PORT ANGELES — Poet Alice Derry will be featured in presentations in Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Forks this week and May 1 as Peninsula College’s 17th Writer-in-Residence.
“It’s indeed an honor to be invited to a program I hosted for 10 years,” Derry said. “My goal is to live up to the rich tradition of literature which the college has been fortunate to be part of.”
Derry’s schedule of public events, all of which are free and open to the public, is:
• Today — At 12:30 p.m., Derry will read from her work in the Little Theater on the Port Angeles Peninsula College campus, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
At 2 p.m. that day, she and Kate Reavey will conduct a beginners’ writing workshop. To register for the workshop, contact Teorey at mteorey@pencol.edu.
• Wednesday — At 1:30 p.m., Derry, Jamestown S’Klallam master storyteller and weaver Elaine Grinnell, and Peninsula College student and weaver Kylee Butler will discuss art in the conference room at the Pirate Union Building (PUB) on the Port Angeles campus. The discussion is co-sponsored by the Visiting Elders program.
At 7 that night, she will read with tribal poets at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center at 401 E. First St., Port Angeles. Suzie Bennett, center director, will host the event.
• Thursday — At 12:30 p.m., Derry will give her keynote address at a Studium Generale presentation, “Let Poetry Delight You: Works by Five Contemporary Women Poets,” in the Little Theater.
At 7 that night, she will read from her work in Room 204 at the Peninsula College Port Townsend campus in Fort Worden State Park, 202 Eisenhower Ave.
• Monday, May 1 — At 10 a.m., Derry will read from her work at the Peninsula College Forks campus, 481 S. Forks Ave.
Derry has been writing and publishing poetry for 40 years and has four volumes and three chapbooks to her name.
Her newest manuscript, “Hunger,” has been accepted by MoonPath Press for publication this fall.
She has read throughout Washington and Oregon, in addition to points east and south. Of her most recent book, “Tremolo” (Red Hen Press, 2012), poet Tess Gallagher has written: “Tremolo is a tour de force of vibratory power that marks Alice Derry as having come into her own as one of our very best poets.”
Derry is now at work on another manuscript of poems.
For almost 30 years, Derry was a professor at Peninsula College. As a director of the Foothills Writers Series, she was a major force behind inviting several authors a year to the campus, in addition to local readings.
For a decade, she was in charge of the Writer-in-Residence program and faculty adviser for the college’s annual literary magazine, “Tidepools.”
In 2013, she helped organize the 75th Raymond Carver Birthday Celebration and gave the keynote address.
During her residency period, Derry will be on Peninsula College campuses and in the community, reading poetry, talking about poetry and helping others write poetry.
For more information, email mteorey@pencol.edu or 360-417-6269.
