induction into the guild. The name was codified as The Russian River Writers' Guild when we became a 501c3 non-profit organization in order to apply for a CAC grant.

Despite its fluctuating name, the RRWG held the distinction of being the Northern Bay Area's longest running series. The list of poets who read for the series is like a Who's Who in poetry. It is my intent to post RRWG ephemera here, as a sort of timeline, as the material has been swallowed in my behemoth of a Literrata blog. I mean, what else is there to do with all those old posters, poems and photos living in attics and basements?

Diane diPrima at NPW