Sam Hamill

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Victory Lee Schouten
360-331-7099
victory@greatpath.com

Washington Poets Association Names

2005 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Distinguished Poet, Publisher, Translator, Editor and Activist

Sam Hamill



The Washington Poets Association has announced Sam Hamill is the WPA’s
2005 Lifetime Achievement Award winner. "As soon as Hamill was
nominated the board’s enthusiasm grew, resulting in a unanimous vote
in his favor," states WPA President Leonard Orr. "We all felt great
admiration for his poetry, translations, the achievements of Copper
Canyon Press, and Hamill’s social activism from teaching poetry in
prisons through the recent work of Poets Against the War." The LAA
honors a meritorious body of work by a Washington poet. "He is a model
and inspiration for all who care about poetry and engagement with the
world.", adds Orr.

Hamill, who moved to Port Townsend in 1974, is the author of thirteen
volumes of original poetry including Destination Zero: Poems
1970-1995, Gratitude, and Dumb Luck; three collections of essays
(including A Poet's Work), and two dozen volumes translated from
ancient Greek, Latin, Estonian, Japanese, and Chinese, most recently,
The Poetry of Zen and The Essential Chuang Tzu (both with J.P.
Seaton); Narrow Road to the Interior & Other Writings of Basho, and
Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese.  He
is editor of The Gift of Tongues: Twenty-five Years of Poetry from
Copper Canyon Press, The Erotic Spirit, Selected Poems of Thomas
McGrath and The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth (with Bradford
Morrow).

Hamill taught in prisons for fourteen years, in artist-in-residency
programs for twenty years, and has worked extensively with battered
woman and children. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the
National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon
Fund, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the U.S.-Japan Friendship
Commission.

"I have always been grateful for the companionship and traditions of
Northwest poets and poetry," Hamill continues. "In many ways, we have
been the most forward-looking as we bridged the Pacific Rim long
before most Americans were even aware of the term. To be honored by
such contemporaries is, indeed, an honor."

Other honors received by Hamill include a Pacific Northwest
Booksellers Award, two Washington Governor’s Arts Awards, and an
anti-censorship award from PEN Oakland. He is Founding Editor of
Copper Canyon Press and former director of the Port Townsend Writers’
Conference. He founded Poets Against the War in January 2003, and in
March delivered to Congress 13,000 poems by 12,000 poets, and edited a
best-selling selection, Poets Against the War (Nation Books, 2003). In
March 2005, Shambhala Publications will publish his new and selected
poems and translations, Almost Paradise, and in September, his
translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching.

"It seems especially appropriate for the Washington Poets Association
to honor Sam Hamill. His many notable achievements make us all proud,"
adds Burning Word festival chair and WPA Executive Vice President,
Victory Lee Schouten. "The Lifetime Achievement Award will be
presented to Sam at next year's Burning Word, to be held Saturday
April 30, 2005. A main stage reading by Hamill will follow the
presentation and is sure to be a great highlight."

"This year more than 300 people attended Burning Word. That number is
bound to grow in 2005.", continues Schouten. "The 2004 inaugural
Lifetime Achievement Award winner went to Tess Gallagher. Now, with
the naming of Sam Hamill as the 2005 winner, the Washington Poets
Association continues its high standard for this prestigious award."

__________________________________


For more information:
Victory Lee Schouten
victory@greatpath.com
Phone & Fax: 360-331-7099
http://www.washingtonpoets.org/

The Washington Poets Association presents
Burning Word A Festival of Poetic Fire!
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Featuring a Non-Stop Main Stage,
Original Workshops, and Hours of Open Mics.
At Whidbey Island's "Greenbank Farm".

Mark your calendar now

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