Resume | Angela Allen

Angela Allen
9946 SW 61st Ave. • Portland, Oregon 97219
503-504-4556
email : angela.allen@comcast.net
website: angelaallenwrites.com

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Independent journalist writing about music, art, photography, poetry, food, wine, fashion, music, travel, people and culture for OregonArtsWatch.com, the Oregonian, Northwest Palate, Culinate.com, Institute of Food Technologists, Concertonet.com, NorthwestReverb.blogspot.com, oregonmusicnews.com, Willamette Week, Explore the Pearl, The Vancouver Columbian’s former Home & Life Style, Home Box Office, Reading Local Portland, Seattle Magazine, Oregon School Employees Association, Edible Portland, USA Today, Dailyyonder.com.

Writing teacher (ongoing): Teach creative writing (poetry, story-writing, prose pieces, sentence fluency, word play, etc.) to all ages of school children through angelaallenwrites, through Portland’s Wordstock (now incorporated into Portland Literary Arts), and previously through Portland Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools program. Served as Eastern Oregon Writer-in-Residence, teaching creative writing throughout Harney and Malheur counties. Worked in rural schools, libraries, churches, workshops, a correctional institution, and a community college with home-schoolers, adults and kids. Received rave evaluations from students and handlers. Funded by Fishtrap, an Oregon writing community, as well as by the Harney Basin Writers, businesses and individuals. For a glance at my young writers’ work, see Students’ Work under the Teaching tab.

Arts writer, opera and jazz reviewer (ongoing): Write about dance,culture, photography, chamber music, jazz and opera for OregonArtsWatch.com, Review the Seattle and Portland operas for OregonArtsWatch.com and concertonet.com, based in Paris, France, and previously, jazz for OregonMusicNews.com. Reviewed classical music for NorthwestReverb.blogspot.com, a classical music site based in Portland, Ore.

Covered and reviewed the Portland Opera and the Vancouver Children’s Opera for The Columbian. While at the Columbian in my final 8 years (worked there from 1984-2006), developed music beats on jazz and classical music, covered arts events and news (1999-2006).

Food and wine writer/columnist (1990–present): Wrote weekly food and wine column, “On the Table” (most read column in 2006 Beldon survey), for The Columbian daily newspaper, Vancouver, Wash. Produced regular features and covered food and wine news. Edited The Columbian’s food section, 1992-2004. From 2006-2014, wrote food features and profiles for a number of publications.

Restaurant reviewer (1993–2012): While at The Columbian, introduced restaurant reviews to the newspaper features lineup, added health-inspection scores, developed “Lunch Spot” and Dishin’” columns; reviewed restaurants in Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, Wash. for The Columbian. Reviewed for San Diego Union-Tribune in 1997. Reviewed for Willamette Week in Portland, Ore., 2006-7. Wrote monthly restaurant profiles for Oregonian’s former Downtown Monthly (2007-08) and produced restaurant features for a number of publications.

Style writer (1992–present): Wrote weekly Chic Talk off-beat fashion column for Life cover of The Columbian, plus regular fashion, art, style, design and architecture centerpiece stories.

Features writer (1987–present): Write feature stories covering art, fashion, architecture, photography, travel, living, current events, agriculture, consumer and health issues, local history and lifestyle trends, though from 2010 to the present, my focus has been more specifically on music and arts.

Poet: Published poems in Watershed Review 2015 spring issue; Oregon Poetry Association’s 2015 Spring contest winner (honorable mention for long poem).

Wrote and published Saturday Afternoons, a poetry anthology with three other writers (Clothesline Press, 2009).

Received Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry/Creative Writing in summer, 2014, from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writing Workshop. My thesis, “Gold in the Mouth,” is a collection of poetry. Final critical paper is titled “The Big Merge: Poems and Photographs Come Together—or Don’t Quite.”

Photographer: Accepted into Arther Meyerson’s fall 2016 master color class in San Miguel D’Allende through Santa Fe Photographic. Also studied with Keith Carter, 2015.

Published diptychs in Watershed Review, Spring 2016.Display and sell photos at Portland and other galleries and businesses. “Laundry, San Felipe” is book cover photograph for the poetry anthology Saturday Afternoons (Clothesline Press, 2009).

Work as an artist in the schools through Right Brain Initiative, teaching photography to elementary students.

EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts in Poetry/Creative Writing, Summer 2014, at Rainier Writing Workshop, the MFA writing program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

Master of Arts Arts 1984 University of Oregon, School of Journalism
Eugene, Ore. Teaching assistant, photojournalism.

Bachelor of Arts 1975 Centre College, Danville, Ky. Magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Penn., 1971- 1972

Workshops and further learning: National Endowment for the Arts and Columbia University School of Journalism, Lewis & Clark Northwest Writing institute, Fishtrap, Attic Institute of Portland, Writers Dojo, Port Townsend Writers Conference at Centrum, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Newspace Center for Photography.

Professional Affiliations
Music Critics Association of North America, 2016-
Association of Writers and Writing Programs, 2011-
Willamette Writers, 2009-
Wordstock, formerly Community of Writers, 2007-2014 (now defunct)
Association of Food Journalists, 1992-

Regional board member, 2003-2005
Co-chair with three others of the AFJ national conference, 1998
Awards chairman 2005-6
Freelancer board representative, 2006-2007

James Beard Society

Pacific Northwest committee member, 1998-99
Judge for best food and wine publications, 2008-09

Grants: Scholarship to study creative writing in July 2012 at the 34-year-old Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska.

National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship-Columbia University School of Journalism, New York City, 2005
One of 22 journalists chosen for a 14-day course of study with world-class musicians, educators, editors, and composers; grant worth $8,800.

Peggy Daum Memorial Fund Scholarship, 1998

Association of Food Journalists
Grant to study at Greystone Culinary Institute of America,
St. Helena, Calif.

Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation Grant, 1983

Newspaper Awards

Second Place, Food Column Writing, 2005
Association of Food Journalists
Category: North American newspapers with 150,000 or fewer readers.

Third Place, Health Writing, 2004
Society of Professional Journalists
Not Just Your Daughter’s Problem (Exposing middle-aged anorexia.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, mid-sized dailies.

First place, Short Feature, 2004
Society of Professional Journalists
Cool Hand Hillary (Hillary Clinton signs her books in Portland –and fast!)
Category: Pacific Northwest, mid-sized dailies

Honorable Mention, Arts Reporting, 2004
Society of Professional Journalists
Unbreakable (Internationally renowned Washington glass-maker David Garcia.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, mid-sized dailies.

Honorable Mention, Lifestyle Reporting, 2004
Society of Professional Journalists
Coatless (Kids don’t like to wear them.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, mid-sized dailies.

Third place, Food Columns, 2003
Association of Food Journalists
Category: North American newspapers with 150,000 or fewer readers.

Honorable Mention, Lifestyle Reporting, 2003
Society of Professional Journalists
Match Play (A chronicle of how to get a date when you’re older than 40.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, mid-sized dailies.

First place, General Excellence in Missouri Lifestyle
Journalism Awards, 2002
Best feature section in the country in 50,000–100,000 circulation.

Third place, short feature, 2002
Society of Professional Journalists
Oh Say Can You Sing (County fair contest singing the national anthem.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, dailies larger than 50,000.

Third place, Food/wine Feature Writing
Association of Food Journalists
Vino for Vegans (Matching wine with vegan cuisine.)
Category: North American papers under 200,000.

First place, feature reporting, 2001
Society of Professional Journalists
Groceries Go Gamma (Challenges of irradiating food.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, papers larger than 50,000.

Third place, Three-part series, 1998
Association of Food Journalists
Cutting a Deal with Thinness (Series on eating disorders.)
Category: North American newspapers under 200,000.

Honorable mention, Three-part series, 1998
Society of Professional Journalists
Cutting a Deal with Thinness (Series on eating disorders.)
Category: Pacific Northwest, dailies over 50,000.

First Place, $2,000 Award
1995 William Harvey National Award for Medical Writing
Cutting through the Fat (Three-part series about children, obesity and cholesterol.)
Category: All-circulation contest.

Second place, Best Series, 1994
Association of Food Journalists
Eastern Washington wine country (Series on wineries, winemakers and terroir.)
Category: Newspapers under 200,000.

First Place, Food News Reporting, 1993
Association of Food Journalists
Open Up to the Oyster (Everything you want to know about Washington coast oysters.)
Category: Newspapers under 200,000.

First Place, Nestle Nutrition, 1992
Food Allergies: Chasing down the Facts
Category: National award for papers 25,000-150,000.