The Oregon Poetry Association annual conference for 2025 was held October 3-4 on the Oregon coast at the Best West Agate Beach Inn.
For Details of Workshops and Schedule Please visit Here
Conference Keynotes
Christopher Diaz
Bio:
Christopher is a Chamoru writer, performer, and photographer from the island of Guam. He has been featured by NBC news, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Poets & Writers.org, and more. He is a two-time grand slam champion of Houston’s team, “Write About Now,” which ranked fifth in the nation in 2018, and he won first place at the 2023 Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam festival with his PNW team.
He specializes in portrait and performing arts photography, and has previously taught poetry and coached performance with the non-profit, “Writers in the Schools.” His Instagram handle is “@lightbulbchris,” but he assures you he goes by Christopher. He is also a U.S. military veteran, and lives in Vancouver, Washington with his partner and two dogs. You can find him at https://www.christopherdiazcreates.com/
Ellen Waterston
Bio
Award-winning poet and author Ellen Waterston has dedicated herself to writing and advocating for the literary arts in the high desert region of Oregon, all the while continuing to write poetry and nonfiction works that have evolved into essential reading about Oregon and the West. She has published four poetry and five literary nonfiction titles, including, most recently, We Could Die Doing This (2024) and Walking the High Desert (2020). She is the founder of the Writing Ranch and of the annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize. 2024 was a banner year for Waterston who, that year, received Soapstone’s Bread and Roses Award, Literary Arts’ Stewart H Holbrook Award, and was named the eleventh Poet Laureate of Oregon. She is currently completing a fifth collection of poetry. For more information visit https://www.writingranch.com/
