Samuel Green is Washington State Poet Laureate

December 17, 2007 - Gov. Christine Gregoire today announced that she has named Samuel Green as the Washington State Poet Laureate, a position established by the Legislature this year to build awareness and appreciation of poetry across the state.

“I am pleased to name Samuel Green as Washington's first State Poet Laureate,” said Gov. Gregoire. “Not only will he encourage people across our state to learn about and appreciate poetry, his appointment to this position will honor the important role that poetry and poets have played in Washington's creative culture.”

Green is a native of Washington and resides on remote Waldron Island. A distinguished poet and author of ten poetry collections, including his soon to be released book, The Grace of Necessity (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2008), his work has appeared in numerous publications. For more than thirty years, he has served as editor of a small press focusing on the work of Washington poets. Green has served as a visiting poet in a wide range of settings, including universities, public schools, libraries, mental health centers, correctional facilities and poetry festivals. He has been visiting poet and poetry teacher at Seattle University for several years and is been active with the Skagit River Poetry Festivals.

The culmination of a multi-year effort, the establishment of a Washington State Poet Laureate was lead by Rep. Mary Skinner and Rep. Lynn Kessler and supported by a partnership of the Washington State Arts Commission, Humanities Washington and the Washington Poets Association. The Poet Laureate bill was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gregoire in April 2007.

“He is a wonderful poet,” said Kris Tucker, Executive Director of the Washington State Arts Commission. “Sam's passion for poetry is contagious and he will share his enthusiasm with people across the state.”

The State Poet Laureate will serve a two-year term and build awareness and appreciation of poetry through public readings, workshops, lectures, and presentations in communities, schools, colleges, universities and other public settings in geographically diverse areas of the state.

An Interview with Sam Green

Samuel Green was born in Sedro-Wooley, Washington, in 1948, and raised in the nearby fishing and mill town of Anacortes. After four years in the military, including service in Vietnam, he attended college under the Veterans Vocational Rehabilitation Program, earning degrees from Western Washington University. A 30-year veteran of the Poetry-in-the-Schools program, he has taught in literally hundreds of classrooms. He has also taught at Southern Utah University, Western Wyoming Community College, and served five terms as Distinguished Visiting Northwest Writer at Seattle University. His poems have appeared in hundreds of journals, including Poetry Northwest, Poetry, Poetry NOW, Poetry East, Southern Poetry Review, and Prairie Schooner. Among his ten collections of poems are Vertebrae: Poems 1972-1996 (Eastern Washington University Press) and The Grace of Necessity (Carnegie-Mellon University Press). He has lived for 25 years on a remote island off the Washington coast in a log house he built himself, and is, with his wife, Sally, Co-Editor of Brooding Heron Press, which specializes in publication of fine letterpress editions of poetry.

How do you feel about your selection as Poet Laureate?

I'm happy about it. Very. It gives me the opportunity and means to talk to others about what I love most. But the real cause for celebration here, it seems to me, is the establishment of the position of poet laureate. A good many people involved with the Washington Poets Association, Humanities Washington, the Washington State Arts Commission, legislators, and a host of others have put in countless hours presenting a case for a state laureate, and they deserve tremendous thanks. We all owe gratitude to the hard work of Kris Tucker, of the WSAC, Ted Lord, of Humanities Washington, and Karen Bonaudi and Ed Stover, of the Washington Poets Association. Representatives Mary Skinner (Yakima), Lynn Kessler (Hoquiam) and Pat Lantz (Gig Harbor, and Senators Rodney Tom, Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Jim Honeyford were particular champions of the bill that created the position. Governor Gregoire has been extremely supportive, and that support promises to continue.

What do you plan to do?

The position carries a serious mandate: to promote poetry in the broadest number of locations throughout the state through workshops, readings, or appearances. I plan to do just that, by taking part in as many activities as time, opportunity, and funds allow. There are other ideas under discussion, and we'll talk about them when the time is right.

How will you be doing this?

I'll be working closely with the Washington State Arts Commission to develop a plan. Since this is the first term of office, we expect a certain amount of evolution, so we'll work out some beginnings and move forward. Over the years I've had experience teaching or presenting in a very wide range of venues, so we'll have a lot to choose from. I'll be consulting friends who are, or have been, state poet laureates themselves, as well as a few former national laureates. My term of office begins on January 1st, and I do plan to begin right away.

Why do you think you were chosen?

You'd have to ask the members of the selection committee. Again, the important thing is more the task ahead than who actually does it. I've spent much of my life teaching and talking about poetry in almost every conceivable venue, and that probably helped the committee settle on me, but the truth is that Washington is blessed with an amazing number of very capable poets, and any number of them could have been chosen for this position. I just walked through the turnstile at the right time. My plan is to represent all of us.

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