100 Years: A Stafford Celebration

Join the worldwide birthday celebration honoring the life and work of the late William Stafford, Oregon’s most famous poet, teacher and pacifist. A Stafford Celebration takes place on Saturday, February 1 at 2pm at the Waldport Community Center in Waldport, Oregon, located at 265 Hemlock St (on Hwy 34). Admission is free and the event is open to all ages.

The event will feature excerpts of the film William Stafford: Life & Poems. In addition, members of the audience are invited to read a favorite Stafford poem or to share a personal anecdote about the late Oregon poet laureate.

This year marks what would have been William Stafford’s 100th birthday. To celebrate, communities around the globe are hosting poetry readings, workshops and special presentations.

Waldport’s celebration is sponsored by Friends of the Waldport Public Library — a nonprofit group that seeks to stimulate and support the use of the Waldport Public Library, its resources and services — in conjunction with Friends of William Stafford and Oregon Reads 2014.

About William Stafford
William Stafford was one of America's most prolific poets, authoring more than 50 books in his 79 years. A professor at Lewis and Clark College for 30 years, he was appointed Oregon Poet Laureate in 1975 and also earned a National Book Award. He was known for his gentle and plain-spoken writing style, his encouragement of other writers, and for his advocacy of free expression in writing and speech.

A pacifist, Stafford was a conscientious objector during World War II. He was confined in Civilian Public Service work camps in Arkansas and California, where he did work for the U.S. Forest Service. For the following 50 years, Stafford included poems of pacifism and reconciliation in his readings.

Stafford believed that treasures were to be found beneath your feet, and that searching for things that fit together was to follow the "golden thread." About his own works, he once said, "I have woven a parachute out of everything broken."

He died of a heart attack in Lake Oswego, Oregon on August 28, 1993. He was 79.

For more information about A Stafford Celebration, contact the Waldport Public Library, 541-563-5880, or Drew Myron, event organizer, dcm@drewmyron.com.