Description

Join us for our 13th annual celebration of the work of Oregon's most famous and beloved poet, William Stafford. Born in 1914, Stafford was a celebrated poet, teacher, mentor, and champion of free speech and thought. He was a professor at Lewis and Clark College, received the National Book Award for Traveling Through the Dark in 1963, was poetry consultant to the Library of Congress (1970-71), and served as Oregon’s Poet Laureate in 1975.  A conscientious objector during World War II, Stafford died in 1993.

The program is hosted by Joseph A. Soldati, poet, long-time member of Friends of William Stafford and former chair of its board of trustees.  He is the author of four poetry books, including most recently the chapbook, On Account of Darkness. 

Recorded live at Central Library: January 27, 2013

Participants in this year's celebration include:

Greta Blalock is the Port of Portland Art Program Coordinator, working with local and regional visual artists and musicians to create pockets of serenity within the bustling airport environment.

A. Molotkov is a writer, composer, filmmaker and visual artist who emigrated to the U.S in 1990. His award-winning work includes the 2011 Boone’s Dock Press poetry chapbook contest for his True Stories from the Future.

Penelope Scambly Schott is a poet whose verse biography A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth received an Oregon Book Award for Poetry. She teaches an annual poetry workshop in Dufur, Oregon, and her new chapbook Lovesong for Dufur is forthcoming from Windfall Press. 

Scot Siegel, a town-planning consultant from Lake Oswego, is a former Friends of William Stafford board member. His most recent book isThousands Flee California Wildflowers.

Laura D. Weeks is an editor, translator, consecutive interpreter, and the founder of Weeks’ Wunderkinder Piano Studio. She is the author of two chapbooks, Deaf Man Talking and The Mad Woman.

Wendy Willis is the Executive Director of the Policy Consensus Initiative, a national organization devoted to improving democratic governance. Her first book of poems, Blood Sisters of the Republic, was recently published.