For the love of words….

Tess Gallagher born in Port Angeles Washington in 1943 found her voice through poems, essays, and short stories. She studied creative writing at the University of Washington. Gallagher wrote extensively throughout her life, encouraged by her husband Raymond Carver. Her honors include a fellowship at the Guggenheim Foundation, two National Endowment for the Arts awards, the Maxine Cushing Gray Endowed Libraries Visiting Writers Fellowship, and the Elliston Award. Tess continues to teach, write, and speak publically. She published two collections of love poems dedicated to her late husband, and an essay titled Instead of Dying. From Willingly “This is ownership, you think, arriving in the heady afterlife of paint smell. A deep opening goes on in you. Some paint has dropped onto your shoulder as though light concealed an unsuspected weight. You think it has fallen through you. You think you have agreed to this, what has been done with your life, willingly.”
Contributed by: Amee Bahr