High desert poet Ellen Waterston chosen as Oregon Poet Laureate

Think Out Loud

Central Oregon poet, teacher and author Ellen Waterston began her role this month as the state’s official Poet Laureate. Waterston has won many literary awards, including two WILLA awards and the Obsidian prize for poetry. This year she received both the Holbrook and Soapstone award in recognition of her contributions to Oregon’s literary landscape.

She began her own Writing Ranch in 2000 in Central Oregon to support and nurture writers, and she was instrumental in the genesis of the low residency MFA program at Oregon State University, Cascades, where she now also teaches. She often writes about the landscape where she makes her home and is currently working on a new collection of poetry that will feature a series of commissioned pieces that celebrate remote locations all over the West.

We last talked with Waterston in 2020 when her nonfiction book “Walking in the High Desert” was published. She joins us to discuss her poetry, her teaching and how she plans to meet her self-appointed goal of “kindling creativity and community” around poetry throughout Oregon over the next two years.