Paulann Petersen (born 1942) an American poet from the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. A native of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, she was Oregon's sixth

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

Biography

Petersen was born in 1942 in Portland, Oregon, where she graduated from Franklin High School in Southeast Portland. Following high school she went to

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

, before returning to Oregon. Petersen settled in

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was ...

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oreg ...

with her family, remaining for 31 years. In 1991, she returned to Portland where she taught high school English at schools such as

West Linn High School West Linn High School is a public high school in West Linn, Oregon, United States. It is one of two high schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, the other being Wilsonville High School. Academics In 1984, West Linn High School wa ...

Literary career

In 1975, she had her first published piece, a poem in ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

''. Petersen was a Stegner Fellow in 1986–1987. She twice has won Carloyn Kizer Poetry Awards, and also was the recipient of the Stewart Holbrook Award, given for contributions to Oregon literature. In 2002, ''The Wild Awake''—her first full-length collection of poems—was published by Confluence Press. Two years later, she published ''Blood-Silk'', a collection of poems about Turkey. ''A Bride of Narrow Escape'' was published in 2006, and ''Kindle'' was published in 2008. Petersen was appointed as Oregon's Poet Laureate in 2010, the sixth in state history, replacing

Lawson Inada Lawson Fusao Inada (born May 26, 1938) is a Japanese American poet. He was the fifth poet laureate of the state of Oregon. Early life Born May 26, 1938, Inada is a third-generation Japanese American (''Sansei''). His father, Fusaji, worked as a d ...

. ''The Voluptuary'' was published in 2010, and ''Understory'' was published in 2013. She was given a second term as poet laureate in 2012, with her term then ending in April 2014.

References

External links

Paulann Petersen website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Paulann Living people 1942 births Writers from Portland, Oregon Poets Laureate of Oregon Southern Oregon University alumni Pomona College alumni Stanford University alumni American women poets People from Klamath Falls, Oregon Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers Stegner Fellows

Biography

Literary career

See also

References

External links