PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — Centrum's Port Townsend Writers Conference has been the heart of the Pacific Northwest's literary scene for decades. Frank Herbert, Pam Houston, Sherman Alexie, Jonathan Evison, and Alice Walker are just a small sample of the writers who have taught in this place.
Northwest novelist and Pulitzer Prize nominee Bill Ransom founded the Writer's Conference here in 1974.
“I never had an MFA, but I got one here because I went to the workshops of the people I hired," Ransom smiled. "I'm old but I'm not stupid!”
He knew Fort Worden's miles of beach, and decades of history would be a classroom unlike any other.
“That seemed to be something we could attract people to,” he said.
Attracting future writers has always been in Centrum's DNA. Here, would-be authors learn from established and nationally recognized ones.
“Youth programs are really important to me,” added Ransom, who made sure to include workshops for young writers at the very beginning. “Most people come here semi-experienced in some way, the kids do not. And you get ‘em in a way that they are not got in school.”
Poet Gary Copeland Lilley is the newest artistic director of Centrum’s Writers Conference — finding inspiring writers to teach at the place that continues to inspire him.
“Centrum to me is the heart of the arts in the Northwest,” Lilley said. “Look at this place — Copper Canyon is right there, and I can read any book I want that they have just by going into that office. And you know what? This is the best thing about that, one of my books is over there. But I'm reading everybody else’s when I'm over there. I love it that this is here.”
Copper Canyon is a nationally recognized independent poetry press located on the Fort Worden campus.
Lilley plans to bring new voices to Centrum’s writing programs.
“My whole push right now is to bring the different cultures to participants by the writers I select. I want to be more inclusive, I want to try to cultivate more diversity with the participants as well. And I want to do that by having a faculty that attracts them.”
Much like writing itself, the Writers Conference is designed to be passed on, to evolve.
But since it began, there's always been one true thing about this place where writers discover — and share — their stories.
“It’s a good place to take risks, yes,” Lilley said.
To donate to Centrum's scholarship fund go to centrum.org/donate.
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