Dates are set and tickets are available for the Raymond Carver and Tess Gallagher Creative Writing Festival, scheduled for April 25-27 at Peninsula College in Port Angeles.

Keynote guests include Tess Gallagher, Billy Collins, TC Boyle and Selected Shorts Radio.

Peninsula College designed the festival to honor local poets and short story writers Raymond Carver and Tess Gallagher, and to bring an international audience of readers and writers to the Olympic Peninsula.

(Carver lived the final 10 years of his life in Port Angeles and is buried in Ocean View Cemetery. Gallagher was born and raised in Port Angeles and brought Carver to the Olympic Peninsula in 1978. The couple authored about two-dozen books that have been translated into more than 20 languages.)

The festival includes keynote readings, a film screening, conference style lectures and presentations, pie and poetry at Carver’s grave, optional writing workshops led by accomplished Northwest writers and more.

Selected Shorts Radio from Symphony Space in New York and National Public Radio will bring actors and deliver a performance of work by Carver, Gallagher, Collins and Boyle.

The Peninsula College Foundation provided advice and a one-time gift of financial support to breathe life into the project, “which it hopes will take on a life of its own,” organizers said.

All-access festival passes are available for $400. Individual tickets for keynote readings, including those by Gallagher, Collins and Boyle, will be available at $15 each plus processing fees and can be purchased through Field Arts & Events Hall. Tickets for Selected Shorts will also be available from Field Hall.

Festival events will be held on the Peninsula College campus in Port Angeles, at Ocean View Cemetery and at the Field Hall.

To maintain an intimate setting in which to interact with writers, this event is limited to 200 all-access festival passes. Field Hall can accommodate an additional 300 seats for various events.

Organizers say those wishing to brush up on their writing skills can register for a workshop in poetry, fiction or nonfiction with regional authors, including Jonathan Evison, Tim McNulty, Alice Derry, Holly Hughes, Lawrence Matsuda, Anna Quin, Charlotte Gould Warren, Kate Reavey, Carmen Germain or Lisa C. Taylor.

The event was made possible through a National Endowment for the Humanities American Rescue Plan (ARP) grant that supports humanities faculty, staff and projects impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

For all-access festival passes, look for the festival on Eventbrite or visit the festival page on the Raymond Carver Podcast website at raymondcarverpodcast.pencol.edu/writing-festival.

To learn more about the festival, contact Peninsula College English instructor Michael Mills at MMills@pencol.edu.

Photo by Bill Hayes / Billy Collins