Gov. Kotek names Bend poet, writer Ellen Waterston Oregon’s new poet laureate

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – Gov. Tina Kotek has named Ellen Waterston of Bend, a celebrated poet/writer, teacher and speaker who founded the Writing Ranch and the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, to a two-year appointment as Oregon Poet Laureate.

Waterston will be Oregon’s 11th Poet Laureate and succeeds Anis Mojgani, who has held the post since 2020. 

"Ellen Waterston stands out for her commitment to community engagement, her focus on bringing different ways of living and different parts of the state together, and her notable ability to describe the moments, places and people that make Oregon, Oregon,” Governor Kotek said. “I am eager to see how she applies her talents in the literary arts to serving the state as Oregon’s eleventh Poet Laureate." 

Much of Waterston’s award-winning poetry and prose is inspired by the remote reaches of southeastern Oregon’s Outback. She has published four poetry titles: “I Am Madagascar, Between Desert Seasons,” “Vía Lactéa” and “Hotel Domilocos,” of which poet and author John Calderazzo said, “In a world of both staggering beauty and loss, from the tropics to the high desert, Ellen Waterston offers us intimate conversations among heart, mind and place, stories that speak to hope, recovery and joy.” 

Lawson Fusao Inada, Oregon’s fifth Poet Laureate, wrote, “The truth is: Ellen Waterston’s poems arrive. They situate themselves naturally, to proceed in compelling, telling ways. Each poem leaves something behind.” 

Waterston’s poems have appeared in anthologies and journals, been featured on Writer’s Almanac and landed her numerous fellowships, grants and residencies. Her poetry awards include the WILLA Award for two of her collections and the Obsidian Prize for Poetry. Waterston is currently completing a fifth collection featuring a series of commissioned poems celebrating remote locations across the West. 

“Inspired by the example of the Poets Laureate who have preceded me, I am eager to share my love of poetry, place and the power of the written word with Oregon’s diverse audiences,” said Waterston, “and to kindling creativity and community as I go.” 

Poetry has always been at the center of Waterston’s writing, but she is also the published author of three award-winning literary nonfiction titles: “Walking the High Desert,” “Where the Crooked River Rises,” and “Then There Was No Mountain.” “We Could Die Doing This,” a collection of essays, will be published fall 2024. 

In addition to her work as an author, Waterston founded the for-profit Writing Ranch, offering retreats and workshops for established and emerging writers, and the Bend-based literary arts nonprofit, The Nature of Words, which she directed for over a decade.

She subsequently founded the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, annually recognizing a nonfiction book proposal that examines the role of deserts in the human narrative, now a program of The High Desert Museum.

She has instructed creative writing at high school and undergraduate levels and authored the original feasibility study for OSU Cascades Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing, where she now teaches. 

Her work as an author and literary arts advocate was earlier recognized with an honorary Ph.D. in Humane Letters from OSU-Cascades and, in 2024, with both the Literary Arts of Oregon’s Stewart H. Holbrook Award and Soapstone’s Bread and Roses Award.

“We celebrate Ellen Waterston for her work creating a vibrant literary life east of the Cascades,” said Soapstone. “She created unique and important events, focused attention on the literature of the High Desert and mentored numerous writers while writing poetry and nonfiction works that have become an essential part of the literature of Oregon and the West.”

Waterston received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a Master of Arts in Archaeology from the University of Madagascar. She has three children and three grandchildren and lives in central Oregon.  

A 20-person committee of writers, poets and cultural leaders reviewed Poet Laureate nominations earlier this year; the committee’s top candidates were submitted to the Governor for her consideration. 

The Oregon Poet Laureate fosters the art of poetry, encourages literacy and learning, addresses central issues relating to humanities and heritage, and reflects on public life in Oregon. Waterston will provide at least 10 public readings per year in settings across the state to inform community, business and state leaders about the value and importance of poetry and creative expression. The program is funded by the Oregon Cultural Trust and administered by Oregon Humanities.

Past Oregon Poets Laureate are: Edwin Charles Markham (1921–1940); Ben Hur Lampman (1951–1954); Ethel Romig Fuller (1957–1965); William Stafford (1974–1989); Lawson Inada (2006–2010); Paulann Petersen (2010-2014); Peter Sears (2014-2016); Elizabeth Woody (2016-2018); Kim Stafford (2018-2020); and Anis Mojgani (2020-2024).

Waterston assumes the Poet Laureate role immediately. To learn more about the Oregon Poet Laureate program visit the Poet Laureate website.

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About the Oregon Cultural Trust

The Oregon Cultural Trust was established by the Oregon Legislature in 2001 as a unique means to reward Oregonians who invest in culture. Oregonians who donate to a cultural nonprofit and then make a matching gift to the Cultural Trust receive a 100% state tax credit for their gift to the Trust. Those funds then support and protect Oregon’s arts, humanities and heritage nonprofits. In addition to the creation of a permanent endowment, funds are distributed annually through three multifaceted, wide-ranging grant programs. No other state in the nation has a program like the Oregon Cultural Trust, which has been ranked with the bottle bill and the vote-by-mail bill as among Oregon’s most forward-thinking public policy measures. More information at culturaltrust.org.

About Oregon Humanities

Oregon Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a partner of the Oregon Cultural Trust. Through its programs and publications—which include the Conversation Project, Consider This, Humanity in Perspective, Public Program Grants, and Oregon Humanities magazine—Oregon Humanities connects Oregonians to ideas that change lives and transform communities. More information at oregonhumanities.org.