ABOUT MARTHA GIES, OREGON WRITER, TEACHER AND ACTIVIST
Martha Gies began publishing in the 1970s, first profiles of musicians and filmmakers and later, upon reading and studying with Raymond Carver, stories and essays. That work appears in many literary quarterlies, among them Gettysburg Review, The MacGuffin, Notre Dame Review, Orion,The Sun, Zyzzyva, and in various anthologies.
In 2004, Oregon State University Press published Up All Night, her portrait of Portland told through the stories of twenty-three people who work graveyard shift. This book was selected by both Salem’s Statesman Journal and Portland’s Oregonian as one of the Ten Best Regional Books of the year, and was called, “A fine example of living, breathing oral history,” by Booklist, and “intriguing” and “stirring” by Publisher’s Weekly.
Her book, Broken Open (Trail to Table Press, 2024) is an essay collection exploring a life interestingly, surprisingly and thoughtfully lived, Broken Open has been called “exquisite” by writer Elinor Langer and “a beautiful thing,” by writer M. Allen Cunningham.
Gies has received grants and awards from PEN, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Oregon Literary Arts, The Seattle Weekly and Sundance Institute.
In addition to her literary work, Gies has contributed to Oregon newspapers and magazines on a variety of topics, often returning to themes that have preoccupied her for years: the human cost of gentrification in Portland’s downtown; the methodical displacement of African-Americans from their Northeast Portland homes; the shame of Guantánamo; and the “war on terror” waged against U.S. citizens in the wake of 9/11.
She was a frequent contributor to Women’s Review of Books when Amy Hoffman was editor and for twenty years supported Portland’s local street newspaper with contributions of journalism. In her Seattle days, she was a stringer for Variety.
Photo: Owen Carey
Along the way she has taken great joy in teaching others — at Marylhurst University for twenty years, in the graduate writing program at Lewis and Clark for seven, and in Antioch’s Individualized MFA program for two.
She founded and, for twenty years, produced the annual Traveler’s Mind workshops abroad, taking writers to Veracruz, Valparaíso, Jodhpur, Havana, Calcutta, Cádiz and elsewhere. She has also taught numerous workshops in California, Montana and Washington, and regularly taught two classes privately each year in Portland, Oregon, until her final workshop, in June 2023.
She is a member of St. Andrew Catholic Church, a faith community that honors diversity, and whose parishioners are committed to works of social justice. Her other memberships include Amnesty, the Author’s Guild, and Veterans for Peace, which she joined as an auxiliary member by way of registering her support and admiration.
GRANTS, HONORS, AND AWARDS
Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), Project Grant for literary research in Veracruz, 2006
Oregonian: Selected for "Ten Top NW Books" - Up All Night, 2004
Statesman-Journal: Selected for "Ten Best Regional Books" - Up All Night, 2004
RACC, Technical Assistance Grant: International PEN Congress, Mexico City, 2003
RACC, Project Grant for Up All Night, 2000
Associated Church Press, 1st place, Feature Article, Special Interest Magazine, 1996
Oregon Literary Arts, Literary Non-fiction fellowship, 1995
PEN Syndicated Fiction Project, winner, 1990
Sundance Institute, Selected Participant, Screenwriters Lab (1/89) & Filmmakers Lab (6/89)
Seattle Weekly, 1st place, Annual Short Story Contest, 1987