Oregon’s Poet Laureate

Governor Ted Kulongoski has named a Lawson Inada the new poet laureate for Oregon:

Inada is an emeritus professor of writing at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, where he has taught since 1966. He was interned during World War II along with other Japanese Americans. Inada is required to give as many as six public readings in urban and rural settings across the state.

Inada is a third-generation Japanese American, born in 1938 and raised in Fresno, Calif. He was one of the co-editors of the anthology “Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers.” In his autobiographical volume, “Legends from Camp,” he wrote about his boyhood experience of internment during World War II.

The last appointee for the poet laureate position was William Stafford, who left sixteen years ago.