Host the Washington State Poet Laureate

Bring poetry to the people! Washington State Poet Laureate Derek Sheffield is traveling the state making poetry more accessible, welcoming, and fun. If you’re a nonprofit, school, museum, library, bookstore, community venue, or other gathering place, Derek is available for workshops, readings, classroom visits, and more. Apply to bring him to an in-person event here, and apply to host him for an online event here.

The first in his family to attend college, Sheffield is now on the English faculty at Wenatchee Valley College and is the poetry editor of Terrain.org. When he’s not crafting poems, Derek is teaching his beloved Northwest Nature Writing class, where he has shared his passion for the outdoors with students for the past 20 years.

Hailing from the Wenatchee Valley, Derek is the author of Not for Luck, selected for Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize, and Through the Second Skin, runner-up for the Emily Dickinson First Book Award. He is the co-editor of Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry, which won a 2024 Washington State Book Award.

The Poet Laureate program is sponsored by Humanities Washington and The Washington State Arts Commission/ArtsWA, with the support of Governor Bob Ferguson.

Follow the poet laureate on Facebook and Instagram.