Peter H. Sears (May 18, 1937 – July 20, 2017) was an American poet based in

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 ...

. In 2014, he was named the seventh

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) ...

of the U.S. state of

Literary career

Sears was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on May 18, 1937. He graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...

. He won the 1999 Peregrine Smith Poetry Competition and the 2000 Western States Poetry Prize for his book of poems, ''The Brink''. His first book-length collection, ''Tour'', was published in 1987. He has also published four

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s of poetry and two teaching books, ''Secret Writing'' and ''Gonna Bake Me a Rainbow Poem''. His work has been published in many magazines and literary journals, widely anthologized and included in the radio series, ''

The Writer's Almanac ''The Writer's Almanac'' is a daily podcast and newsletter of poetry and historical interest pieces, usually of literary significance. Begun as a radio program in 1993,David Kipen"Flat, Slow and Fetching" ''Los Angeles Times'', April 18, 1993. it ...

''. His most recent full-length book is titled ''Green Diver''. Sears founded and managed the Oregon Literary Coalition and co-founded the non-profit organization Friends of William Stafford. Sears moved to Oregon in 1974 to teach creative writing at

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

, he also taught at the Northwest Writing Institute at

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Cl ...

and

Portland Community College Portland Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state and serves residents in the five-county area of Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Colu ...

. He was active in the publishing company Rubberstampmadness Inc. in Corvallis and Community of Writers in

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 ...

References

5. Portland Community College Online Staff Directory (June 17, 2016)https://www.pcc.edu/scripts/sdquery.pl?all=peter.sears%40pcc.edu

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sears, Peter 1937 births 2017 deaths American male poets Lewis & Clark College faculty Poets from New York City Writers from Corvallis, Oregon Poets from Oregon Poets Laureate of Oregon Portland Community College faculty Reed College faculty University of Iowa alumni Yale University alumni 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers