The Oregon Poetry Association Annual Conference is October 4-5, 2024 at the Best Western Agate Beach Inn in Newport, Oregon and online.
Registration
The cost is $225 for non-members, $175 for members, $99 for online attendees, and $60 for students.
Special Reading by the Oregon Poet Laureate
OPA welcomes the recently appointed Oregon Poet Laureate, Ellen Waterston, to the conference on October 4th, where she will read from her work that evening.
Keynotes
Headlining the festivities are keynote speakers Marcus Lattimore, champion slam poet, and poet and teacher Annie Lighthart. Eight exciting workshops will be available – read the workshop descriptions here!
Here are your 2024 Keynotes.
Marcus Lattimore is a former professional athlete turned writer. In an effort to reinvent himself after his career in football, Marcus moved to Portland in 2020, where writing and hiking became daily rituals. Since then, he has performed in local theater and won Slamlandia’s 2024 Grand Slam Poetry contest. He represented OPA at the National Blackberry Peach slam competition in Georgia. Marcus and his wife co-founded a business ZENMNM which hosts creative wellness workshops across Portland.
Annie Lighthart is a poet and teacher who started writing poetry after her first visit to an Oregon old-growth forest. She has taught at Boston College and with writers of all ages. Poems from her books Pax and Iron String have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and in various anthologies, including Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems and How to Love the World. Annie’s poems have been turned into music, used in meditation and healing projects in Ireland, England, and New Zealand, and have traveled farther than she has.
Hotel Reservations
Please call the Best Western Agate Beach Inn to make your reservation (mention you are with the Oregon Poetry Association) – 541-265-9411.
The special OPA Conference rate ends September 4 so make yours now!