Sequim Gazette staff

Peter Quinn, a Port Townsend poet and businessman, is the featured writer at the Fourth Friday Readings at 6:30 p.m. April 24, at Rainshadow Coffee, 157 W. Cedar St. in Sequim.

Quinn says, “Businessman/poet is odd, but it works.”

A graduate of Lewis and Clark College, he studied with poets Vern Rutsala, Tony Ostroll and William Stafford. In 1976, he received an Academy of American Poets Award. For several years following, poet John Willson and Quinn convened a poetry group called Moonphases in Portland, Ore.

At the beginning of his 35-year career in business, Quinn worked as a copywriter, freelance journalist and newsletter editor. He has assisted in editing several books, one published by Wiley. A lifelong lover of sci-fi, historical fiction and non-fiction, he enjoys content editing in those genres.

Quinn published ‘Painting Circles on Straight Highways’ (Irenicon Press), his first full-length book of poetry, in 2012. He has published in Mississippi Mud, Foxfire, the Portland Oregonian and Pacific Northwest Magazine, Tidepools, Northwinds Anthology and the Port Townsend Leader. His work appears in “A Ritual to Read Together: Poems in Conversation” with William Stafford, from Woodley Press. He continues to write poetry and lead workshops to feed his poetry passion.

Quinn’s reading will be followed by five-minute open mic readings. Writers sign in and names are drawn for reading position. It’s recommended that you rehearse as the readings are timed. For information or guidelines, contact Rmarcus@olypen.com.