Paulann Petersen (born 1942) an American poet from the state of Oregon. A native of Portland, she was Oregon's sixth poet laureate.

Paulann Petersen
Born
Paulann Whitman

1942
OccupationPoet

Biography

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Petersen was born in 1942 in Portland, Oregon, where she graduated from Franklin High School in Southeast Portland.[1] Following high school she went to Pomona College in Claremont, California, before returning to Oregon.[2] Petersen settled in Klamath Falls in Southern Oregon with her family, remaining for 31 years.[1] In 1991, she returned to Portland where she taught high school English at schools such as West Linn High School.[1]

Literary career

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In 1975, she had her first published piece, a poem in The Oregonian.[2] Petersen was a Stegner Fellow in 1986–1987.[3] She twice has won Carloyn Kizer Poetry Awards, and also was the recipient of the Stewart Holbrook Award, given for contributions to Oregon literature.[1] 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.[4] Petersen was appointed as Oregon's Poet Laureate in 2010, the sixth in state history, replacing Lawson Inada.[1][2] The Voluptuary was published in 2010, and Understory was published in 2013. She was given a second term as poet laureate in 2012,[5] with her term then ending in April 2014.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Baker, Jeff (April 26, 2010). "Paulann Petersen named Oregon's sixth poet laureate". The Oregonian. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Biography of Paulann Petersen". Oregon Poet Laureate. Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  3. ^ "Complete List of Stegner Fellows". Stanford University. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  4. ^ "Paulann Petersen". City of Milwaukie. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  5. ^ Cole, Michelle (April 12, 2012). "Paulann Petersen named to second term as Oregon's poet laureate". The Oregonian. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  6. ^ Baker, Jeff (February 13, 2014). "Oregon is looking for a new Poet Laureate". The Oregonian. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
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