Uncategorized | October 15, 2010
Poet Peggy Shumaker of Fairbanks has learned from the Alaska State Council on the Arts that she will be the Alaska State Writer Laureate for 2010-2012.
One of the state’s most prominent poets, Shumaker has completed several books of poetry and a memoir, “Just Breathe Normally.” Her work has been included in more than a dozen anthologies and published in eight countries.
Her latest book is “Gnawed Bones,” a collection of poems published this year by Red Hen Press.
Shumaker earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Arizona. She was born in California and grew up in Tucson.
She is a professor emerita of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and teaches at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University as well as at a variety of conferences and festivals.
She retired from UAF in 1999, but has continued to write and work with other writers, holding to the conviction that “language is one way we make our way in the world.”
“It’s been my privilege to work with hundreds of wonderful writers in Alaska, many of whom are at this moment creating contemporary Alaskan literature,” she wrote in a recent posting at the 49 Writers website.
On her website, http://www.peggyshumaker.com/, the poet notes she has given readings “in art galleries, a governor’s mansion, a clearing in the woods, an abandoned bank, on reservations, in libraries, at a gold dredge, under the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon, on a riverboat, and at many bookstores, community centers and universities.”
As the state writer laureate for the next two years, she will have plenty of chances to expand that list.
Shumaker, who is married to Joe Usibelli, has drawn inspiration for her poems from the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona and the subarctic desert of Interior Alaska.
“Most of my poems depend on images and sounds to create their worlds,” she once wrote.
The Juneau Poetry Society set up the Alaska Poet Laureate program shortly after statehood. In 1996, the Alaska State Council on the Arts expanded the process to include all types of writers.
Shumaker follows Nancy Lord of Homer, who was the 13th state writer. Others who have held the volunteer position include poet John Haines and playwright Anne Hanley.
The honor is given to someone who “has demonstrated exemplary professionalism, literary excellence and a commitment to the advancement of literary arts in Alaskan Communities,” the arts council says.
The Wyoming Arts Council believes that experiencing the arts should be accessible for all, including people with mental and/or physical disabilities, older adults, military/veterans, people living in institutions and those who lack access to the arts due to geographic isolation, cultural difference and economic hardship.
