Sunday, January 25, 2-4 PM: Poet Ralph Salisbury (1926-2017) Centennial Celebration and Poetry Reading
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Salisbury
Ralph Salisbury at 100: A Tribute Reading
January 25, 2026 | 2:00–4:00 PM
Tsunami Books — 2585 Willamette St., Eugene, OR 97405
Join us for a special community gathering in honor of poet Ralph Salisbury (1926–2017)—one day after his 100th birthday—to celebrate the life and work of the acclaimed poet, teacher, and mentor.
Former students will come together to read from Salisbury’s poems, as well as their own, and honor his enduring legacy. Readers include Barbara Drake, Cecelia Hagen, Rodger Moody, Frank Rossini, Maxine Scates, Kim Stafford, Mark Thalman, Ingrid Wendt, and Ken Zimmerman.
The event is organized by Ingrid Wendt and Martina Salisbury.
photo by Paul Carter
About Ralph Salisbury
Ralph Salisbury was a prolific and widely respected poet whose work drew deeply from his mixed Cherokee, Shawnee, English, and Irish ancestry; his Iowa childhood during the Great Depression; his commitment to pacifism; and what he called a “devotion to harmony with nature.”
Over his long career he published eleven collections of poetry—including Rainbows of Stone and Like the Sun in Storm, both finalists for the Oregon Book Award—along with short fiction and a memoir, So Far, So Good, winner of the River Teeth Book Award for Literary Nonfiction. His poetry appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Ploughshares, Epoch, Massachusetts Review, and many other journals, and his widely reprinted 1960 poem “In the Children’s Museum in Nashville” helped bring early national recognition to Native American poets.
A beloved and influential teacher, Salisbury taught at the University of Oregon from 1960 to 1994, co-founding and directing the MFA Program in Creative Writing and serving as editor of Northwest Review. His international career included Fulbright professorships in Germany, a Fulbright translation grant to Norway, and lectures across North America, Europe, India, and the former Soviet Union. In recognition of his enduring contributions to Oregon literature, he received the C.E.S. Wood Distinguished Writer Award in 2015.
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Reader Bios
All readers are graduates of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Oregon and former students of Ralph Salisbury.
Barbara Drake’s collections of personal essays, Peace at Heart and Morning Light (OSU Press), were both finalists for the Oregon Book Award. A Professor Emerita of Linfield college, she has published several poetry collections including Driving One Hundred and What We Say to Strangers and a widely popular college textbook, Writing Poetry.
Cecelia Hagen’s poems have appeared in New Ohio Review, The Shore, Guesthouse, Zyzzyva, EcoTheo Review, On the Seawall, and other journals. She is the author of Entering and the chapbooks Among Others and Fringe Living. Her work has received awards from Literary Arts, the MacDowell Colony, and Playa, and is engraved on 26 steel panels along Eugene’s EmX rapid transit line.
Rodger Moody is the founding editor of Silverfish Review Press. Bright Hill Press published his chapbook, Self-Portrait / Sixteen Sevenlings. Flowstone Press published Three Chapbooks / Three Poets which was dedicated to Ralph. Each of the three—Rodger, John P. Harn, and Carol Durak—were former students. Rodger has new work forthcoming in Mudfish.
Frank Rossini’s books include the chapbook sparking the rain (Silverfish Review Press) and midnight the blues and last confession (sight | for |sight books). He taught in the UO's HEP program for young migrant workers and at Lane Community College where he worked with returning adults. His poetry has appeared in Seattle Review, Willow Springs, and many other journals.
Maxine Scates is the author of four books of poetry, most recently My Wilderness (University of Pittsburgh, 2021). Her work has been widely published and has received, among other honors, the Starrett Prize, the Oregon Book Award, and two Pushcart Prizes.
Kim Stafford writes, teaches, and travels to restore the human spirit. He is the author of twenty books, including As the Sky Begins to Change (Red Hen Press, 2024). He served as Oregon Poet Laureate from 2018–2020.
Mark Thalman is the author of three poetry collections: The Peasant Dance, Catching the Limit, and Stronger Than the Current. Individual poems have been widely published for five decades. After receiving his MFA in Creative Writing from the UO, he taught English and Creative Writing in the public schools for 35 years.
Ingrid Wendt, author of five books of poetry and a teaching guide, co-editor of two anthologies, and the recipient of numerous awards and artist residencies, was married to Ralph Salisbury for 48 years. Recent poems appear Poetry, APR, Terrain, and other journals. Her chapbook Keeping It All Afloat comes out in 2026.
Ken Zimmerman’s writings have appeared in journals such as Antioch Review, Quarry West, and The Sun Magazine. He is co-author of Caverns (Viking Press, 1990) with Ken Kesey, et al. Retired from teaching at Lane Community College, he continues to write poetry and songs— with 3 CDs released— and performs with the trio Cross Current.
