Hoffman Center for the Arts | 594 Laneda Avenue | Manzanita
Please join us for an afternoon reading with the 11th Oregon Poet Laureate, Ellen Waterston, who began her tenure in August 2024. As poet laureate, Ellen will visit all 36 counties in Oregon by the time her tenure completes in August 2026. This project is supported in part by a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust, and is administered by Oregon Humanities.
Ellen Waterston has lived in the Oregon High Desert for fifty years. She has loved it, celebrated it, and, in her words, it has been her muse. She grew up in New England and came to Oregon with her husband in 1974 where they ranched on 100,000 acres in a remote corner of Central Oregon. There, and later on a smaller ranch closer to the town of Prineville, she raised her three children.
n 2000 she founded The Writing Ranch which offers workshops and retreats for established and emerging writers, “through multi-day generative workshops and retreats.” One important aspect of these gatherings is the focus on the unique landscapes and cultures of Central and Southern Oregon.
In August 2024, Ellen was appointed to a two-year term as Oregon Poet Laureate by Governor Tina Kotek. In her first year in this role, she traversed Oregon in readings, workshops and appearances, having visited 21 of Oregon’s 36 counties. She will visit the remaining 15 counties before her term ends in August 2026. Also in 2024, Ellen received the Stewart H. Holbrook Award and the Soapstone Bread and Roses Award.
Her own body of work has received high praise. Her most recent book (2024), We Could Die Doing This: Dispatches on Ageing from Oregon’s Outback, is a compilation of articles originally published in Bend’s Source Weekly in the column noted above, “The Third Act.” Recognition for this title includes these comments from award-winning poet and writer Judith Barrington: “As a self-described ‘woman of a certain age,’ and also a winner of multiple writing awards, Ellen Waterston is superbly qualified to offer wisdom on the subject of ageism. Most of us, whether of that ‘certain age’ or simply approaching it, need to listen to her thoughts on the joyful possibilities of ‘the third act;’ she believes that this phase of life is as rich, complex and dynamic as any before it….She seamlessly merges personal stories with personal data, writing with the sure hand of an experienced creative writer.”
She also is the author of a chapbook and three poetry collections, a collection of essays, and in 2020, Walking the High Desert, Encounters with Rural America Along the Oregon Desert Trail. Her poetry books are: Hotel Domilicos, Via Lactea, Between Desert Seasons, and I Am Madagascar. Her book of essays is Where the Crooked River Rises.
Ellen lives in Bend, Oregon.
For more information, visit Ellen’s website.
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October 19-Author Event with Ellen Waterston
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Situated on the main street in Manzanita just a few blocks west of Highway 101, the Hoffman Center is located across the street from the North Tillamook Library.
