Local Photojournalist, Reporter Kick Off WSU Vancouver’s Professional Writing Series

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Local photojournalist Stephanie Yao and reporter Angie Chuang will be the first featured speakers in Washington State University Vancouver’s annual Professional Writing Series Feb. 10.

Yao and Chuang will present “Seeing beyond the Veil” at 7 p.m. in the Multimedia Classroom Building, Room 16. The event is free and open to the public.

Both journalists at The Oregonian, Yao and Chuang will discuss how they developed a series of newspaper stories about an Afghan-American family. The story eventually led them to rural Afghanistan, where they got a rare and intimate view beyond the veil into a post Taliban world.

Yao’s photographs have appeared in Time Magazine, USA Today, the American 24/7 Oregon book and other daily newspapers in the West. Chuang received the 2004 C.B. Blethen Memorial Award for distinguished coverage of diversity and the 2004 Fred A. Stickel Award for reporting and writing. In addition, she has received awards from the Society of American Travel Writers, Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and the New England Associated Press News Executives Association.

Upcoming lectures in the Professional Writing Series include “Working with an Editor: The Part Nobody Sees” with award-winning author Eric Kimmel March 10; and “Putting Words to Pictures: Advertising Copywriting” with Mike Bryne, creative director for Nike at the Wieden & Kennedy advertising agency, on March 24.

All lectures begin at 7 p.m. in the Multimedia Classroom Building, Room 16, and are free and open to the public. For more information on this series or the professional writing program, contact Pamela Smith Hill, at (360) 546-9677 or hillpam@vancouver.wsu.edu.

WSU Vancouver is located at 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue, east of the 134^th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205. Parking is available at meters or in the blue lot for $1.75.