Portlander Kazumi Heshiki's poems have "moments of tremendous mystery and quiet revelation," says Oregon poet Stephanie Adams-Santos, who helped him publish his first poetry collection, "Fireweed Blossoms," at age 87. (Courtesy of Stephanie Adams-Santos)

By Amy Wang | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Notes from The Oregonian/OregonLive's books desk.

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Literary launch

In a beginning poetry course that Oregon poet Stephanie Adams-Santos was teaching several years ago at Portland Community College, she told students they'd be expected to write five or six poems. One student, Kazumi Heshiki, responded with a manuscript that ran 75 pages. "These were wonderful poems," Adams-Santos said by email. "Many had been adapted from haiku he had written in Japanese, which he then translated not only into English but into new forms reflecting a hybridity of influences." She was so taken by the poems that she helped Heshiki apply for a Regional Arts and Culture Council grant to publish them through a tiny press that she also set up, Ojo de la Selva Press. The best part? Heshiki is making his literary debut at age 87. "The poems reflect Kazumi's profound humility and grounded watchfulness," Adams-Santos said. " … He is able to piece together silences and memories and weave together fragments of language carried from the past to the present and make his own kind of language, one both deeply private and public at the same time." Heshiki's book, "Fireweed Blossoms," will have its launch party at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Literary Arts, 925 S.W. Washington St.

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Samiya Bashir (left) and Rene Denfeld (Samiya Bashir by Nina Johnson Photography; Rene Denfeld by Gary Norman)

Literature fellowships

Congratulations to Portland writers Samiya Bashir and Rene Denfeld, the 2017 recipients of the Regional Arts and Culture Council's Literature Fellowships. Bashir published a collection of poetry, "Field Theories," this year and is working on two projects, including a memoir that will touch on her experience as a queer first-generation Somali-American. Denfeld published her second novel, "The Child Finder," this year and is planning a third novel, about the ways in which the criminal justice system fails children.

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Portland author Cheryl Strayed, shown at the 2015 Portland premiere of "Wild," the movie adaptation of her bestselling memoir. (Stephanie Yao Long/Staff)

"Nasty Women"

Portland author Cheryl Strayed is among the contributors to the new anthology "Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America," edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding (Picador, 256 pages, $16). Strayed, one of 23 essayists featured in the book, writes about grappling with the aftermath of Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 presidential election. Other contributors include Nicole Chung (who grew up in Oregon), Jill Filipovic, Samantha Irby, Rebecca Solnit and Katha Pollitt. The book's title is, of course, a reference to Trump's characterization of Clinton as "a nasty woman" during their final candidate debate in October 2016.

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Oregon authors (clockwise from top left) Claudia F. Savage, Jamie Yourdon, Shaindel Beers, Tracy Manaster and Willa Schneberg. (Courtesy of Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education)

"Oregon Jewish Voices"

The Oregon Jewish Museum & Center for Holocaust Education will host five writers from various genres in its annual literary event, "Oregon Jewish Voices." This year's writers are poet and fiction writer Shaindel Beers, novelist Tracy Manaster ("The Done Thing") , sound-poetry performance artist Claudia F. Savage, poet Willa Schneberg and novelist, fiction writer and essayist Jamie Yourdon ("Froelich's Ladder"). The event starts at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30, at the museum, 724 N.W. Davis St. Tickets: $8 museum members, $10 nonmembers; advance purchase recommended, ojmche.org or 503-226-3600.

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Beverly Cleary (Oregonian/OregonLive file photo)

Beverly Cleary

The children's author who grew up in Oregon gets a shout out in the new book "More Girls Who Rocked the World: Heroines from Ada Lovelace to Misty Copeland" (Aladdin/Beyond Words, 320 pages, $21.99). Author Michelle Roehm McCann, writing to inspire 8- to 12-year-olds, salutes Cleary for rocking the world by writing the books she wished she'd had as an elementary school student in Portland. McCann also highlights Portland Thorns player Nadia Nadim.