Last November I was lucky enough to catch Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen doing a reading in Port Orford. It happened to be a weekend I had already planned on going to Port Orford, and I was very excited when I found out she’d be reading while I was there. I was even more excited when she called to book a room at the motel where I was then working as assistant manager, and I got to talk with her a little more.
The reading was quite well attended, as Port Orfordians, living in a rather remote location, but having a great love for the arts, are very enthusiastic about any arts events that find their way there. (They also generate a lot of their own arts events within the community.)
Paulann is possibly the best reader of poetry that I have ever seen read. She read a number of selections from her five books: The Wild Awake, Blood-silk, A Bride of Narrow Escape, Kindle. and The Voluptuary. Her poems are full of imagery, lush and sensual, grounded in the earth and yet soaring in the stars. I came away with all five of her books, individually autographed.
Paulann is coming to Corvallis, where I now live, in April to do a reading and give a short workshop, and I am excited to see her again and this time be able to take a workshop from her.
For anyone able to attend, the date is Wednesday, April 6th. The reading will be from 12:00 to 12:50 pm, with the workshop from 1:00 to 1:50 pm in the Library Reading Room, Lane-Benton Community College’s Albany Campus.
Paulann Petersen was named to a two-year appointment as Oregon’s sixth Poet Laureate by Governor Ted Kulongoski on April 26, 2010. She has received several awards, including Stanford University’s Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry, two Carolyn Kizer Poetry Awards, and Literary Art’s Stewart Holbrook Award for Outstanding Contributions to Oregon’s Literary Life.
You can find out more about her on her website www.paulann.net.
