Thirtieth annual William Stafford Poetry Celebration today

William Stafford
January 9, 2025

Friends of Hannon Library host event at SOU library

The Friends of Hannon Library will host the 30th William Stafford Poetry Celebration from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, in the Meese Room at Southern Oregon University’s Hannon Library. 

Vince Wixon

Poet and Stafford scholar Vince Wixon will be this year’s special guest speaker. Featured poets will be Margaret Loken, Peter Yeager, Bill Gholson, and Dianne Oberhansly, along with host Amy Miller.  

The first half of the event will feature comments by Wixon, and readings by Loken, Yeager, Gholson, and Oberhansly. After a brief intermission, in-person audience members will be invited to read a favorite William Stafford poem. 

Stafford, who died in 1993, was a nationally renowned Oregon poet and served as Oregon Poet Laureate from 1975 to 1990. His collection “Traveling Through the Dark” won the 1963 National Book Award for Poetry. In 1970, he was named Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, an honor that is now known as the U.S. Poet Laureate. In 1992, he won the Western States Book Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be in the Southern Oregon University library’s Meese Room (#305). A Zoom link will also be available on the Friends’ website: hanlib.sou.edu/friends/lectureseries.html. Zoom attendees should register in advance.  

Light refreshments will be served and complimentary parking is available in parking lots 21 and 22. Metered parking is available for those visiting campus to attend the event in parking lots 1, 12, 29, 36, 37 and 41.

Friends of Hannon Library was established in 1974 by a group of SOU librarians, faculty members and interested citizens to raise money and enrich the library’s collections. The organization sponsors a lecture series each year bringing speakers to campus for talks on a variety of literary topics.

Those who need disability accommodations to participate in the event may contact SOU’s Disability Resources office at 541-552-6213. For more information on the event, contact Hannon Library staff at [email protected] or 541-552-6816.

Source: Friends of Hannon Library news release. Email Ashland.news at [email protected].

Picture of Bert Etling

Bert Etling

Bert Etling is the executive editor of Ashland.news. Email him at [email protected].

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