Soapstone is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are fully tax-deductible.

Director: Brittney Corrigan-McElroy

Consulting Director: Ruth Gundle

Board President: Judith Barrington

Board Members: Patricia Bollin, Ann Dudley, Janice Gould, Noel Hanlon, Nancy LaPaglia, Maureen Michelson, Katy Riker, Elizabeth Woody, Kathleen Worley

Founding President: Ursula K. Le Guin

Introducing Brittney Corrigan-McElroy

Brittney Corrigan-McElroy succeeded Ruth Gundle as Director of Soapstone in June, 2009. In selecting her from a large pool of strong candidates, the hiring committee was drawn to her energy and enthusiasm, her quietly grounded confidence, her forthrightness, her experience, and her many longstanding connections to Oregon’s literary community.

After graduating from Reed in 1994 with an emphasis on contemporary women’s literature and creative writing, she worked in the Reed College Office of Development and Public Affairs and also their Office of Conference and Events Planning. Later, she worked as a Senior Project Manager with ICC, now part of Macmillan Publishing, where she oversaw hiring, personnel management, and project assignment. Colleagues and supervisors spoke glowingly of her strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills.

She has been active in neighborhood and community organizations, and as an unexpected bonus, she has a long history with Soapstone itself—as a volunteer at work and mailing parties, a writer in residence, and a member of the selection committee. Many people we spoke with praised her ability to organize and motivate people for a common purpose.

At the heart of her life, she is a writer and as she described herself, “passionate about my work, my fellow writers, and my literary community.”

We were looking for someone with the requisite skills and innate qualities who had a love of literature and shared our belief in the importance of supporting women writers. We found that person in Brittney Corrigan-McElroy.


The people and the organization:

Soapstone is unique among writing retreats in that it is truly a grassroots organization. Donors and volunteers came together to create it and new supporters continually step forward to help sustain it.

Judith Barrington and Ruth Gundle dreamed up the project in 1990 (and were honored with the Stuart H. Holbrook Award from Literary Arts for this and other work). Ursula K. Le Guin served as the first president. Judith Barrington was the volunteer director from 1992 until 1995. Ruth Gundle was Soapstone's director from 1995 to 2009.

Soapstone, Inc. became a nonprofit organization in 1992 and purchased the property in 1993. After five years of fundraising and construction we held a festive opening celebration in the summer of 1998 for over a hundred well-wishers. The first residents arrived that fall.

In 2006 Willamette Writers honored Soapstone with their Humanitarian Award.

Soapstone performs a key service for the Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington writing community by sending out email community announcements of events, readings, workshops, grant opportunities, lectures and other writing-related news to over 1800 people weekly.

Former board members:

Judith Arcana, Leslie Bevan, Mary Clare, Eva Gold, Elissa Goldberg, Shirley Kishiyama, Ursula K. Le Guin, Mimi Maduro, Madeline Moore, Sharon Morgan, Joanne Mulcahy, Monza Naff, Gloria Olds, Phyllis Oster, Gerry Pearson, Sandy Polishuk, Holly Pruett, Lee Schore, Rebecca Shine, Evelyn C. White

Credits: Illustration on homepage by Angelina Marino; photographs of Soapstone by Martha Andrews, Judith Barrington, and Sage Cohen; website design by Marcia Barrentine, www.barrentinedesign.com