{"id":7810,"date":"2017-01-27T17:03:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-28T01:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7810"},"modified":"2017-01-27T17:03:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T01:03:57","slug":"poetry-william-stafford-community-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7810","title":{"rendered":"Poetry: William Stafford Community Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"William

William Stafford, courtesy photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

The 11th annual \u00a0William Stafford Community Reading<\/span><\/a>\u00a0takes place at the First Crossing Day Use Area on Paradise Road in Los Padres National Forest at 2 pm on Saturday, January 28. <\/span><\/p>\n

“This year’s featured readers are Enid Osborn, Ron Alexander, and the inspiring student poets from the Los Prietos Boys Camp,” says organizer Paul J. Willis<\/a>, former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate and Westmont College<\/a> Professor of English.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“There are always a couple of featured readers, but anyone in attendance is also welcome to read a Stafford poem aloud,” Willis says.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, Willis has hosted the Los Prietos Stafford Readings, an annual community reading of the poems of William Stafford at the First Crossing Day Use Area on Paradise Road in Los Padres National Forest. This is the former site of the Los Prietos Civilian Public Service Camp, where Stafford served as a conscientious objector during World War II. The First Crossing Day Use Area does not have an address, but it is almost directly across the road from the Los Prietos Boys Camp<\/a>, 3900 Paradise Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93105. (In case of rain, meet a mile down the road at the Los Prietos Ranger Station, 3505 Paradise Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93105.)<\/p>\n

Also on the horizon at 7:30 pm on Thursday, February 16, the young adult novelist Sara Zarr<\/span><\/a>\u00a0will read and speak in Kerrwood Hall at Westmont College (955 La Paz Rd.). \u00a0Zarr is the author of six novels, the first of which, Story of a Girl<\/i>, was nominated for the National Book Award.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both\u00a0of these readings are free and open to the public.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Leslie Dinaberg<\/p>\n

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons<\/em><\/a> on January 26, 2017.<\/p>\n

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