September 27, 2007

The Friends of Hood River County Library sponsors a community visit by Lawson Inada, Oregon Poet Laureate, on Saturday, Oct. 6, in the Library’s Jean Marie Gaulke Community Meeting Room.

Inada will conduct a writing workshop 1 to 3 p.m.. The workshop is free but limited to 25. To reserve a spot, call 387-7062.

At 3:30 p.m., Mr. Inada will hold a public reading and share his poetry with the public. No reservations are needed for this event.

Lawson Fusao Inada is third-generation Japanese American, born in 1938 and raised in Fresno, Calif. Inada is a significant figure in Asian American poetry and literature. He was one of the co-editors of the landmark anthology, “Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers”; in his autobiographical volume, “Legends from Camp,” he wrote memorably about his boyhood experience of internment during World War II along with other Japanese Americans.

Inada studied writing at the University of Iowa, and then moved to Oregon. He is an emeritus professor of writing at Southern Oregon University, where he has taught since 1966.

Said Gov. Kulongoski when he appointed Inada to his post in February 2006, “Lawson Inada is a beloved teacher and someone who can involve other people of all sorts in reading, listening to, and writing poetry. He has a long record of involvement in community projects in the arts and humanities, and he has done distinguished work in reclaiming the cultural heritage of Asian Americans. He’s a wonderful poet and a great communicator.”

Inada won the American Book Award in 1994 for “Legends from Camp” and was named Oregon State Poet of the Year in 1991. He is a winner of the Oregon Governor’s Arts Award (1997), the Oregon Book Award (for “Drawing the Line,” (1997), and the Pushcart Prize (1996) for Poetry.